The Straits Approach: Convergence and Divergence in the Death Penalty for Drug Trafficking.

In 1975, Malaysia and Singapore adopted the death penalty for drug trafficking. Throughout the 20th century, both states would repeatedly converge toward a shared 'Straits Approach' of markedly similar iterations of the policy. Traffickers soon made up a majority of those hanged in each country, with executions peaking in the 1990s. However, in April 2023, after continued debate, Malaysia abolished mandatory death sentencing, with a moratorium on executions in place since 2018. Inversely, Singapore continues to execute at a high rate, and its government stridently defends the policy. Through a comparative legal and historical analysis, this article investigates why these states have converged and then diverged in their use of the death penalty for trafficking. It reveals that their strong convergence was caused by reciprocal legal transplants, existing institutional commonalities, and a legal arms race - with each mimicking the other's more punitive policy developments to avoid being exploited as lenient. Their divergence in the new millennium is explained by a shift in the preferences of Malaysia's elites caused by instability and changes in its political institutions. In contrast, Singapore's resilience is due to its institutional stability and a rationalising ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]