TNAG-0396-FCO40-442-Problem-of-increase-in-crime-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 75

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C.S. 84

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XCR(73)90

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A form of preventive detention was in force in the United Kingdom for almost 20 years after the war and provided that a person who had been convicted of a serious crime on three or more previous occasions, and had been sentenced to at least two custodial sentences, could be detained as a habitual criminal for between

5 to 14 years. It is, however, fair to point out that it was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1967 because it was considered to have failed in its purpose.

This seems to have been due to the reluctance of the courts to pass a sentence of imprisonment for longer than that which was appropriate for the offence of which the accused had just been convicted. The Bill seeks to avoid this objection by providing that an ordinary sentence shall be passed for the offence, and one of preventive detention added thereafter.

C

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The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 1973 (Annex C) is designed to give effect to this proposal and generally follows the former United Kingdom provisions, By virtue of the Bill, it will be open to the Supreme Court or the District Court to sentence an offender to not less than 5 nor more than 14 years preventive detention, if the conditions set out in the new section 1091 are satisfied. These conditions are

that the person shall be not less than 25 years of age;

(a)

(b)

that he is convicted of an offence punishable with at least two years' imprisonment;

(c)

that he has been convicted on at least 3 previous occasions since the age of 17 of offences punishable with such a sentence;

(d)

that he was sentenced to a custodial sentence on at least 2 of these 3 previous occasions; and

(e)

that he was on at least one of the 3 previous occasions sentenced to not less than two years' imprisonment.

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The object of requiring these conditions to be satisfied is to make it clear that preventive detention is only to be used as a last resort, when all other forms of punishment have failed to protect society against a man who has, in effect, become a professional criminal.

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