Hong Kong is jailing poor people for petty crimes such as littering because they cannot afford new spot fines for anti-social behaviour, a media report said on Monday, quoting a concerned judiciary worker.
In a letter to the South China Morning Post newspaper, a court officer said the law imposed to crack down on spitting and littering has led to a disproportionate number of poorer offenders being jailed.
”These are not well-heeled, middle-class folk for whom [the fine] is an affordable nuisance; they are the very poor, frequently elderly, sometimes disabled, for whom it is a very large sum, perhaps as much a half of their monthly [welfare] payment,” wrote the officer, who the papers said asked to remain anonymous.
The writer offered only anecdotal evidence but expressed concern that any jailings are a contradiction of promises made by authorities that the new penalties will not be considered criminal offences.
The laws introduced last year allow police to impose spot fines of 1 500 Hong Kong dollars ($200) on anyone caught spitting, littering or fouling a public place.
It is increased to 3 300 Hong Kong dollars if not paid within four weeks, and if that is ignored, then offenders can be jailed for up to 14 days.
The fines were introduced to the southern Chinese enclave to stamp out filth that had been blamed for the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed about 300 people in an outbreak in Hong Kong last year.
The government has no statistics on the number of people jailed under the new laws, but said about 34 000 fines have been imposed, including 2 110 for the higher penalties. — Sapa-AFP