Hong Kong child sex sentences remain far below maximum life, report finds

Average sentences for Hong Kong’s gravest child sex crimes have remained below 10 years over the past three decades, far below the maximum penalty of life imprisonment, prompting a call for a sentencing council to issue clearer judicial guidance.

Citing data from 401 publicly available judgments between 1990 and 2025, University of Hong Kong law professor Puja Kapai on Tuesday said her research found six offences – including rape, buggery, and unlawful sexual intercourse – carried average prison terms ranging from four years and six months to nine years and eight months.

Kapai and her team also found that four of the six gravest sexual offences involving children showed a downward trend. This trend was especially pronounced for unlawful intercourse with a girl under 13, where average sentences fell from 10 to 12 years in the mid-2000s to under five years in recent years.

While acknowledging that judges were bound by precedent and had already taken a range of factors into account, the report found that sentences for the six offences “consistently fell in the low to medium range, far below the statutory maximum”.