Third phase of amendments under Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 to refine criminal case disclosure and unsoundness of mind regimes takes effect

26 February 2025

On 14 February 2025, the third phase of amendments under the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 (“Act”) relating to the criminal disclosure and the unsoundness of mind (“UOM”) regimes took effect.

Amendments relating to criminal disclosure

In 2010, the Ministry of Law (“MinLaw”) introduced the criminal case disclosure (“CCD”) regime, a statutory pre-trial disclosure framework under which the prosecution and the defence sequentially disclose and exchange information about their cases before trial. Since then, a common law disclosure regime has developed in parallel through case law.

The following amendments relating to the CCD regime have taken effect:

  • First, the common law disclosure obligations have been placed on a statutory footing with the codification, clarification, or modification of aspects of these obligations. This enhances clarity, certainty, and coherence by ensuring that the disclosure obligations align with the sequential nature of the CCD regime.
  • Second, aspects of the CCD regime have been fine-tuned. Among other things, participation in the process has been made compulsory for CCD cases in both the State Courts and the High Court. This facilitates greater pre-trial disclosure and allows for a clearer identification of disputed issues, which in turn makes the trial more focused and efficient.

To cater for ongoing criminal cases and specific situations, the Criminal Procedure (Saving and Transitional Provisions - Disclosure) Regulations 2025 also took effect on 14 February 2025.

Amendments to UOM regime

The Criminal Procedure Code 2010 provides for special procedures to deal with two categories of accused persons:

  • Those who are “unfit to plead”, i.e. incapable of making their defence; and
  • Those who are acquitted on the basis that they were of unsound mind at the time that they committed the offences.

The Act has further improved the regime by:

  • clarifying that only the General Division of the High Court (“HC”) can determine the maximum duration for which a person who is unfit to plead may be confined for a case that must or ought to be tried in the HC, and set out the applicable process for such cases;
  • providing the courts with the power to require or allow for videoconferencing in any UOM proceedings;
  • allowing the courts to dispense with the attendance of subjects in UOM proceedings in the interests of justice; and
  • clarifying the mechanisms for reporting of the Institute of Mental Health visitors’ reviews, and for the issuance of confinement orders and conditional release orders by the Minister.

Background

The Act, which was passed in Parliament on 5 February 2024, advances Singapore’s criminal justice system and contains various amendments aimed at (i) protecting the public by strengthening levers to tackle crime, including serious sexual crime, and (ii) enhancing transparency, fairness, and coherence in Singapore’s criminal court processes. The first phase of amendments took effect on 31 May 2024, with the second phase taking effect on 1 August 2024. For more information, please refer to our article “Second phase of amendments under Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 to strengthen levers to tackle crime and enhance criminal court processes takes effect”.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the MinLaw website www.mlaw.gov.sg and Singapore Statutes Online sso.agc.gov.sg: