C.S.O. 3690/30.
51
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HONG KONG.
No.
3
1931
REPORT ON THE MEASURES REQUIRED FOR THE INSTITUTION OF
JUVENILE COURTS IN HONG KONG.
In December 1930 we were appointed by H.E. the Governor to report on General. the measures required for the institution of Juvenile Courts in this Colony. We have held ten meetings. We have also considered all the documents on this subject placed at our disposal including the model Ordinance forwarded by the Secretary of State for the Colonies for adoption in this as well as other Colonies and we have received information from a number of government officers including the Acting Chief Justice, the Police Magistrate, the Super- intendent of Prisons and also Mr. T. M. Hazlerigg, a member of this Committee, in his capacity as one of the Hon. Secretaries of the Society for the Protection of Children. We have inspected the only institution in the Colony dedicated to the interests of juvenile offenders, viz. the Belilios Reformatory, which was opened as a reformatory in 1901. In the then prevailing circumstances this reformatory was found to be unworkable and was accordingly closed within a year of its inauguration. This institution has since been adapted for chari- table work and has been in the hands of the French Convent Authorities during the past sixteen years as a home for destitute and needy women and girls.
Our investigations have resulted in the unanimous opinion that Juvenile Courts together with the attendant institutions and officers necessary to enable them to function fully and satisfactorily are long overdue.
Our interim report urging the early introduction of the necessary legisla- tion was forwarded to you together with a draft Bill (Appendix I)* based on the model Bill on the 29th April last. The draft Bill is adapted to local needs and has the same main source as the model Bill, namely the Children's Act 1908, but it incorporates certain English legislation, notably, Section 2 of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907, Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925, and Sections 105 and 114 of the Children's Act 1908, which had not been adopted by the draftsmen of the model Bill. After careful deliberation we considered the addition of these clauses to be necessary and adopted them accordingly.
The new legislation calls for separate Courts for juveniles. There are no Courts. such Courts in the Colony at present and funds are clearly not available to build new Courts at the present time. It is in our opinion essential that the Police Courts should not be used for the trial of juvenile offenders as the whole atmosphere of such Courts is repugnant to modern ideas of dealing with young delinquents. We therefore advocate the use of the police gymnasium at Police Headquarters as a suitable Court for juvenile offenders in Victoria if adequately fitted up. A portion of the gymnasium or the adjoining chang- ing room could be adapted at small cost as a Probation Officers' room. also recommend the division of the present large detention room for deportees in the block of police offices into two parts with separate entrances so that a detention room away from the police cells may be provided for juvenile offenders who cannot be sent at once to the Remand Home which is dealt with in detail later. This room is in the same building as the gym-
* Not printed.
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