Why we should never pin a price tag on justice in HK

SOME concern has been expressed recently that the Legal Department may be wasting taxpayers' money, may be unaccountable for its actions, and may not be serious about the localisation of its staff. These are serious matters. I would like to show the concern is quite unfounded.

Suggestions that the department is wasting taxpayers' money have been made about the work of the Prosecutions Division and Civil Division.

No one outside a totalitarian regime would expect all prosecutions to end in a conviction. An acquittal does not mean that decision was made in error or that the prosecution was conducted incompetently.

The conviction rate in Hong Kong indicates that the Prosecutions Division is serving the community well. In the District and High Courts, the conviction rate is 60 to 80 per cent. This compares with a conviction rate in the English Crown Courts in 1992-93 of about 55 per cent.

All prosecutions and appeals cost money, whether they result in a conviction or an acquittal. It is wrong to regard as wasted the money spent on a case that ends in acquittal. You cannot put a price tag on an acquittal. If you do that, you are putting a price tag on justice, and that devalues the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Each year, prosecuting counsels conduct more than 4,000 prosecutions, including more than 800 trials in the High Court and about 1,400 in the District Court.

An average of 60 counsel (including barristers briefed from the private Bar) and 30 court prosecutors appear in court or the magistracy each day to put the case against the defendant fairly and professionally.