XN000022-1973-09-20 — Page 4

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Thursday, September 20, 1973

INVOLVING THE COMMUNITY IN REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS

In an attempt to evoke community involvement in the treatment

and rehabilitation of offenders and in the prevention of crime in Hong

Kong, the Probation and Corrections Division of the Social Welfare Department

is operating a small pilot project to establish the feasibility of open

recruitment of volunteers.

According to Mr. Wallace Lee, Principal Probation Officer, volunteer

service has become an integral part of the probation service in developed

countries and has met with a reasonably good measure of success.

"The idea of our pilot project is to assess if there are any

difficulties we may come across if the scheme is introduced in Hong Kong,"

he said.

At present, there are five probation officers who are each supervising

a volunteer for the probationers in the project.

Two of the volunteers are girls, one a student and the other a

clerk. The others are a student, an accountant and a government servant.

"The volunteers come from different backgrounds and are sympathetic

to probationers. The work they are doing with the probationers includes

private tutoring, teaching them hobbies and introducing them to different

social activities.

'This informal approach has so far proved to be useful in winning

over the offenders to lead a better normal life. For the volunteers themselves

it is an opportunity to gain a better understanding about delinquency,

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said Mr. Loc.

"It is