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Crime bills:
14 MAY 1973 C
new blast
THE question of "police confessions" ought to have been considered by the planners of the anti-crime campaign, the Bar Association has said in a statement.
The statement, as exclusively reported in Saturday's MAIL, attacks the new legislation brought in by Government to back its crime-busting campaign.
The statement, issued by a special Bar Association committee set up to investigate crime and punishment, says fewer defendants will be able to obtain legal aid and there is a risk of innocent people being convicted, because of the new measures.
It also criticises mandatory sentences, the introduction of caning for some offenders over 13 years, preventive detention, and the fact that fewer defendants will have the benefit of trial by jury..
Abolition
The statement says Governinent has sought to justify the changes, "which are prejudicial to the liberty of the subject," by saying there is a need to relieve the burden on the courts.
But, says the statement, the Chief Justice, Sir Ivo Rigby, has "unlimited power" to appoint Commissioners of the Supreme Court.
He can appoint them from the ranks of the Bar, or from district judges.
In addition, the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose can appoint more acting district judges and magistrates.
"If more judges are needed. then these powers of appointment should be used," it says.
On police confessions, the statement says the present arrangements lead to "repeated public allegations of police brutality."
These seriously damage public relations with the police ; because of trial procedure there is a conflict between the police and the judiciary which damages the confidence "each has in the other."
It calls for the abolition of "that part of the trial called voir dire." This is the part of the trial where legal arguments take place (almost always in the absence of the jury) on whether or not? certain evidence is admissible.
In the case of police confessions, it can often be a lengthy procedure.
Basic right
The statement claims that the present system can lead to "the use or rejection of police evidence in instances which probably lead in some cases to acquittals of the guity and conviction of the innocent.
The statement ends its comments on this subject by saying: "The Government, instead of grasping the nettle of police confessions, has chosen to extend summary justice, a step
requiring only a few strokes of the pen.
"This is not good government."
The statement does not put forward an alternative to the present procedure - principally because, in the past, the Bar Association has made lengthy recommendations on the subject.
However, there is a growing feeling among the judiciary that confessions should be made betöre a magistrate.
The Hongkong branch of the international organisation for law and order, Justice, has also come out against the new bills.
In a weekend Press release the organisation makes the point that the Chief Justice has the power to appoint Commissioners to the- Surpreme Court and that temporary district court judges can be appointed.
It says the new laws will mean that an offender will face a sentence of either four or seven years without the "basic right of jury trial" and with greatly restricted access to legal aid.
"Justice deplores the fact that the Government of Hongkong and its legal advisers think that the liberty of the individual citizen of Hongkong is of less importance than a good publicity gimmick," the release concluded.
1
Students slam keen police
OVERZEALOUS policemen on the beat frequently arouse public resentment, a student paper claimed when criticising police stop-and-search measures.
The paper, the Young Reporter, states in an editorial on the coming Fight Crime Campaign that planners have to face the real possibility of conflict between the public and the police.
"Only with mutual understanding and tolerance can the campaign be successfully carried,” the paper states.
"What is needed now is not just the moral assent but also the active support and co-operation of the citizenry," it adds.
It claimed that past anti-crime campaigns had failed because they had not tackled the problem at its roots.
"The best way to combat crime is to educate people on its prevention."
14 May 1970 PS
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