Juveniles locked away too often, says barrister
Youngsters are being unnecessarily locked up by magistrates whose draconian penalties lead to resentment and further problems in society, a lawyer claims.
In a letter to the Law Society's journal, Hong Kong Lawyer, David Tolliday-Wright said youngsters in the juvenile courts were being subjected to greater penalties than adults would receive for similar offences.
'Children are being treated worse than adults,' he said. 'They're being locked up just because they're children.' He said youngsters who committed minor offences were forced to spend time in custody while reports were compiled - even though their crimes were highly unlikely to lead to detention.
The barrister highlighted two cases he was involved in as duty lawyer in the Sha Tin Juvenile Court. He said the severity of the sentences passed by the magistrate had shocked him.
In the first, a 15-year-old boy was initially remanded in custody for three weeks after pleading guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The boy scratched a teacher's arm in a scuffle when he was caught smoking in the school toilet.
'His parents, decent working people, wanted to get the whole matter over with and said he would plead guilty. I emphasised the boy's clear record, remorse in pleading guilty and said the matter seemed one of internal school discipline,' the lawyer said.
But he said the magistrate ordered the boy to be remanded in custody for 21 days while four different reports were called for.
'I was absolutely flabbergasted and his parents were absolutely traumatised, they just couldn't understand it,' he said.
The remand period was reduced to two weeks when the lawyer pointed out that such a term would jeopardise the boy's chances of entering Form Five.
In the second case, Mr Tolliday-Wright wrote that the magistrate took the highly unusual step of ordering a 14-year-old boy to pay $3,000 court costs on top of his 12-month probation order, even though he had pleaded guilty.
The boy, who also had a clear record, was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after telephoning a witness to help his older brother's court case.
