ABSTRACT
This chapter examines recent news reports as well as official reports and responses in Hong Kong to sex crimes against children and youth committed by other adolescents. It argues that further evidence of the penal elitist framework of state-citizen relations may be found in official responses to several recent cases of young teenagers accused of raping other children and youth. Several recent cases have brought focus to questions over the criminal culpability of youth involved in sex offenses. The concerns are related to broader fears over the disintegration of values and morals among young people in Hong Kong, which led to the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong 2010 (LRC) issuing their report. The chapter explores the irony of Hong Kong officials emulation of international trends in juvenile justice. Government officials in Hong Kong, seeking to implement quick changes in response to youth sex crimes, socially constructed public accord in line with the youth justice policies they wished to change.
