TNAG-0396-FCO40-442-Problem-of-increase-in-crime-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 59

SPEECH BY THE HON. ATTORNEY GENERAL (ACTING) IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 23RD MAY.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (AMENDMENT) BILL 1973.

SECOND READING.

Sir,

I move the Second Reading of the Criminal Procedure

(Amendment) Bill 1973.

Honourable Members will recall that, during the debate

on the Governor's address on the 15th November, 1972, the Attorney

General said that the Government was considering the introduction

of a system of preventive detention, the object of which is to

remove habitual criminals from society for long periods.

The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 1973 is

designed to give effect to this proposal and generally follows

the provisions of the United Kingdom Criminal Justice Act, 1948.

This Act was repealed in the United Kingdom in 1967 and replaced

by a somewhat similar system of what is called "enhanced

sentences".

It is fair to point out that this form of preventive

detention does not seem to have been particularly successful

in the United Kingdom. This may well have been due to the reluc-

tance of the courts in some cases to pass a sentence of imprison-

ment for longer than that which was appropriate for the offence

of which the accused had just been convicted. The Bill, however,

seeks to avoid this objection by providing that an ordinary

sentence shall be passed for the offence for which the accused

is in front of the court and that a sentence of preventive

detention shall be added thereafter.

The failure of preventive detention in the United

Kingdom may also be attributable to the fact that it was sometimes

used by the courts in cases not intended by the legislature.

It is a system which ought obviously to be used only against

hardened criminals who are a positive menace to society.

For