(HKK.14/38)
Hong Kong Department
29 October, 1970
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With your letter to Marsh No. CRI.249/3/99 of 29 September you were good enough to send us figures for certain indictable offences known to the police in Birmingham. This was in addition to material on detention centres which Magan kindly sent us with his letter PDG.106/1/78 of 8 September.
us.
At the risk of being regarded as a nuisance, I am venturing to trouble you once again about another matter on which the Governor of Hong Kong has approached
He is wondering whether the introduction of legis- lation to make mandatory a minimum sentence involving imprisonment for certain classes of offence - for example being found in possession of an offensive weapon at the time of committing an offence involving violence., would act
as an effective deterrent.
In this context, however, there is a special complication in the case of juveniles and young persons. The Criminal Procedure Ordinance of Hong Kong in effect forbids a court to sentence a person under twenty one to imprisonment unless it is satisfied that no other method of dealing with him is appropriate. Recourse to such a measure in these cases would therefore involve the introduction of an amendment which would enable any provision for minimum sentences to be applied not only to those over twenty one but also to those under that age. It would, of course, be necessary to ensure that if young offenders were sentenced to imprisonment, they would not be incarcerated with hardened criminals and the provision of separate secure institutions for them might be a prerequisite for the introduction of minimur sentences in their caso.
There are, of course, certain obvious objections to such a course, but perhaps you would let us know what the attitude to minimum sentences is in this country and whether there is, in fact, any provision for them here in particular types of offence.
S.W. Bennett, Esq.,
Home Office,
Whitehall, S.W.1.
(A.W. Gaminara)
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