THREE years in the making and passed by Parliament last October, the Penal Code amendments, which now provide stiffer penalties for a range of offences, came into force on Friday.

A check at the Subordinate Courts revealed no one has yet to be charged under the new laws.

The penalties for some 360 offences were examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, with feedback from the Law Society and the public.

Following that, 56 offences had their maximum fines raised, 110 had their maximum jail time increased, and penalties for 208 remain unchanged.

Lawyers hope that the heftier maximum fines will give judges the flexibility to impose heavier fines and shorter jail terms, where warranted.

Criminal lawyer B.J. Lean said: "Also, the removal of minimum jail terms for offences, such as vehicle theft and dishonestly receiving stolen property, will put more sentencing flexibility in the hands of the courts."

Lawyer Alan Moh described as "timely" a new section in the Penal Code that raises the penalties for those who commit "racially or religiously aggravated" offences by 1.5 times. "Courts should come down harder of such offenders as these offences have the potential to create racial or religious strife within the community," he said.

Rioting, causing hurt, outrage of modesty and criminal intimidation will be considered "racially or religiously aggravated" when the offences are motivated by hostility towards the victim's race or religion, or because of the victim's membership in a racial or religious group.

With the maximum penalty for causing hurt increasing from a year's jail and a $1,000 fine to two years' jail and a $5,000 fine, an offender convicted of a racially or religiously aggravated offence could be jailed for up to three years and fined up to $7,500.

Life imprisonment has been removed from 13 offences, caning introduced for five, and maximum imprisonment reduced for another five.

As counterfeiting of currency is no longer prevalent, it is now considered not so serious to warrant life imprisonment.

Judges will also have the option of ordering caning for five offences, including joining an unlawful assembly while armed with a deadly weapon, manslaughter and causing hurt with poison.

The move to increase the maximum fine also took into account the value of money these days, based on the Consumer Price Index.

Fines were last revised in 1952, when all amounts were doubled.