*Names have been changed.
SINGAPORE: It was an evening when his father was working from home and could not pause to spend time with him. Frustrated, 19-year-old *James had a meltdown that escalated into aggression.
His father called the police for assistance. When officers arrived, however, James was so distressed that he hurled the nearest object, a stool, at them. As they pinned him down, he apologised repeatedly but was too agitated to follow instructions.
No charges were filed against James, who had special needs. In a letter to the Singapore Police Force, his pro bono lawyers explained that he had been diagnosed with intellectual disability, psychosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sensory processing disorder.
“There was no intention to cause harm or (obstruct) the police. … What (he) requires is continued support and medical intervention,” the letter stated, adding that James had been undergoing rehabilitative programmes with his family’s support to manage his impulses.
For veteran lawyer Peggy Yee, cases like James’ — which she handled in 2021 — are all too familiar.
About a third of her work is done pro bono or at a charitable discount, and most of those cases involve people with invisible disabilities, such as mental health issues, neurodivergent conditions and chronic illnesses.
“There’s no sign on their forehead that says, ‘I have this condition.’ But that person is debilitated by that condition,” she said.
Many offenders with mental disorders or special needs may struggle to regulate their emotions and impulses or fully grasp the consequences of their words and actions, which could have caused their run-ins with the law.
Persons with invisible disabilities “need someone to advocate for them”, said Yee. (Screengrab of Shutterstock footage)
Unlike James, many of them are taken to court, and Yee is pushing for a fairer, more inclusive criminal justice system in Singapore — one with better management, treatment and sentencing frameworks for persons with invisible disabilities.
To this end, she hopes a multi-agency task force comprising ministries and social support agencies can be established.
It would be an “ideal collaborative system” and would “identify gaps in capability for each agency”, she said yesterday in the inaugural Access to Justice Symposium, which brought together legal practitioners, policymakers and mental health professionals.
Guest of honour and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong, who took to the podium after Yee’s speech at the State Courts, said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) is committed to such a task force.
WATCH: New task force seeks to help people with invisible disabilities have better access to legal system (9:49)
09:49 Min
The Law Ministry is committed to creating a task force to look into how people with invisible disabilities can have better access to legal avenues. The proposal by Pro Bono SG seeks to formalise channels of communication and identify points of contact for each ministry or agency. This, as Pro Bono SG hosted its inaugural Access to Justice Symposium. Ms Peggy Yee, the Pro Bono Ambassador 2023/2024, shared more about helping persons with invisible disabilities navigate the justice system.
The symposium, hosted by legal aid charity Pro Bono SG, was co-organised by Yee, whose call to action was the latest step in her mission to speak up for those who cannot defend themselves in the fight for justice.
That mission and her personal story are also told in CNA series Extraordinary People, which celebrates everyday heroes in Singapore who have dedicated their lives to uplifting at-risk groups while often overcoming personal challenges along the way.
One case Yee highlighted as demonstrative of gaps in the law involved a teenager with an intelligence quotient of 61 who was charged with rape and sexual assault.
His lawyer — communicating with him using dolls — found that he was unable to articulate what he had done; nor did he understand issues of consent. Still, psychiatrists deemed him fit to plead in court.
WATCH: A lawyer for those who can’t speak up for themselves (22:23)
In sentencing the youth to reformative training instead of imprisonment and caning, Justice Woo Bih Li wrote that the sentencing options in Singapore were “so limited” for youth offenders who have an intellectual disability but are not of unsound mind.
Seven years on, there remains this need for more sentencing options — in particular, one that is more severe than probation and more apt than reformative training — cited Yee.
According to a research note prepared for the symposium, minimum sentences for certain offences make no concession for those with invisible disabilities, and many invisible disabilities are not provided for adequately in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
A reduction in prison time is usually the only recourse an offender has, if the mitigation plea is successful, stated the research note.
From Yee’s viewpoint, more sentencing options will balance the scales of justice in Singapore.
It makes Yee wonder whether prison is “the final repository where all offenders with untreatable mental conditions will end up”.
The prison environment can worsen the mental state of those with invisible disabilities, which can lead to consequences including self-harm and suicidal tendencies. “There must be more options so that a better way can be found,” she told CNA Insider.
That said, there is something she wants to make clear about her advocacy for those with invisible disabilities.
“I’m not advocating or saying for one moment that just because the offender has special needs or a mental illness,” she stressed, “that’s a free pass to … go on a crime spree.”
Yee appearing in the CNA series Extraordinary People. (Screengrab from the second episode)
She added, however, that different agencies have their own provisions for those with invisible disabilities — not only offenders, but also victims and witnesses — which may not only leave gaps, but also barriers to justice.
“How do (these persons) advocate for themselves when they struggle to process information? How do they exercise their rights when they’re unable to (express) themselves?” she asked. “How can they prevent the actions and words from being misunderstood?
“Who or which agency is to manage these persons?”
Most of Yee’s pro bono cases involving clients with invisible disabilities are obtained through referrals from Pro Bono SG. And its chief executive officer, Tanguy Lim, called her the “go-to person for … complex cases involving special needs”.
Yee with her team at her law firm, PY Legal.
Lim cited her passion for helping them and her effectiveness in working with not only them but also their families and social workers.
Beyond criminal cases, she helps individuals who struggle to advocate for themselves in civil disputes.
One such person was Ivan Wong, a final-year polytechnic student. Following a dispute with the company he was interning at, he was unable to complete his internship. This affected his graduation prospects.
Stress started to take its toll on Wong, who had been recovering from leukaemia. A friend brought his case to the attention of Arc Children’s Centre — a charity supporting children with cancer — which reached out to Yee in turn.
“Ivan is what I’d call a vulnerable client, … not being in the best of health and at risk of a cancer relapse,” said Yee, the founding director of law firm PY Legal.
Yee reassuring Ivan Wong about his case.
She also described him as “a very mild, timid person” who would typically take “anything that isn’t legally right” on the chin.
With her help, however, the company paid him for the period he worked there. And his polytechnic arranged a fresh internship, allowing him to fulfil his graduation requirements.
“She understood my issues and was willing to fully resolve (them) so that I could have ease of mind,” Wong said gratefully.
Yee also personally understands the challenge of battling cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2021.
“How could I have cancer?” was her disbelieving reaction. “I’m … running four times a week. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t even drink coffee or tea.”
Her doctor urged her to undergo surgery to remove the fast-growing cancerous mass shown on her scans, followed by chemotherapy. “I just did what I had to,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy time.”
Yee’s husband, Vincent Phang, shaved his head in solidarity with her while she underwent chemotherapy. (Photos: Peggy Yee and Vincent Phang)
Yet, her commitment to justice remained relentless. She negotiated with her doctor to postpone her surgery for five days — just enough time to wrap up a case involving a client with schizophrenia who was facing multiple charges of theft.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person’s understanding of what is real and what is imaginary.
In her mitigation plea, Yee argued that her client, *Anna, had committed the offences as a maladaptive way of coping with her low mood and auditory hallucinations, among other struggles she faced related to her mental health issues.
Under section 379 of the Penal Code, she could have been jailed for up to three years, fined or both. Thanks to Yee’s advocacy, Anna was sentenced to a 24-month mandatory treatment order instead and underwent psychiatric treatment as required.
Yee, meanwhile, had surgery and is not only cancer-free now, with “a new lease of life”, but free to pursue her advocacy for people with invisible needs, who “deserve to be heard and … understood”.
Running has long been a coping mechanism for Yee, but she has slowed her pace since her cancer diagnosis and treatment.
“Cancer won’t stop me,” she said. “I refuse to give it that credit.”
Even though her pro bono cases can be stressful, “because sometimes there’s no good outcome, no matter how hard you try”, the emotional toll does not hold back the lawyer who was called to the Bar in 1987.
“I’ll lose sleep over it,” she shared. “My family knows, and they’ll be my comforters, and they’ll remind me, ‘Hey, you know there’s only so much you can do.’”
Ultimately, she feels a “huge sense of responsibility” for each case she takes on, she said. “Because (with) every case, there’s someone’s life story in there. It’s not just four numbers on a file.”
Watch Peggy Yee’s story here. The series, Extraordinary People, pays homage to a successful, iconic documentary series of the same name, produced in the 1990s by predecessors of CNA’s current affairs department.
Continue reading...
SINGAPORE: It was an evening when his father was working from home and could not pause to spend time with him. Frustrated, 19-year-old *James had a meltdown that escalated into aggression.
His father called the police for assistance. When officers arrived, however, James was so distressed that he hurled the nearest object, a stool, at them. As they pinned him down, he apologised repeatedly but was too agitated to follow instructions.
No charges were filed against James, who had special needs. In a letter to the Singapore Police Force, his pro bono lawyers explained that he had been diagnosed with intellectual disability, psychosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sensory processing disorder.
“There was no intention to cause harm or (obstruct) the police. … What (he) requires is continued support and medical intervention,” the letter stated, adding that James had been undergoing rehabilitative programmes with his family’s support to manage his impulses.
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For veteran lawyer Peggy Yee, cases like James’ — which she handled in 2021 — are all too familiar.
About a third of her work is done pro bono or at a charitable discount, and most of those cases involve people with invisible disabilities, such as mental health issues, neurodivergent conditions and chronic illnesses.
“There’s no sign on their forehead that says, ‘I have this condition.’ But that person is debilitated by that condition,” she said.
Many offenders with mental disorders or special needs may struggle to regulate their emotions and impulses or fully grasp the consequences of their words and actions, which could have caused their run-ins with the law.
Persons with invisible disabilities “need someone to advocate for them”, said Yee. (Screengrab of Shutterstock footage)
Unlike James, many of them are taken to court, and Yee is pushing for a fairer, more inclusive criminal justice system in Singapore — one with better management, treatment and sentencing frameworks for persons with invisible disabilities.
To this end, she hopes a multi-agency task force comprising ministries and social support agencies can be established.
It would be an “ideal collaborative system” and would “identify gaps in capability for each agency”, she said yesterday in the inaugural Access to Justice Symposium, which brought together legal practitioners, policymakers and mental health professionals.
Guest of honour and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong, who took to the podium after Yee’s speech at the State Courts, said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) is committed to such a task force.
WATCH: New task force seeks to help people with invisible disabilities have better access to legal system (9:49)
09:49 Min
The Law Ministry is committed to creating a task force to look into how people with invisible disabilities can have better access to legal avenues. The proposal by Pro Bono SG seeks to formalise channels of communication and identify points of contact for each ministry or agency. This, as Pro Bono SG hosted its inaugural Access to Justice Symposium. Ms Peggy Yee, the Pro Bono Ambassador 2023/2024, shared more about helping persons with invisible disabilities navigate the justice system.
The symposium, hosted by legal aid charity Pro Bono SG, was co-organised by Yee, whose call to action was the latest step in her mission to speak up for those who cannot defend themselves in the fight for justice.
That mission and her personal story are also told in CNA series Extraordinary People, which celebrates everyday heroes in Singapore who have dedicated their lives to uplifting at-risk groups while often overcoming personal challenges along the way.
LACK OF SENTENCING OPTIONS
One case Yee highlighted as demonstrative of gaps in the law involved a teenager with an intelligence quotient of 61 who was charged with rape and sexual assault.
His lawyer — communicating with him using dolls — found that he was unable to articulate what he had done; nor did he understand issues of consent. Still, psychiatrists deemed him fit to plead in court.
WATCH: A lawyer for those who can’t speak up for themselves (22:23)
In sentencing the youth to reformative training instead of imprisonment and caning, Justice Woo Bih Li wrote that the sentencing options in Singapore were “so limited” for youth offenders who have an intellectual disability but are not of unsound mind.
Seven years on, there remains this need for more sentencing options — in particular, one that is more severe than probation and more apt than reformative training — cited Yee.
According to a research note prepared for the symposium, minimum sentences for certain offences make no concession for those with invisible disabilities, and many invisible disabilities are not provided for adequately in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
A reduction in prison time is usually the only recourse an offender has, if the mitigation plea is successful, stated the research note.
From Yee’s viewpoint, more sentencing options will balance the scales of justice in Singapore.
It makes Yee wonder whether prison is “the final repository where all offenders with untreatable mental conditions will end up”.
The prison environment can worsen the mental state of those with invisible disabilities, which can lead to consequences including self-harm and suicidal tendencies. “There must be more options so that a better way can be found,” she told CNA Insider.
That said, there is something she wants to make clear about her advocacy for those with invisible disabilities.
“I’m not advocating or saying for one moment that just because the offender has special needs or a mental illness,” she stressed, “that’s a free pass to … go on a crime spree.”
Yee appearing in the CNA series Extraordinary People. (Screengrab from the second episode)
She added, however, that different agencies have their own provisions for those with invisible disabilities — not only offenders, but also victims and witnesses — which may not only leave gaps, but also barriers to justice.
“How do (these persons) advocate for themselves when they struggle to process information? How do they exercise their rights when they’re unable to (express) themselves?” she asked. “How can they prevent the actions and words from being misunderstood?
“Who or which agency is to manage these persons?”
THE “GO-TO PERSON”
Most of Yee’s pro bono cases involving clients with invisible disabilities are obtained through referrals from Pro Bono SG. And its chief executive officer, Tanguy Lim, called her the “go-to person for … complex cases involving special needs”.
Yee with her team at her law firm, PY Legal.
Lim cited her passion for helping them and her effectiveness in working with not only them but also their families and social workers.
Beyond criminal cases, she helps individuals who struggle to advocate for themselves in civil disputes.
One such person was Ivan Wong, a final-year polytechnic student. Following a dispute with the company he was interning at, he was unable to complete his internship. This affected his graduation prospects.
Stress started to take its toll on Wong, who had been recovering from leukaemia. A friend brought his case to the attention of Arc Children’s Centre — a charity supporting children with cancer — which reached out to Yee in turn.
“Ivan is what I’d call a vulnerable client, … not being in the best of health and at risk of a cancer relapse,” said Yee, the founding director of law firm PY Legal.
Yee reassuring Ivan Wong about his case.
She also described him as “a very mild, timid person” who would typically take “anything that isn’t legally right” on the chin.
With her help, however, the company paid him for the period he worked there. And his polytechnic arranged a fresh internship, allowing him to fulfil his graduation requirements.
“She understood my issues and was willing to fully resolve (them) so that I could have ease of mind,” Wong said gratefully.
“CANCER WON’T STOP ME”
Yee also personally understands the challenge of battling cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2021.
“How could I have cancer?” was her disbelieving reaction. “I’m … running four times a week. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t even drink coffee or tea.”
Her doctor urged her to undergo surgery to remove the fast-growing cancerous mass shown on her scans, followed by chemotherapy. “I just did what I had to,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy time.”
Yee’s husband, Vincent Phang, shaved his head in solidarity with her while she underwent chemotherapy. (Photos: Peggy Yee and Vincent Phang)
Yet, her commitment to justice remained relentless. She negotiated with her doctor to postpone her surgery for five days — just enough time to wrap up a case involving a client with schizophrenia who was facing multiple charges of theft.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person’s understanding of what is real and what is imaginary.
In her mitigation plea, Yee argued that her client, *Anna, had committed the offences as a maladaptive way of coping with her low mood and auditory hallucinations, among other struggles she faced related to her mental health issues.
Under section 379 of the Penal Code, she could have been jailed for up to three years, fined or both. Thanks to Yee’s advocacy, Anna was sentenced to a 24-month mandatory treatment order instead and underwent psychiatric treatment as required.
Yee, meanwhile, had surgery and is not only cancer-free now, with “a new lease of life”, but free to pursue her advocacy for people with invisible needs, who “deserve to be heard and … understood”.
Running has long been a coping mechanism for Yee, but she has slowed her pace since her cancer diagnosis and treatment.
“Cancer won’t stop me,” she said. “I refuse to give it that credit.”
Even though her pro bono cases can be stressful, “because sometimes there’s no good outcome, no matter how hard you try”, the emotional toll does not hold back the lawyer who was called to the Bar in 1987.
“I’ll lose sleep over it,” she shared. “My family knows, and they’ll be my comforters, and they’ll remind me, ‘Hey, you know there’s only so much you can do.’”
Ultimately, she feels a “huge sense of responsibility” for each case she takes on, she said. “Because (with) every case, there’s someone’s life story in there. It’s not just four numbers on a file.”
Watch Peggy Yee’s story here. The series, Extraordinary People, pays homage to a successful, iconic documentary series of the same name, produced in the 1990s by predecessors of CNA’s current affairs department.
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