The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Draw up the "crime without protection" as soon as possible, improve the details to help the public understand

2021-04-23T01:51:14.377Z


The five-year-old girl was brutally tortured to death, reigniting the discussion of mandatory reporting of abuse cases. The Law Reform Commission stated that it would complete the final report on the introduction of the "offence without protection" law within two months, hoping to implement the law next year. Lao Fu


01 view

Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2021-04-23 06:45

Last update date: 2021-04-23 06:45

The five-year-old girl was brutally tortured to death, reigniting the discussion of mandatory reporting of abuse cases. The Law Reform Commission stated that it would complete the final report on the introduction of the "offence without protection" law within two months, hoping to implement the law next year.

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi Kwong, responded that the government will carefully review the proposal.

The direction of the Law Reform Commission’s amendments is worthy of support. Before submitting the amendment bill to the Legislative Council, the government should refer to the opinions of various stakeholders at the same time, so as to ensure that the regulations can be handled appropriately and avoid the counter-effects of accidentally falling into the law net and making random reports.

The current crimes against the person and other regulations can deter parents from child abuse. Voluntary reports by professionals can also help expose the incident, but the abuse has not disappeared.

Mandatory reporting by legislation helps the police to intervene early and reduces the possibility of family members and teachers failing to report.

The Law Reform Commission has launched a public consultation in 2019 on the criminal offence of "unprotected children or vulnerable persons", which is referred to as "unprotected crime", covering death or serious injury cases. The perpetrator is sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The content of the consultation is generally desirable, but there are several key concepts that need to be explained in detail.

The Subcommittee of the Law Reform Commission "Causing or Allowing the Death of Children or Vulnerable Adults" to recommend the establishment of a "crime without protection."

(Data Picture/Photographed by Zhang Meihua)

How can we avoid provoking officials?

First, the Law Reform Commission considers that all persons who have "responsibility for care" or "frequent contact" for children or vulnerable persons are also included in the scope of the crime, including teachers other than family members, social workers, residential caregivers, and the same family members. The number of foreign domestic helpers and nanny who live with is quite wide.

Relevant persons naturally worry about what constitutes a "care responsibility", such as whether the caregiver who does not directly take care of the abused elder or the teacher who does not teach the abused child is involved in crime.

In this regard, the consultation document needs to be more clearly defined so that the public understands their responsibilities.

Second, even if someone is willing to take the initiative to warn superiors or government departments, there may be gray areas as to how to fulfill their responsibilities.

The proposed legislation refers to “failure to take steps that are reasonably expected to be taken under the circumstances” to protect the victim from harm, and the severity is “sufficient to support the imposition of punishment”, but does this mean that the caregiver contacts the suspected abuser at one time to report Once, and once more advanced than once to be exempt from prosecution?

In addition, many social service organizations are worried that the proposed law mentions that others should protect the victim from harm. This includes not only illegal acts, but also "ignoring the risk of causing serious harm to the victim."

It should be understood that neglect of a person is more difficult to detect than illegal acts such as torture. If a person is held criminally responsible for being neglected, it will bring heavy pressure to those responsible for taking care of it.

In response to the consultation document, the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children suggested deleting the concept of "ignore" or formulating a detailed definition of "ignoring" and writing additional provisions.

Xiong Yunxin said that the group recommended the establishment of a "no protection crime" during the earlier consultation. The relevant consultation report has been completed and is awaiting submission to the government for consideration.

(Data Picture/Photo by Gao Zhongming)

The government needs to help citizens adapt to the new regulations

Mandatory reporting by legislation will help protect children. The above-mentioned external concerns should not become a stumbling block. The Law Reform Commission and the government must gather opinions and improve the draft.

In the early stage of the implementation of the new regulations, the society has not been able to adapt, and the number of reported cases of suspected abuse may increase.

Government departments should explain more about the scope of crimes, and give more examples to illustrate how to report, so as to help the public to identify.

It must be mentioned that as early as 2006, the Law Reform Commission had discussed and recommended that caregivers who stood by in the torture case should be held criminally responsible. The public consultation will not be launched until 2019. Today, the reform report is close to completion, which has been delayed for more than ten years. .

The Law Reform Commission has been criticized for a long time in reviewing laws, such as abuse-related crimes, charity laws, and advance medical directives.

The Department of Justice is indifferent to this, which also hinders society from improving the legal system.

Taking five-year-old girls and similar cases of abuse as examples, the community will inevitably wonder if the new law is implemented a few years earlier, will it be reported and intervened as soon as possible and will not end in tragedy.

5-year-old girl and her brother have been abused for half a year with little intervention in society, child protection mechanisms are insufficient

The Ombudsman suggested that the government should take more care to prevent child abuse.

The review of sexual crimes has been delayed for more than ten years.

The Law Reform Commission on the Tuen Mun 5-year-old Girl Abuse and Murder Case 01 Viewpoint

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-04-23

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-14T10:01:39.931Z
Life/Entertain 2024-02-02T21:20:09.165Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.