FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1983
CRIMES BY YOUTH CAUSE CONCERN
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GOVERNMENT AND THE POLICE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE HIGH NUMBER OF CRIMES, MANY OF THEM SERIOUS AND VIOLENT, BEING COMMITTED BY YOUNG MALES AGED BETWEEN 14 AND 20, THE ACTING GOVERNOR, SIR PHILIP HADDON-CAVE, SAID TODAY (FRIDAY).
SPEAKING AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TO LAUNCH THE 1983/84 FIGHT YOUTH CRIME CAMPAIGN, SIR PHILIP, WHO IS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NEWLY RECONSTITUTED FIGHT CRIME COMMITTEE, SAID THIS YEAR'S CAMPAIGN WOULD BE TARGETED AT YOUNG MALES IN THAT AGE GROUP WHOSE RECORD OF CRIME WAS VASTLY DISPROPORTIONATE TO THEIR NUMBERS.
''STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT IN THE THREE YEARS BETWEEN 1980 AND 1982, YOUNG MALES WITHIN THE 14-20 AGE GROUP WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR ABOUT 33 PER CENT, OR ONE-THIRD, OF ALL MALE CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS IN HONG KONG.
''WHAT IS EVEN MORE ALARMING IS THAT THIS GROUP REPRESENTS ONLY 15 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL MALE POPULATION AND, THEREFORE, POSES ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO LAW AND ORDER HERE,'
HE SAID.
ANOTHER DISTURBING ASPECT OF THIS CRIME PATTERN HAS BEEN THE NUMBER OF SUCH YOUNG MEN PROSECUTED FOR VIOLENT AND SERIOUS CRIMES.
''IT IS APPALLING WHEN YOU ARE FACED WITH THE STARK FACT THAT THOSE YOUNG MALES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR A CATALOGUE OF SERIOUS CRIMES SUCH AS MURDER, ROBBERY, SERIOUS ASSAULT, BURGLARY, CAR THEFT AND SO ON, SIR PHILIP ADDED.
DURING 1982 THEY WERE PROSECUTED FOR 34 MURDERS (41% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF MURDERS); 1 040 SERIOUS ASSAULTS (29%); 776 RROBBEERIES (49%) AND 479 BURGLARIES (44%). THEY ALSO STOLE 257 VEHICLES (54%) AND COMMITTED 348 THEFTS FROM VEHICLES (46%).
THE FIRST FIGHT YOUTH CRIME CAMPAIGN WAS LAUNCHED IN APRIL 1981 TO COUNTER A SUDDEN AND UNEXPLAINED UPSURGE IN THE NUMBER OF JUVENILES BECOMING INVOLVED IN CRIME.
WITHIN FOUR MONTHS, FIGURES FOR PROSECUTIONS AGAINST THOSE AGED BETWEEN SEVEN AND 15 BEGAN TO DROP AND HAVE CONTINUED TO DO SO.
IN 1982, A TOTAL OF 2 846 JUVENILES WERE PROSECUTED, REPRESENTING A DROP OF 839 CASES OR ABOUT 23 PER CENT. DURING THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR THERE WAS A DROP OF ABOUT 35 PER CENT WHEN COMPARED WITH THE CORRESPONDING QUARTER IN 1981 - THE PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE LAUNCHING OF THE CAMPAIGN.
''THE MOST HEARTENING POINT ABOUT THOSE FIGURES HAS BEEN THE DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF JUVENILES PROSECUTED FOR SERIOUS AND KEY CRIME, SIR PHILIP SAID.
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/IN 1982