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The Government has proposed to introduce a new short-term residential rehabilitation programme with emphasis on community-based measures for young offenders.

The Rehabilitation Centres Bill providing for the new programme was endorsed by the Chief Executive-in-Council. It was published in the Gazette today (Friday) and will be tabled at the Legislative Council on November 10.

Targets of the programme are young offenders aged between 14 and 21 and whose offences call for a short-term custodial sentence.

"They are those who do not have a long string of previous convictions, and who have committed less serious offences punishable by imprisonment, e.g. shoplifting and minor assaults," a Government spokesman said.

Apart from deterring young offenders from committing further crimes, the spokesman stressed that the programme sought to correct their delinquent values and behaviour, and help them develop socially acceptable behaviour and respect for the law.

"It will also equip them with necessary social and life skills to enhance their problem solving capacity, and provide them with opportunities to learn the necessary skills for reintegration into society," he said.

For female offenders, there is at present no intermediate sanction between the Training Centre programme and non-custodial sentences such as probation. For young male offenders, the only intermediate option is the Detention Centre which is characterised by its very demanding physical programmes on inmates.

"The new rehabilitation programme will therefore serve to fill the gap by catering for cases where a long period of detention in a Training Centre (six to 36 months) is not justified by the nature of the offence, but where rehabilitation may not be effectively achieved through non-custodial measures such as probation," the spokesman said.

"Young male offenders who are physically unfit for detention in a Detention Centre and female offenders who are not involved in vice-related offences are possible targets to benefit from the programme," he said.

The rehabilitation programme will consist of two phases.

"The first phase will provide two to five months' training in a correctional facility which focuses on discipline training and aims to help the young offenders learn to exercise better self-control and develop a regular living pattern. Counselling, social skills training and basic work skills training such as commercial study and computer-aided design will also be provided.

"During the second phase, young offenders will be accommodated in a hostel with a half-way house setting for a period of one to four months on a mandatory basis. They may go out for work, attend vocational training and educational courses, and participate in community service programmes. They will also be encouraged and assisted to maintain contacts with their family members and friends," the spokesman said.

The total period of detention, which can range from three to nine months, will depend on, among other things, the offender's progress, improvement in behaviour, self-care ability, and response towards counselling.

"On-going assessment will be made on the conduct and progress of each young offender to determine the appropriate time to transfer the young offender from the first phase to the second phase and to release the offender from the rehabilitation centre," the spokesman said.

"Discharged young offenders will be subject to one year's statutory supervision by Correctional Services Department (CSD) aftercare officers," he added.

The spokesman pointed out that the proposal had the support of the Judiciary and it would provide an additional sentencing option for the court in dealing with young offenders.

It also has the blessing of the Fight Crime Committee, which had commissioned the City University to carry out a research into the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for young offenders in 1996.

End/Friday, October 22, 1999

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