What Happens If you Voluntarily Surrender into the Police

In essence, a voluntary surrender is going to the law enforcement to confess to a crime you’ve dedicated, instead of waiting for the law enforcement to find and arrest you.

What Takes place When You Voluntarily Surrender on the Police?
The techniques you can confront after you voluntarily surrender for the law enforcement are the same as in case you had been arrested.

The actions taken versus you depend mainly on whether or not you’ve fully commited an arrestable or non-arrestable offence.

Arrestable offences refer to offences that enable the police to generate an arrest without a warrant, and incorporate offences like theft, theft and rape. The rule of thumb is always that offences that are punishable with at the very least three many years of imprisonment, or possibly a Dying sentence, are categorised as arrestable.

Alternatively, a non-arrestable offence is just one exactly where the law enforcement will require to obtain a warrant ahead of finishing up an arrest. Offences that fall beneath this classification are voluntarily creating harm and dishonest misappropriation of assets, among Other folks.

When you've got committed an arrestable offence
In case you have fully commited an arrestable offence, the police will comply with an arrest course of action that begins with getting you into custody just after your voluntary surrender.

The police will then launch an investigation, which involves having witness statements. Alternatively, you might have to generate a see statement In the event the law enforcement decides to go in advance with pressing expenses.

You could be needed to take a polygraph (or lie detector) check or be involved in an identification parade, through which you will be lined up with other people to allow victims and eyewitnesses to recognize you, likewise.

Preferably, you should be comparatively very well-versed with your rights in custody, like the suitable to make a telephone get in touch with to Your loved ones or to refer to an attorney (provided that these acts will never inhibit the investigation). On the other hand, it can be crucial to note that your proper to refer to an attorney ordinarily occurs only following interrogations have already been carried out.

To learn more, you might want to check with our post on police custody in Singapore.

For those who have dedicated a non-arrestable offence
With this state of affairs, even When you've got turned yourself in towards the police, you will not be taken into custody quickly.

Alternatively, the law enforcement will Assemble witness experiences and record any parties involved. Any feasible target(s) of the offence is going to be recommended to file a Justice of the peace’s Criticism for even further motion to generally be taken.

As soon as the Criticism has been received, the Magistrate will then determine what the most suitable program of action will probably be. It's only at this time that a warrant might be issued to just take you into law enforcement custody, In case the Justice of the peace directs the law enforcement to carry out an investigation to the Grievance.

Is Generating a Voluntary Surrender a Mitigating Issue?
Voluntarily surrendering on the law enforcement demonstrates a willingness to cooperate and suggests very likely remorse and repentance. Your surrender would also allow the police to invest their time and sources into other investigations.

This could Perform a part in the judge’s decision and you may be given a lighter sentence for your personal diploma of cooperation.

Circumstance review: No jail expression Top criminal lawyer immediately after voluntary surrender
In 2018, then 24-12 months-outdated Ekawit Tangtrakarn, acquired a $6,000 fantastic for defaulting on his National Services (NS) duties.

Although Ekawit mainly lived in Thailand, he was registered to be a Singapore Citizen – building him chargeable for NS. In Oct 2015, he missing his Singaporean citizenship soon after failing to take the Oath of Renunciation, Allegiance and Loyalty inside of 12 months of his 21st birthday.

However, getting rid of his Singaporean citizenship didn't minimize him of his NS obligations, and Ekawit later on voluntarily returned to Singapore to confront his costs for defaulting on them. His voluntary return thus held weight to be a mitigating component.

For this reason, following the courtroom took other mitigating elements into account, what might have been a utmost three-yr imprisonment term and a $ten,000 high-quality, currently being the maximum penalties under the Enlistment Act, turned a doable nine-week jail term which was sooner or later lowered to some $6,000 great.

Acquiring your expenses taken into consideration for the uses of sentencing

In regards to your conviction and you also are dealing with multiple rates, voluntarily admitting to the offences also stops the situation of your prosecution continuing with Each and every charge versus you individually. This allows for the possibility of you acquiring these kinds of costs taken into account for sentencing as a substitute.

Because of this, you might facial area less costs or a minimized sentence when compared with in the event you were being to deny or dispute the costs.



Voluntarily surrendering towards the law enforcement may possibly show to generally be valuable later in the scenario. Your admission for your criminal offense may be nicely-been given and perform in your favour, cutting down your punishment substantially.

If you are however Uncertain regarding how to commence, you are able to have interaction a legal defence law firm to hunt advice on your own place, and make clear your rights. A seasoned attorney will be able to finest prepare you on What to anticipate if you turn you in and the way to handle any investigations completed against you.

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