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Chapter X
Working Group on Youth
The Working Group on Youth continued to study ways of improving the existing arrangements for dealing with young offenders up to the age of 24 and young persons in need of care and protection. The working group made recommenda- tions to us on a range of issues. They included additional guidelines for the administration of the Police Superintendent's Discretion Scheme, the separation of the administration of cases dealing with care and protection from those involving criminal offences, and the employment of properly trained teachers to run educational programmes in institutions run by the Social Welfare Department and voluntary agencies.
The working group supported in principle the idea of a Young Offender Authority for Hong Kong. A working party has been set up to consider how the Authority could operate in practice.
Chapter XI - Commercial crime
The Standing Liaison Committee on Commercial Crime continued to examine the overall problem of commercial crime, to co-ordinate the work of all the Government departments concerned and to task its Operational Targetting Committee with the investigation of serious cases.
The Evidence Amendment Bill, passed into law in June 1984, has enabled the Commercial Crime Unit to take up a number of major prosecutions, which would otherwise have foundered. present, eighteen major cases are under investigation or prosecution.
The Supreme Court Ordinance was amended in August 1985. It enables the Police to take legal action to freeze items reasonably suspected to be the proceeds of a criminal offence.
The Standing Liaison Committee continues to consider -
(a)
computer crime;
(b) relaxation of secrecy provisions in the Securities and Commodities Trading Ordinances;
(c)
jurisdiction to prosecute crimes where any material element is committed in Hong Kong;
(d)
inertia selling; and
(e)
the penalty for conspiracy to defraud.
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