Reported Cases of Voluntarily Causing Hurt

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs in respect of cases of voluntarily causing hurt that are reported to the police (a) what is the total number of cases recorded by the Police in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively; (b) what is the incidence of such cases per 100,000 population for 2011, 2012 and 2013; and (c) what proportion of these cases are charged by the Police in Court for each of the years.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: There were about 10,000 reported cases of voluntarily causing hurt a year for the period 2011-2013. This works out to about 200 cases per 100,000 population each year. For the same period, there were more than 600 criminal charges filed against persons accused of voluntarily causing hurt each year.

Voluntarily causing hurt cases range from a slap during a family dispute to road bullying. Most of these cases have been resolved by the parties themselves or upon mediation by a magistrate. In cases where there is clear harm to public interest or where vulnerable victims are involved, the Magistrate or the Public Prosecutor may grant Police powers of investigation under the Criminal Procedure Code to investigate the matter with a view to prosecution in Court.