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The rates for persons living in estates built before 1973 (Group B public housing estates) were
particularly high. Details of a comparison of crime in private residential and public housing estate buildings are at Appendix X.
12.4 The RSC also found that a high proportion of robberies and snatching offences occurred in places such as public corridors and staircases. The RSC considered that long corridors and dark corners should be avoided in the construction of new public housing estates.
Crime involvement of public housing estate tenants
12.5 Regarding the involvement of public housing estate tenants in crime, the findings were
(a)
the overall prosecution rate for public housing estate tenants was lower than that for non-estate tenants. However, the rates were higher in the age groups 7-15, 16-20 and 31-40 (rate per 100,000 population in these age groups for estate tenants and non-estate tenants were 446.7, 1574.6, 854.8 and 335.5, 1349.4, 794.4 respectively);
(b) the tenant-offenders were younger than
the non-tenant offenders (median ages of tenant offenders and non-tenant offenders were 23.7 and 27.1 respectively);
(c)
(a)
it was more common for public housing estate tenants to commit such violent crime as serious assaults and robberies. The prosecution rates of public housing estate tenants were also higher for crimes such as trafficking in dangerous drugs, snatching, theft from a vehicle and taking a vehicle without authority; and
the proportions of tenant-offenders being recidivists, triad-society
members or drug addicts were all higher than those among non-tenant offenders.
Views of the Director of Housing
12.6
The Director of Housing was invited to comment on the findings of the report. The RSC noted that the designs of the majority of current housing estate blocks already avoided the use of long corridors. With regard to existing older blocks, the RSC was informed that corridors and staircases were well lit and decoration maintained in a good light colour.