Comments by one of the city's top barristers in the preface of a widely used law book - comparing criminal conviction rates in Hong Kong with those of North Korea - have angered the Chief Justice, who yesterday described the remarks as an 'ill-considered and intemperate outburst'.
Clive Grossman SC, one of the city's most senior barristers and general editor of Archbold Hong Kong 2010, a criminal law reference book, expressed his concerns in the preface about the city's high conviction rates, which he said were 'probably approaching that of North Korea'.
Given conviction rates of more than 90 per cent, 'an arrested person is, statistically, almost certain to face imprisonment', he said.
Defence lawyers yesterday backed Grossman as legitimately raising the issue for debate, but the remarks, placed in a widely used and respected legal text, angered both the judiciary and the Department of Justice, which argued that Grossman came to a wrong conclusion from a poor understanding of the statistics.
'[The preface] is understandably widely perceived to be an attack on the impartiality of the judges in the administration of criminal justice. The Chief Justice believes that such an attack is totally unjustified and wholly misconceived,' a judiciary spokesman said. 'In the Chief Justice's view, the preface lacks objectivity and falls well below the proper professional standards to be expected of a preface to such a well-known text. The Chief Justice considers that it is an ill-considered and intemperate outburst by the author.'
In the preface, Grossman noted that the latest yearly report by the Director of Public Prosecutions cited conviction rates of 94.8 per cent in the Court of First Instance and 92.6 per cent in the District Court last year.