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Following is a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Miriam Lau on juvenile crime in the Legislative Council today (February 7):
Question:
It has been reported that the results of a recent survey conducted by the Law Society of Hong Kong indicate that law-abiding awareness among secondary school students is weak and children and youth generally have inadequate knowledge and understanding of law. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of cases and the types of crimes committed by children and youth under the age of 18 in each of the past three years;
(b) whether the contents of the primary and secondary curricula cover general knowledge of law; if so, of the details, including the grades of school classes and knowledge of law involved, as well as the syllabuses; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether the authorities will allocate additional resources to promote general knowledge of law, in order to enhance law-abiding awareness among primary and secondary school students; if they will, of the details, including the amount of funds to be allocated as well as the promotional methods and activities; if not, the measures taken by the authorities to prevent children and youth from acting in defiance of the law?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The total number of crimes committed by children and youth under the age of 18 in the three years from 2004 to 2006 is 7,566, 6,821 and 6,891 respectively. Offences most commonly committed by juvenile offenders are shop thefts and other miscellaneous thefts, followed by crimes involving wounding and serious assault.
(b) At present, primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong acquire general legal knowledge and related values and attitudes through the curricula and subjects of various key learning areas. The details are set out in the table at the Annex distributed to Members. Besides, through promoting moral and civic education, schools help students develop positive values and attitudes, including core values such as respect for the rule of law. This complements the foundation of legal knowledge taught in the curricula and subjects referred to earlier, so that students become informed and responsible citizens. Schools also cooperate with government departments and other organisations to reinforce students' legal awareness, through organising or arranging for students to participate in various activities, such as visits to Police stations and law courts, Junior Police Calls, etc.
(c) It takes a holistic and continuing strategy to educate the new generation of our society starting from primary school years so that they can acquire the required knowledge, ability and values to become responsible and law-abiding citizens. To this end, the Education and Manpower Bureau has devoted considerable resources to support the implementation of curriculum reform, which includes supporting the effective learning and teaching of different curricula in relation to the general knowledge of law and promoting moral and civic education to cultivate responsible and law-abiding citizenship. The Department of Justice and its counsel have also promoted general knowledge of law among students through various means.
Apart from teaching and promoting the general knowledge of law targeting juveniles, the Administration also proactively prevents juveniles from acting in defiance of the law through other means, with "early intervention" as its emphasis.
In this regard, taking a "multi-agency collaboration" approach, and through collaboration with different social organisations, the Police proactively organise different youth activities to enhance the civic awareness of the youth as well as to instil the message of crime prevention.
In addition, since 2001, through the Secondary School Liaison Officers (SSLOs) in respective Police districts, the Police have been maintaining a close liaison with the management of schools, school social workers, parents and non-government organisations (NGOs), joining hands to prevent the youth from going astray. And through visits, seminars and discussions, the Police disseminate among students the message of respect for the law and the consequence of not abiding by it.
As for young night drifters, in order to reduce the negative influence exerted on them through bad association on the street and to prevent them from going astray, the Social Welfare Department provides through subvented NGOs outreaching services (in particular overnight outreaching service) to contact these young people so as to help them stay away from crime.
Through different means, the Government departments concerned will continue to collaborate with various concerned disciplines, and review the relevant measures on a regular basis, deploying resources flexibly so as to enhance the effectiveness of juvenile crime prevention work.
Ends/Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:56
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