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person convicted of an offence under this section.
Practical experience of the working of this
section, since its enactment last year, has made it
desirable to remove certain doubts which have arisen as to
its effect and to widen the scope of the powers of punish-
ment available to the courts when dealing with a person
convicted under this section.
The new section 33 (2) sets out, in detail, the
ways in which a court may deal with a person convicted
under the section. The main changes introduced are as
follows :
(a)
(b)
a person over 13 and under 17 years may also be
sentenced to corporal punishment or to detention
in a training centre, if there is no room for him
in a detention centre, as alternatives to
imprisonment or a detention centre order;
a person aged 17 or more may also be sentenced
to corporal punishment, as an alternative to
imprisonment or a detention centre order.
The opportunity has been taken to make it clear
that section 36 of the Magistrates Ordinance and section
3(1) of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance, which enable
a magistrate to make an order discharging an offender or
putting him on probation without proceeding to conviction,
and section 11(2) of the Juvenile Offenders Ordinance,
do not apply where a person is charged with an offence under this section (new section 33(3) and (4))
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