Children Raping Children: Penal Elitism and the Contested Innocence Frame in Hong Kong

Abstract

Recent incidents involving rape committed by young adolescents against other youth has led Hong Kong officials to repeal the presumption that young persons under the age of 14 are incapable of sexual intercourse. Examining reports advocating legislative change as well as those which dissent, we argue that a lack of consultation with the public, the small number of cases and the speed with which the changes are set to be implemented evidence penal elitism in Hong Kong, which potentially undercuts a long standing view in Hong Kong of young offenders as victims, and ignores wider contexts of abuse and victimization.