The Hong Kong institution which educates judges takes the stance that young offenders should not be given leniency if they are convicted of serious crimes, local media has reported.

The Hong Kong Judicial Institute reportedly held a workshop on sentencing young people, which focused on crimes such as arson, unlawful assembly, assault of a police officer, possession of offensive weapons and criminal damage.

A document handed out at the workshop told magistrates not to accept civil disobedience as a reason for leniency, Sing Tao Daily reported. The institute was also said to have cited court rulings in favor of harsher penalties for juveniles.

In one of the examples, the court said it was inappropriate to issue a probation order for a juvenile offender convicted of arson unless there were “extraordinary circumstances or very strong reasons for mitigation.”

When deciding the sentence of a young offender, judges should balance the need for rehabilitation with the need for punishment and deterrence, the institute said. If the crime was serious, then the need for rehabilitation would become a minor factor.

Offenders found guilty of unlawful assembly with an element of violence should be jailed, with no leeway to use civil disobedience, free speech or freedom of assembly as reasons to ask for a lighter sentence, the document added.

A barrister told Apple Daily that the workshop was just “for show” because every magistrate was familiar with sentencing guidelines issued by Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal. The judiciary might have organized the workshop to demonstrate that it had done its duty to keep judges in line, said the barrister, who requested anonymity.

Last year, some Beijing loyalists criticized certain judges for giving pro-democracy protesters nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Some critics supported setting up an external panel to review sentencing guidelines.

Apple Daily has contacted the judiciary for comment.

Since June 2019, the police have arrested more than 10,000 people related to pro-democracy protests and are prosecuting around a quarter of them.

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