Following is a question by Dr the Hon Pierre Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, in the Legislative Council today (July 14):
Question:
It was mentioned in the 2020 Annual Review of the Correctional Services Department released earlier on that the average daily number of persons on remand pending trial last year had hit a decade high. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of persons on remand pending trial in each of the past three years;
(2) of the average and maximum durations for which defendants were on remand pending trial in each of the past three years; if such figures are unavailable, whether it will compile the statistics;
(3) of a breakdown of the number of persons on remand pending trial in each of the past three years by (a) the type of charges laid and (b) the group, among those set out below, to which the remand duration belonged (set out in a table):
(i) less than one month,
(ii) one month to less than three months,
(iii) three months to less than six months,
(iv) six months to less than twelve months,
(v) one year to less than two years,
(vi) two years to less than three years, and
(vii) three years or more; and
(4) of the reasons for defendants being remanded pending trial for more than one year (if any)?
Reply:
President,
The Correctional Services Department (CSD) is responsible for, inter alia, the operation of correctional institutions for the custody of offenders sentenced to imprisonment by the court and persons ordered by the court to be held on remand pending trial. The number of admissions of newly admitted persons on remand in the past three years is tabulated as follows:
| Year | Number of admissions |
| 2018 | 6 928 |
| 2019 | 5 391 |
| 2020 | 5 373 |
The CSD does not maintain statistics by the length of time on remand, on the average and maximum length of time on remand, and by the type of offence charged as well as the reasons thereon. As the relevant breakdown of figures are not directly relevant to the management of the operations of correctional institutions, the CSD has no plan to compile additional statistics on such breakdown of figures.
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