Community Service Orders
(HKLRC Report)
This report (published in 1983) considered whether Community Service Orders should be introduced as a form of sentence in Hong Kong. A Community Service Order enjoins an offender to carry out a task within the community for a specified number of hours. Noting that there are benefits in community-based correction, the Commission concludes in the report that Community Service Orders should be introduced as an additional means of dealing with offenders.
The report recommends that Community Service Orders should be available to offenders aged 14 or above for offences for which the offender is liable to punishment by imprisonment. However, a court may not make a Community Service Order until a social enquiry report as to the offender's suitability to be made the subject of such an order has been prepared. The order should be for any number of hours up to a maximum of 240, and should generally be completed within 12 months from the date of the order. The report further recommends that the court dealing with a breach of a Community Service Order may impose a fine, increase the number of hours specified in the order, or impose a term of imprisonment not exceeding the sentence that could have been originally passed.
The report's recommendations were implemented in 1984 by the Community Service Orders Ordinance.
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| Report (PDF) (MS Word) |