Opinion | Correctional Services provides young offenders with a better future

Grenville Cross 2022.02.15 17:09:00

By Grenville Cross

No judge likes sending young people to prison, but it is sometimes unavoidable. If their offenses are grave, they cannot rely on their youth to protect them from the consequences. Even then, the courts will see if alternative sentences are viable.

Young offenders can be sentenced to detention that does not involve imprisonment, but is nonetheless salutary. This usually involves the detention center, with its focus on "short, sharp shock" punishment; the training center, with its emphasis on instilling skills; and the rehabilitation center, which combines residential care with community engagement. In these institutions, inmates are invariably protected from malign influences, but they are not serious options for rioters and the like.

Many of those involved in the failed insurrection of 2019-20 were young people, led astray by those wishing to harm China. In one sense, they were themselves victims, as the education system had failed them; they had been radicalized by false prophets, and their gullibility was ruthlessly exploited by hostile forces. Even authority figures from the past, like the former governor, Chris Patten, and his proxy, the former chief secretary, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, egged naive youngsters on with their false narratives. They whipped up imaginary concerns and urged opposition to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government initiatives, including the laws to hold criminal fugitives to account and protect national security.

Much of their mischief-making could have been thwarted if children had been taught true values in the schools, but teachers often failed to deliver. By abusing the Liberal Studies program, anti-China elements were able to lead many students up the garden path, with disastrous consequences, not least for them. In consequence, they had no sense of national identity, let alone an appreciation of the basic decencies of life. They were easy prey for the ill-intentioned, who weaponized them in the interests of foreign powers hostile to China.

In 2012, when the HKSAR government, through its "moral and national education" initiative, sought to turn things around, the so-called "Scholarism — The Alliance Against Moral & National Education", founded by Joshua Wong Chi-fung and his cronies, duly mobilized. Having stirred up fears of indoctrination and fanned anti-Beijing sentiment, it galvanized public protests, even besieging the government offices for 10 days, where some of its numbers staged a hunger strike.

Unfortunately, the government shelved its proposal, which aggravated the situation and emboldened Scholarism, whose stock rose in the eyes of many young people. It subsequently organized class boycotts in support of its political objectives, encouraged the "Occupy Central" mayhem in 2014, and finally morphed into the secessionist Demosisto party in 2016. By the time it disbanded in 2020, with one of its leaders, Nathan Law Kwun-chung, having fled abroad, Demosisto, along with Scholarism, had caused untold damage to Hong Kong and its young people, many of whom are now paying the price for their involvement.

In 2019, during the insurrection, the police arrested over 10,200 people, and there was a 70 percent increase in the number of 16-to-20-year-olds arrested in comparison with 2018. By 2021, over 2,750 of those arrested had been prosecuted, and many young people, despite sometimes pitiful pleas in mitigation of sentence, were finally held to account. Whereas many were before the courts for riot, others were prosecuted for unlawful assembly, arson, criminal damage, flag desecration, weapons possession, assaulting police officers, unauthorized processions, and stopping vehicles on the expressway, and some of them have now been convicted as charged, and sentenced.

On Oct 19, 2021, for example, five current and former Chinese University of Hong Kong students, aged 20 to 23, were imprisoned for between 57 and 59 months for offenses ranging from riot, using facial coverings during an unlawful assembly, and possession of offensive weapons (DCCC 361/2020). One of those convicted, however, a nursing student, expressed no regrets, telling the judge that his court was "not a place to deliver justice", and that it ignored "the root causes of the social divide". There will, inevitably, be "hard nuts" like this undergoing sentence, and the question now arises of what can be done not only to assist them to rehabilitate themselves, but also how they can be stopped from radicalizing other inmates.

Since 2019, many of the protest movement's senior operatives have been detained, with some on remand awaiting trial, including those accused of violating national security. Some of them still espouse their core beliefs, and will be seeking to radicalize others. The Correctional Services Department is alert to the situation, and is determined to prevent its institutions from being turned into breeding grounds for political fanaticism, as has happened elsewhere.

In 2015, the Council of Europe described radicalization as "a dynamic process whereby an individual increasingly accepts violent extremism", concluding that the reasons behind the process could be "ideological, political, religious, social, economic or personal". As many of those sentenced for protest-related crimes in Hong Kong are immature with low self-esteem, the fanatics, some of whom are seasoned politicos, may have little difficulty in recruiting them, particularly when they are detained for a long period, as many rioters are. By contrast, many of the recruiters are well-educated individuals with ties, for example, to the Civic Party, and they will undoubtedly jump at the opportunity to brainwash gullible students and other inmates with little learning.

Among those currently imprisoned is the ex-Demosisto leader, Joshua Wong, who has provided an insight into things on the inside. In his book Unfree Speech, he described his early days in custody, revealing "there's a huge amount of political views here". He claimed that "younger prisoners tend to be yellow ribbons", and this obviously makes them ideal targets for anybody wishing to radicalize them and turn them against China. This underscores the need to ensure that safe distances are maintained between the fanatics and the ordinary prison population, and they must be prevented from developing their own networks or otherwise proselytizing.

On July 16, 2021, the chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, explained how patriotic education can be carried out systematically, and she said this could be achieved by teaching students about the history and culture of the nation, as well as about China's development into a global powerhouse. On the same occasion, the deputy director of the Central People's Government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong SAR, Tan Tieniu, emphasized the need to promote the Chinese Constitution, the Basic Law and national security legislation, as this will help to ensure that young people abide by the law, and his advice should apply generally, not just in educational institutions.

Indeed, the disastrous Liberal Studies program, which generated so many of the recent problems, has now been wound up. It has been replaced by the Citizenship and Social Development course, which concentrates on three key areas — Hong Kong, the country, and the contemporary world. As the commissioner of correctional services, Woo Ying-ming, clearly appreciates, progress of this type must also be mirrored within the correctional institutions, not least because inmates face existential threats of radicalization, often, but by no means exclusively, at the hands of national security suspects, many of whom are remand prisoners.

In 2020, Woo committed himself to "a new era in the aspects of safe custody, rehabilitation and community education", and, since then, he has provided comprehensive rehabilitation programs by strategic planning that reflects the notion that reform is the offspring of correction. Of course, vocational training has always been available to prisoners, but, given the violent tendencies of many inmates caught up in the insurrection, Woo has sought to build on this through various initiatives. The CSD's clinical psychologists have, for example, designed a new counseling service, "Youth Lab", and this seeks to help young inmates to adjust their way of thinking and to enhance their appreciation of the rule of law.

The CSD and the Hong Kong Police Force, have, moreover, jointly launched a program titled "Walk with Youth", and this disseminates law-abiding messages to young inmates and instills positive values. The program also involves various activities, within the correctional institutions, that are organized by volunteers from both departments, who use them to encourage responsible citizenship. The CSD has also introduced a revamped educational program, called "Understanding History is the Beginning of Knowledge", and this promotes an understanding of Chinese history, and helps to foster a sense of national identity.

Of great value also is the CSD's recently enhanced counseling service, which helps young inmates to judge the truthfulness of online information and facilitates critical thinking.

On Feb 8, 2022, when the secretary for security, Chris Tang Ping-keung, addressed the Legislative Council's Security Panel, he highlighted the importance attached to providing young offenders imprisoned for protest-related criminality with not only vocational training but also a full understanding of the need to observe the law. People imprisoned for what he called "black-clad violence" would be encouraged to rehabilitate themselves, and this included strengthening their knowledge of Chinese culture. Once they had acquired "down-to-earth" skills, it would be easier for young offenders to successfully reintegrate into society upon release.

Although many of the younger inmates have talents that need to be nurtured, they also require protection from adult offenders who have no interest in their reformation. Some of the individuals who masterminded, aided or encouraged the insurrection remain committed to their cause, and they are still trying to recruit foot soldiers from the ranks of the young and impressionable. Apart from direct overtures, they can also be subtle, seeking to enlist them under the guise of friendship or by offers of support upon release.

There will, of course, always be a hard core of both adult and youthful offenders whose deviancy is hard to correct, and want to cause the CSD, and society, as much trouble as possible. Although the department cannot simply give up on them, it must do everything possible to minimize their capacity to disrupt the rehabilitation of others. They must be identified, assessed and kept away from people who genuinely want to take advantage of the opportunities on offer. Many of the young inmates are trying very hard to reform themselves, and to close the door on their troubled past, and they must be fully supported, both before and after their release.

(Source: China Daily)

The author is a senior counsel, law professor and criminal justice analyst, and was previously the director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong SAR.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Opinion | Correctional Services provides young offenders with a better future

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