Why was an American who overstayed in Singapore not caned?
<p>The US citizen Kamari Kenyada Charlton overstayed his visa while in Singapore. The <a href="https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/IA1959#pr6-" rel="nofollow noreferrer">law</a> is that this shall &quot;be punished with caning with not less than 3 strokes&quot;.</p>
<p>However, according to <a href="https://www.asiaone.com/print/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20110221-264712.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this story</a>, he was jailed 18 months for his telephone scam and seems to not have received any punishment for overstaying. Why?</p>
<p>More background:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304011604575564012145605090" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>WSJ</em>, &quot;U.S. Man Faces Caning in Singapore&quot;, Oct 20 2010</a></li>
<li><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/10/us_citizen_faces_possible_cani.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>WaPo</em>, &quot;U.S. citizen faces possible caning in Singapore&quot;, Oct 22 2010</a>&quot;</li>
<li><a href="http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2011/02/singapore-one-law-for-some-and-another.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gopalan Nair, &quot;Singapore. One law for some and another for others. The case of American Kamari Kenyada Charlton&quot;, Feb 21, 2011</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>The caning punishment is regularly enforced for overstayers from poor Asian countries (and also any who aid such overstayers):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-changi-prison-inmate-overstaying-jail-12854542" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Channel News Asia</em>, &quot;Foreign inmate diagnosed with COVID-19 had arrived on Jan 10, sentenced to jail and caning on Jun 12 for overstaying&quot;, 20 Jun 2020</a> (Sri Lankan)</li>
<li><a href="https://sg.news.yahoo.com/vietnamese-man-overstayed-singapore-10-years-gets-jail-caning-113447453.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Yahoo News</em>, &quot;Vietnamese man who overstayed in Singapore for over 10 years gets jail, caning&quot;, 2 April 2019</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/indonesian-gets-two-years-jail-for-attempt-to-sneak-overstayer-out-of" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>The Straits Times</em>, Indonesian gets two years' jail for attempt to sneak overstayer out of Singapore, Jul 8 2016</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/bangladeshi-overstayer-arrested-after-attempting-leave-singapore-ica" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Today</em>, Man convicted for helping Bangladeshi overstayer: ICA, 28 March 2017</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/plea-bargaining-singapore-style" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Plea bargain</a></h2>
<p>Probably.</p>
<p>Like all common law jurisdictions, Singapore practices plea bargaining. While not formalised as it is in the USA, a prosecutor can agree to drop certain charges and/or not pursue certain sentences in return for a guilty plea to others.</p>
<p>As it says in your link, the defendant “pleaded guilty to five charges last week.
17 other charges, including one for overstaying in Singapore, were taken into consideration.”</p>
<p>So, he was <em>not</em> convicted of overstaying his visa.</p>

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