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Question No 7
Counselling for offenders given non-custodial sentences
REPLY BY THE SECRETARY FOR HEALTH & WELFARE
TO A QUESTION ASKEN BY THE HON, CHAN YING-LUN IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 1988
7. MR. CHAN YING-LUN asked (in Cantonese):
Question: Will Government inform this Council what
counselling services are available to offenders convicted and given non-custodial sentences, what types of offenders are likely to benefit from rehabilitative counselling, and whether Government has plans to allocate more resources to these services?
SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE:
Sir,
There are a number of circumstances under which an
offender given a non-custodial sentence may receive
rehabilitative counselling. Persons subject to probation
orders or community service orders are required to undergo
rehabilitative counselling provided by staff of the Social
Welfare Department. In other cases, a court may refer
offenders to the Department for counselling or other welfare
services. An offender may also receive counselling at his
own request, in which case the service may be provided by
either the Social Welfare Department or by a voluntary
agency. In addition the Society for the Rehabilitation of
Offenders has since April 1987 been operating a pilot
project to provide counselling for offenders who are given
non-custodial sentences.