Criminal Law in Malaysia

Crime is a deliberate or reckless action that causes harm to another either of his person or property and the law is required to maintain order in society by confining lawbreakers besides preventing them from violating the rights of others. Criminal law which is among the oldest branches of law is a body of law that defines criminal offenses that threaten, harmful, or dangerous for someone’s health, safety, property, or general well-being, and lays down a punishment that can be imposed on an individual or group of people who committed the crime. These include crimes like homicide, assault, theft, robbery, drug trafficking, corporate fraud, and treason, among others. The punishment varies with the severity of the offence. Further, the punishment to be meted out must be in proportion to the guilt of the accused. The book Criminal Law in Malaysia consists of thirty (31) chapters and involves a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of important components of criminal law such as the elements of crime, criminal responsibility, general defenses, and attempts. Offences relating to person and property such as murder, culpable homicide, grievous hurt and hurt, theft, extortion, robbery, misappropriation, breach of trust, and cheating are also discussed in this book. Group or joint criminal liability, abetment, and conspiracy are also featured in this book. Further, specific offences are also included such as waging war against Yang-di-Pertuan Agong, terrorism and possession of offensive weapons, drug offences, money laundering, cybercrime, corporate criminal liability, and sedition. The additional feature of this book is its coverage of the misprision of felonies, courts’ criminal jurisdiction and criminal process, Islamic criminal law, and international criminal law. The book also covers the recently passed Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023 in relation to the abolishment of the mandatory death sentence in several penal statutes such as the Penal Code, the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971, the Arms Act 1960, the Kidnapping Act 1961, the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and the Strategic Trade Act 2010. It replaced it with the discretionary death penalty and this is apart from replacing the imprisonment for natural life to imprisonment for a specified duration. The Revision of Sentences of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Bill 2023 is also featured in the book. The last-mentioned Bill seeks to provide for the temporary revisionary jurisdiction of the Federal Court to review the sentence of death imposed on a convicted person following the amendments made to the above mentioned statutes vide the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023. The coverage of this book is largely on the Malaysian contents and with reference to both the statutory law and decided case. The chapters are contributed by a pool of local and international academics who are extensively involved in the research and publication on this subject. Admittedly, this book would be an excellent source of reference for undergraduate students pursuing the law programme to acquire an understanding of existing statutory and case law on the subject. The non-legal communities would also find this book useful to understand the theoretical and practical application of criminal law. Besides, the chapters have been written in simple language and the contents are easily comprehensible. At the outset, as the general editors of this title, we would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all the contributors for their extensive research in terms of the collection of laws, principles, and authorities. Their research and multifarious knowledge of this subject would certainly make this book an excellent source of reference for all those interested in this subject