Officials Reject Fears Over Sex Offender Programme

The Correctional Services Department has defended a programme it runs to try to rehabilitate sex offenders, amid concerns it could be doing more harm than good.

Thirty sex offenders are currently being given psychological support during group treatment sessions at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, to try to stop them from committing similar crimes again in the future.

It's a voluntary programme that can last up to 14 months and prison officials say 60 to 70 percent of sex offenders have taken part in the treatment in recent years.

But a study by Britain's justice ministry found last year that such group treatment sessions for sex abusers can "normalise" criminal behaviour, or even lead to an increase in re-offending as offenders share contacts and sources associated with their crimes.

However, a senior clinical psychologist with the SAR's Correctional Services Department, Judy Hui, said she doesn't think the UK's findings apply to Hong Kong. She said the re-offending rate among sex offenders in the city dropped to 4.7 percent in 2015, down 1.4 percentage points on the previous year.

"Within the psychological treatment, we critically discuss the problems of their offending behaviour. We're not just sharing the sex-offending behaviour. I don't see that the psychological treatment actually normalises their behaviour," Hui said.

RTHK spoke to one man in his 30s, identified as "Mr K", who took part in the treatment at Siu Lam while serving a prison term more than a decade ago for having sex with an underage boy. He said while he didn't find the programme to be 100 percent useful, there were aspects which helped him.

"Some people would lie during the session to escape their responsibility and to try to justify their acts ... In fact at the start of the courses, everyone, including myself, would justify their own offences, like saying the sex was consensual, or although it was not permitted by the laws in Hong Kong, it would be legal overseas," he said.

"During the group discussion, we commented on each other's offences to see what were the problems. A psychologist would comment on why this or that was right or wrong. People have their own blind spots regarding what is acceptable. So it's better to look at the problem from a different perspective."

"Mr K" said several years after he was released, he was put on probation for molesting a man he met while out running. On that occasion, he sought help from the non-government organisation, Caritas, which he said proved to be more beneficial than support from the authorities.

"They would try to understand my background, my offences, my past relationships. And I could apply what they taught me in my daily life on how to interact with people," he told RTHK's Timmy Sung.

A social worker supervisor at Caritas, Kong Po-cheung, said that since 2008, some 700 people have sought help from their specialised treatment and prevention project against sexual violence.

Kong said social stigma remains a problem and released sex offenders find it hard to open up about their issues.