CONFIDENTIAL
amongst other things, to incorporate into the permanent law of Hong Kong the provisions of the Emergency (Deportation and Detention) Regulations and also to provide powers for the deportation of British subjects. We shall need to look carefully at the provisions of this Bill since some of them may present problems here which will give rise to serious criticism in Parliament. You may rest assured that in so doing we shall bear in mind the particular circumstances and needs of Hong Kong, including of course the considerations mentioned in your letter. 6. You mention the "well-known" objections to the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences for certain categories of offences. Any proposal to introduce mandatory minimum sentences in this country would, we are told by the Home Office, meet with the strongest resistance from judges and magistrates. Such sentences are indeed generally regarded in Government circles in Great Britain as contrary to the long established principle in the administration of justice that the Government and Parliament should indicate the relative gravity of an offence by prescribing the maximum penalty which is considered appropriate, but that subject to that statutory limit the Court itself should have discretion to determine the penalty for an offence after taking into account all the circumstances of both the individual offence and of the individual offender. The Home Office have more specifi- oally commented to us on the practical difficulties of fixing a minimum sentence, e.g. if set allow enough to cover cases with special mitigatory circumstances, it might well appear derisory when applied to the generality of cases: if fixed even with the average case in mind, there would be bound to be instances where it would be too harsh. So far as we know, the only exceptions to the above general principles are the mandatory penalty of life imprisonment for murder and the mandatory disqualification from driving on conviction for certain motoring offences. In these particular cases special considerations are held to apply.
7. In this connection you may be interested to know that recently enacted legislation in Northern Ireland, under which persons convicted of certain offences committed during the period of the present emergency receive minimum sentences of imprisonment, is reported "to have thrown up certain problems. We are asking for further information about this and if the problems in question prove relevant to the situation in Hong Kong I will pass the information on to you.
8. Varying views have been expressed by different authorities on the deterrent effect of various penalties and punishments, but in our view (and in the view of our police advisers) this effect can only be determined in the light of local circumstances. Constant police vigilance and the rigid control of the possession of offensive weapons seem to offer as good a prospect as any of reducing violent crime.
9. We should be glad if you would keep us in touch with developments in this field.
(L. Monson)
CONFIDENTIAL