TNAG-1555-FCO40-2119-Broadcasting-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 91

5.21

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Section 12 (2) (a) lowered the degree of proof to obtain a conviction for a crime by throwing the evidential burden on the defendant. Section 12(2)(c) placed a probative burden on the supervisee if he was found in premises in suspicious circumstances. ΤΟ avoid conviction he had to be "able to account to the satisfaction of the magistrate before whom he was brought for his being on such premises".

5.22

It is widely acknowledged that the Government's action in the 1950s severely curtailed triad activity well into the 1960s. But over the years the Ordinance lost its effectiveness, primarily because the courts had become more concerned with rehabilitation of offenders and indeed had new options available for reform, Correctional Services Training Centres and Drug Addiction Treatment Centres. The courts accordingly became unwilling to use the Ordinance except in cases where the persons had a long criminal record, that is to say persons of known bad character who habitually lead a life of criminal dishonesty.* Because the target group was limited in this way the Ordinance no longer had much of a deterrent effect and was no longer useful in providing the Police with a source of intelligence. So, long before the Ordinance was repealed in 1983, it had lost its effectiveness.

Options

5.23

The current situation is not as grave as that pertaining in 1956. But gang fights, woundings and intimidation are a serious problem. An option for consideration is thus to introduce a milder form of the Police Supervision Ordinance.

5.24

The type of offender that would be targetted could be the "potentially dangerous reoffender". This offender would not be someone with a long criminal record [an unsuccessful recidivist] but a person who had shown through the nature of his crime, his antecedents and his personal circumstances, that he was likely in the opinion of the court, upon his release to be a potentially dangerous reoffender. There is little point in placing an unsuccessful hardened criminal on a supervision order - it will not reform him and is unlikely to stop him committing offences. But a supervision order could have a very salutary effect on youths who have just embarked on a life of crime.

* LI Din-wah VR Criminal Appeal 113 1975.