A law reform body in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday proposed the establishment of a sex offender register as an interim measure, after a number of local cases involved repeat offenders.
The measure, recommended by the sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission, involved the establishment of an administrative scheme expected to enable employers to check the records of prospective employees for jobs related to children or the mentally disabled.
The scheme was intended as an interim measure, said Peter Duncan, chairman of the Review of Sexual Offenses Sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission.
Duncan said the sub-committee's eventual aim was to devise a comprehensive scheme to manage sex offenders that would protect the community, particularly children, without unjustifiably infringing on the rights of the offenders or their family.
"That will take some time to complete and the sub-committee is putting forward this interim proposal for consultation and implementation in the meantime," he said.
The consultation paper released by the sub-committee made it clear that it did not favor the introduction of a register that allows access to members of the public.
Instead, it proposed that the criminal records held by police be utilized.
The check would only reveal convictions for a specified list of sex offenses and convictions that are regarded as "spent" would not be disclosed.
What's more, employers will not be compelled to carry out such checks in the absence of legislation. Any check would have to be initiated by the job applicant himself and the result can only be revealed after the applicant's consent was acquired.
A "clean" result would not be recorded in writing, but would be communicated verbally to the job applicant and the prospective employer, the paper said.
With limited exceptions, no system was in place in Hong Kong to allow employers check the records of a prospective employee, even with his consent, Duncan said.
The sub-committee said it tried to strike a balance between the need to protect the vulnerable and the necessity to minimize the negative influence of the measures, adding that the measure it had proposed was "moderate" compared with those adopted elsewhere.
The Law Reform Commission was charged with proposing changes to the law. It will take public opinions on the proposal till Oct. 31 and then submit a second report to the HKSAR government, which is expected to approve the register.
(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2008)