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Answer:
Mr President,
There is a specific sentence for murder. Since the enactment of the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1993, any person convicted of murder receives a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life.
Other serious crimes do not carry mandatory sentences, but are subject to a maximum sentence. The circumstances in which a particular type of offence may be committed are infinitely varied. There may be strong mitigating circumstances in respect of even serious offences. A fixed or minimum sentence would not allow the judge to take into account all the relevant circumstances when imposing an appropriate
sentence.
In addition, one possible effect of having offences which carry a fixed or minimum sentence might be an undesirable reluctance on the part of judges and juries to convict.
The Administration is not considering introducing legislation of the type referred to in the question.
End/Wednesday, March 22, 1995
Public displays of new airport project
Following is a question by the Hon Jimmy McGregor and a written reply by the Secretary for Works, Mr James Blake, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
It is learnt that the Provisional Airport Authority has arranged public displays on the progress of the Chek Lap Kok airport project and its associated transport systems in order to provide Hong Kong people with Information on the airport project. Will the Government inform this Council whether it will arrange for a number of publie displays of descriptive and pictorial illustrations of such progress, with an indication of the percentage completion of each of the principal core projects, at appropriate venues much frequented by the public: and if so, whether such displays will be up-dated each month until the completion of the airport project?