Hong Kong group calls for ‘bigger debate’ on expanding rehabilitation law to help young protesters move on

Project Change volunteers say young protesters have experienced difficulties looking for jobs or school places because of pending trials or criminal records

Call for greater discussion comes at a time when the first batch of jailed protesters returns to society, triggering concerns about stigmatisation, acceptance

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Riot police make arrests after clashes with protesters at Polytechnic University in Hung Hom in November 2019. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 8:00am, 29 Jan 2022Updated: 9:46am, 29 Jan 2022

Hong Kong needs a thorough debate on whether to expand its rehabilitation law to allow youngsters who have paid the price for their involvement in the 2019 anti-government protests to leave their criminal records behind, a local group supporting them has suggested.

Volunteers from Project Change said many young protesters they had come across over the past two years had experienced difficulties looking for jobs or school places because of their pending cases or criminal records.

The call for greater discussion also came at a time when the first batch of jailed protesters, having served out their term, gradually returned to society, triggering concerns about stigmatisation and how society should accept them.

Sung Yun-wing, treasurer of Project Change. Photo: Edmond So

“The community should have a bigger debate about this,” Sung Yun-wing, treasurer of Project Change, said during a recent interview with the press.

Sung, who is also an adjunct economics professor at Chinese University, pointed to the current legal scheme governing criminal records.

Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance, first-time offenders sentenced to no more than three months’ imprisonment, or fined less than HK$10,000 (US$1,280), can have their criminal records written off, so long as they do not commit further crimes within three years. The record will be treated as “spent”.

But many protesters accused of taking part in unlawful assemblies or riots have faced more serious penalties than that of petty crimes the rehabilitation scheme is intended for.