Restorative justice for delinquents in Hong Kong: current practices and challenges

ABSTRACT

In Hong Kong, juvenile justice embraces mainly disciplinary welfare and rehabilitative philosophies. Various statutory measures are applied to juvenile offenders, including police cautioning, community-based treatment programmes and custodial sentencing options. However, no statutory restorative measure has yet been incorporated into the mainstream criminal justice system in Hong Kong. Several non-governmental organisations are developing innovative strategies to prevent problematic adolescents from slipping into delinquency and are willing to apply restorative practices to help delinquents desist from engaging in criminal careers. This study begins with main features of restorative justice, and it highlights the preventive and correctional services for delinquents in Hong Kong. The study also questions the explanations offered by the government for not implementing restorative justice. By comparing restorative options for juveniles in some Asian jurisdictions, the study advocates for an earlier introduction of restorative justice for the benefits of juvenile offenders.

KEYWORDS:

• Juvenile delinquency
• restorative justice
• rehabilitation
• Hong Kong

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. By January 2017, approximately 23 types of CY centres existed in Hong Kong (Social Welfare Department, 2017a).

2. At present, five NGOs run CSSSs in the territory, and the five CSSS teams are attached to five ICY centres, namely 1) the Methodist Centre ‘Project Phoenix’, 2) Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong ‘Youth Action Network’, 3) Hong Kong Playground Association ‘New Horizon Community Supportive Services Scheme’, 4) Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups ‘Youth Support Scheme’, and 5) Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service ‘Hong Kong Youth Enhancement Scheme’ (Social Welfare Department, 2017b).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Research Grants Council of Hong Kong [CityU/11409214].

Notes on contributors

Dennis S. W. Wong

Dennis S.W. Wong, PhD, is Professor of Criminology and Social Work at Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, and Associate Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. His areas of expertise include juvenile delinquency, bullying studies and restorative justice. Prof Wong is honorary consultant on youth drugs abuse, school bullying and offenders’ rehabilitation for governmental organisations. He also serves as board member for a number of non-governmental organisations and academic societies. He is currently a member of Executive Board of Asian Criminological Society. He is well-known criminologist in the Greater China region. Apart from publishing articles in local and international journals, he has published books related to criminology, juvenile delinquency, school bullying, alternative to prosecution and restorative justice.

Katie H. H. Tu

Katie H. H. Tu, BSocSc, MPhil, is currently a research assistant at Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. Her areas of interest include youth delinquency, justice systems and restorative justice.