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Mr Male (PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts)
MP'S LETTER: DEATH PENALTY IN HONG KONG
1. Mr Ben Ford MP (Labour, Bradford North) has written to the Secretary of State enclosing a letter from Mr Fong Yun Wah
in Hong Kong calling for the application of capital punish- ment in the Colony.
2. Mr Fong, who is Fresident of the Aberdeen Kai Fong Welfare Association, wrote to the Secretary of State on this subject in June last year and received an acknowledgement from the Department. Mr Ford also wrote independently to Lord Goronwy-Roberts on 9 July 1974 and received a full reply explaining the dilemma in which the Secretary of State and the Governor find themselves on this matter.
3. There has been little substantive change in the situation since this exchange of correspondence. Lord Goronwy-Roberts may recall that in March of this year the Governor agreed that members of the Executive Council should feel free to abstain from
giving advice on death sentences in cases in which they would advise that the law should take its course. We would not, however,
wish to reveal this to Mr Ford.
4. One allegation made which has not been covered in previous correspondence by Mr Ford is that the cessation of capital punish- ment has resulted in a great increase in capital crimes. This is
not borne out by the statistics. Figures enclosed with the Colonial Flag Secretary's letter of 4 August 1973 showed that the incidence of 166 murder and manslaughter (homicide) has risen substantially since
the early 1960's but no faster than that of other major crimes. The homicide rate dropped slightly in 1973-74 (to 110 and 102 respectively) but it has risen again this year (to 61 as at 9 June, according to the Hong Kong press).
5. I recommend that Lord Goronwy-Roberts should write to Mr Ford on the lines of the attached draft and that copies of the exchange (including the letter from Mr Fong) should be forwarded
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