Content: This Course deals with and provides understanding of basic rights and responsibilities of citizens in Hong Kong, the Mainland and other countries who are caught up in the criminal justice process and of their criminal justice institutions, such as the police, the courts and the prisons. The debate assists the student to develop an understanding of crucial ethical and social foundations of
systems of criminal justice. The student discovers through debate, and research, the fundamentals of internationally acknowledged protections of human rights. Hong Kong and Mainland justice is compared (and there reference to other countries). Vulnerable persons (women, children and the handicapped) need special regard. The student is asked, “What acts by citizens should be regarded and treated as ‘crimes?”. Should assisting suicide, killing to save lives and so on be crimes? Consequently a student will discover for them self his or her ethical position in relation to important issues in our society. There is training in logical analysis, argument and presentation throughout the Course. Methods: The Course emphasizes inquiry and discovery by each student, team discussion, debate and problem solving. The course asks for team work and team analysis and oral presentation in the class room. There are video ‘Docudramas’ and case studies for analysis and debate. There is ‘TV’ role playing as prosecutors or defence lawyers, and as members of a jury. The student gains insight into the institutional safeguards of justice in the criminal process by a visit to a criminal court and reporting on the visit and by a visit to a prison. There are lectures, but they are a minor part of the process of learning in this Course.
