Sittings of Courts.
New Terri- tories.
Composition
52
nasium and therefore easily accessible. The Magistrate's room at the Kowloon Police Court would make a suitable Juvenile Court for Kowloon. A detention room for juveniles (males only) in Kowloon should be set apart at Yaumati Police Station where young offenders may be detained overnight in the event of there being a sitting of the Juvenile Court on the following day. In all other cases the offenders should go to the Remand Home.
All female juvenile offenders should be sent as at present to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs who will be responsible for their custody and make such arrangements for holding them as appear to him advisable. Special reference to the custody of female juvenile offenders appears in a later paragraph.
In this connection we recommend that all places in which juvenile offenders are detained either before or after trial should be inspected at regular intervals by visiting Justices appointed for the purpose.
We consider that the number of delinquents, male and female, as shown in Appendix III, does not call for daily sittings of the Juvenile Courts, which should be held three times a week in Hong Kong and twice a week in Kowloon. The sittings should be arranged for the afternoon for the con- venience of both the regular Magistrates and the Justices of the Peace. It is tentatively suggested that Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays be allotted for sittings of the Hong Kong (Victoria) Court and Tuesdays and Thursdays for the Kowloon Court. The New Territory Courts will sit as required.
With reference to the New Territories, it is considered that the District Officers should be fully capable of dealing with the few cases which are likely to come to their notice in their own Courts which are less formidable in appearance than the City Courts.
We recommend that the Stipendiary Magistrates in Hong Kong and Kow- of Courts. loon assisted by two Justices of the Peace, one of whom may be a woman, should constitute the Court to try juvenile cases. Our recommendation involves the appointment of women Justices of the Peace, which appointments will of course necessitate a departure from the existing practice of appointing males only as Justices of the Peace and is a matter for the Government. But we respectfully submit that such departure is in accordance with the modern tendency towards the removal of sex disqualification, and that it is highly desirable in the interests of juveniles.
Police.
Probation Officers.
In the handling of young offenders the police play a prominent part; we have therefore the following recommendation to make. Firstly we consider that special police officers should be detailed to handle delinquent and vagrant children and young girls before they actually come before the Juvenile Courts. After the arrest of the offender it will be necessary for police officers to collect, for the information of the Court, such data as may be available as to his home surroundings and history. We are also agreed that the Remand Home for juvenile boy offenders should be under the charge of a police officer and details of our recommendations appear in the paragraph dealing with Remand Homes. Finally we consider that juvenile offenders when first brought to Station should not be taken to the station charge room but to the Inspector's office where they would not come in contact with adult prisoners.
One of the most important features of the Juvenile Courts are the Proba- tion Officers. Section 9 of the Bill submitted gives full details concerning these officers, their powers and their duties. It is their duty to receive reports from the persons under supervision (Sec. 9 ss. 8) (a) to see that they observe the conditions of the recognizance, (b) to report to the Court as to their behaviour, (c) to advise. assist and befriend them and when necessary to find them suitable employment. Such officers must therefore be able to speak the language of the offenders and be in a position to trace them when required and keep in touch with them until they are released from the supervision of the Courts. We therefore recommend that these Probation Officers should be Chinese of good education between the ages of 25-30. There should be two male Probation Officers to begin with, one for Hong Kong and one for Kowloon