ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the debates and processes that led to the raising of the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Hong Kong from seven to ten. It shows how discourses of internationalism were merged with discourses representing child offenders as innocent victims with a focus on their social and psychological deeds, rather than criminal deeds. The chapter discusses the raising of the MACR from seven to ten in 2003 that has been hailed as a progressive step in line with international conventions on children's rights and evidence for the continuing saliency of a criminal deeds of youth justice. Those advocating raising the minimum age argued that the age of seven is the lowest age applied internationally under nations adhering to common law. The signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 set in motion the plan to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, generating uncertainty regarding Hong Kong's future and even a governmental crisis of legitimacy.
