More than 30 secondary school students and teachers learned about Hong Kong's criminal justice system today by experiencing it themselves in a simulated trial, as part of a new Correctional Services Department programme at Ma Hang Prison.
Introduced under the Rehabilitation Pioneer Project, the Reflective Path programme encourages students to role-play cases involving youth crimes in a mock court trial, enabling them to reflect on the price of committing crimes.
Today's mock trial took place at the Staff Training Institute in Stanley. Yan Chai Hospital Lan Chi Pat Memorial Secondary School students were the first batch of participants.
Officiating at the programme's launch today, Secretary for Security TK Lai noted that the department has been effectively utilising its facilities and resources to support the Government's policy to combat drug-related crimes involving youngsters.
Choi Nam-hin, the officer in charge of the programme, revealed that five trial runs have been carried out at Ma Hang Prison since May, which were immediately followed by critical evaluations.
Mr Choi said that since the programme is new, the department has to assess whether the sessions can enable young people – especially those visiting a correctional institution for the first time – to understand Hong Kong's criminal justice system, and become aware of the detrimental consequences of committing crimes.
