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Page & THE STAR, Hongkong, Friday, May 25, 1973.
STAR
MAY 25it 73
Sir Ivo leaves HK with a warning
WHAT WE ARE
DOING
IS WRONG
JUST after the crack of dawn tomorrow, Sir Ivo Rigby, our Chief Justice for the last three years and a Puisne Judge for 12 will leave Hongkong on retirement.
In an interview with The STAR he said he was leaving Hongkong with mixed feelings and gave us in some detail why
the state of affairs here will prevent him for having only pleasant memories:
"I love Hongkong and its
Sir Ivo predicts a grim future for Hongkong
W
ITH a trend towards longer and stiffer sentences being introduced in new laws, Sir Ive predicted a grim future for the community in Hongkong.
"I am glad I shall not be here to reap the bitter harvest when young persons carving long sentences are released.
"For that reason I have continuously suggested alternatives to long periods of imprisonment.
"For lesser offences all should be done to avoid prison sentences and instead one should consider corporal punishment, probation or detention in training centres.
There is a tradition block here against accepting people who have been con- victed of crimes back into society.
"There should perhaps be a campaign to encourage social acceptance of such people.
"It is certainly true to say that many Chinese employers have refused to give employment to persons who have been convicted of crimes.
S
"It is worse than useless that at the end of a prison sentence a young offender is simply released without some employment for him to go to.
"It is in the interest of the community to rehabilitate such people and find employ- ment for them on release from prison.
"The Commissioner of Prisons has recently advocated a very good system of parole
in addition to the one third remission a prisoner earns for good con- duct
"A socially re-integrated convicted offender must surely be worth more to society in the long run than an over sentenced bitter, moral wreck.
"Until public opinion is ready to accept re-integration into society as the ultimate purpose of punishment the momen- tum of anti-social attitude will simply be increased and the task of halting and preventing crime will become more im- peded," he said.
people and we (my wife and I) will leave behind some very real friends.
"But I regret extremely the increase in jurisdiction of both magistrates and District Court Judges and for my part have grave doubt on the necessity for
it.
"I have always been a firm believer in trial by jury.
"It is only right and proper that a man charged with a serious offence should not have the decision of his guilt or in- nocence vested in one man.
Collective
"It should be the collective decision of a group of citizens we call a jury.
"It is not a criticism of the magistrates or judges but of the heavy responsibility left on the shoulders of one man.
"Insofar as the magistrates' courts are concerned I would have liked to see an appeal against conviction by a magistrate follow the same course as it does in Britain.
"Such an appeal is by way of a completely fresh trial.”
I'm in favour of hanging —but
IR Ivo Ribgy insists that hanging must con- tinuc on the law books
as a penalty but with con- ditions.
"I am a firm believer in the continuance of capital punishment but it requires to be most sparingly used and only in the worst type of
cases.
"One hears the comment that the sentence has not been carried out in some 30 cases in the past six years.
"There is really no doubt in my mind that the reason for that is that in each case there have been some ex- tenuating circumstances.
''Consider the case of the bestial and brutal murder by Charles Manson and his gang of degenerates in the murder of Sharon Tate, the film actress, and the utterly callous manner in which it was carried out.
"They should have been summarily executed after their trial and conviction.
"To me such persons are no better than dangerous ver- min and ought to be exter- minated.
with reservations
"The taxpayer should not In Hongkong the cir- have to pay for their sub- cumstances of the offender in sistence on this earth.
a case of murder are placed fully before the Governor and his Council.
"There should be capital punishment not so much as a
deterrent but as an expres sion of the emphatic denun- ciation of a foul crime".
And circumstances such as age are a very material con-
LADY FIGBY.
sideration.
"Youth is an extenuating circumstance."
"in the same way for any brutal, deliberate and premeditated murder, capital punishment is the answer."
T
Anti-crime campaign is not the best way to fight crime
HE current anti-crime campaign brought to court.“ is not the best way to spend money to fight crime, according to Sir Ivo Rigby.
"The money being spent on propaganda might be used to get more policemen and put them on the beat." "I can well understand the fear of the poor person living in a resettlement estate of theft and violence and also the circumstances for them putting pressure on to get drastic action against offenders."
"It is not the severity of sentence which will eradicate these offenders but the stainty of being found-out and
preventive detention and mandatory sentences that have come along with the campaign in the shape of new bills.
"If you had more policemen, if you had more police stations and posts and had policemen patrolling in sight of "Preventive detention has been tried these residents in uniform then you in Britain and was abolished because the might give them that sense of security judges rejected it in principle." and confidence they so much need." "Also it is always for a court to "What is the use of campaigning decide on the particular facts and cir- through the media unless you have got cumstances of each case and decide the policemen to give the residents that what the appropriate penalty should sense of security."
"Quite obviously with that sense of confidence and security you are going to overcome their apathy and get their co- operation and assistance.
Sir Ivo also did not approve of the
be."
I
"For my part, with utmost respect, deprecate the interference by the legislature with the traditional powers, of discretion hitherto vested in the trial court."
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