INFORMATION PAPER
LegCo Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services
Meeting on 11 January 1997
The Judiciarys Resource Allocation for
the Use of Chinese in Courts
Purpose
This paper provides information on resources available to the Judiciary for the use of Chinese in courts.
Introduction
2. As the use of Chinese in courts is integrated within the normal operations of the court, it is difficult to isolate and apportion in meaningful quantitative terms the total resources expended on the use of Chinese in courts alone.
3. In providing a picture of the Judiciarys resource input on the use of Chinese in courts, resources are broadly divided into two categories. Firstly, direct expenditure committed solely for the purpose of the Programme and secondly, indirect expenditure comprising mainly of costs of hardware equipment installed primarily to modernize court services but which also has the secondary effect of facilitating the use of Chinese in courts.
4. A summary of the direct expenditure and indirect expenditure incurred by the Judiciary for the Use of Chinese in Courts Programme is at annex. The following paragraphs provide the details.
Direct Expenditure
STAFFING
5. The Court Interpreters Grade bears the brunt of supporting the Use of Chinese in Courts Programme. Increase in staff costs related primarily to additional Court Interpreter posts is detailed below:
|
Year
|
No. of Posts
|
Remarks
|
|
1996/97
|
3
|
1 Senior Court Interpreter and 2 Court Interpreters I already created at a cost of $1.3 M. They are engaged full time in translation work arising from the Programme.
|
|
5
|
2 Senior Court Interpreters and 3 Court Interpreters I will be created in February at a cost of $0.3 M for the rest of the financial year. Of these 3 will cater for translation work arising from Magisterial appeals to be heard in Chinese, and 2 will be deployed to the translation of selected significant cases.
|
|
1997/98
|
8
|
provision of $7.8 M is being sought in the 1997/98 Estimates for the creation of 8 Court Interpreter posts (i.e. 2 Senior Court Interpreters and 6 Court Interpreters I) to cater for increased translation work arising from the use of Chinese in the High Court and the District Court.
|
|
6.
|
Apart from these posts which are dedicated to the Use of Chinese Programme, a large number of Court Interpreters of different ranks are also engaged on a part-time basis, after court work, in translation work connected with the Programme. |
TRAINING
Language Training for Judges and Judicial Officers
7.
|
Courses
|
No. of Attendees
|
|
6 Putonghua courses
|
65
|
|
4 Chinese writing workshops
|
76
|
|
2 Cantonese courses
|
27
|
|
Total : 12
|
168 |
Work Related Training Activities for Judges and Judicial officers
8. (i) Bilingual judges are having weekly discussions on Chinese specimen directions and specific directions for jury trials.
(ii) Bilingual judges are conducting mock summing-ups for training and evaluative purposes.
(iii) A series of mock trials was conducted in December 1996 for judicial officers. The legal professions was also invited to take part.
Language Training Activities for Non-judicial Personnel
9.
|
Courses
|
No. of attendees
|
|
17 Putonghua training courses
|
212
|
|
7 Chinese writing courses
|
30
|
|
1 Cantonese training course
|
2
|
|
Total :25
|
242 |
Work Related Training Activities for Non-judicial Personnel
10. (i) In the past 18 months, the Judiciary has arranged 13 seminars on legal translation and law for Court Interpreters on Saturday mornings. A total of 526 men-times attended these seminars.
(ii) Three Senior Court Interpreters were selected to attend specially tailored course on law and language course at Beijing University in August 1996.
(iii) The Judiciary has also devoted resource to the research, development and training in Chinese transcription.
11. The amount of expenditure incurred for training in 1996/97 is $560,000. The sum does not reflect the complete picture because most of the expenses incurred for training are absorbed within the global allocation of the Judiciary.
PURCHASE OF CHINESE LAW BOOKS AND PERIODICALS
12. In 1996/97, a total of 1,044 Chinese reference books were purchased by the Library of the Judiciary at a total expenditure of $140,000. In 1997/98, an estimated expenditure of $200,000 has been earmarked for the purchase of 1,250 volumes of Chinese law books.
DIRECT EXPENDITURE SUMMARY
13. The total direct expenditure for 1996/97 for staffing, training and purchase of Chinese books is $2.3 M. The total estimated expenditure for 97/98 is $8.8 M.
Indirect Expenditure
CASEMAN RE-DEVELOPMENT
14. In 1996/97, the Judiciary is upgrading the CASEMAN (Case and Summons Management System) to streamline the processing of summonses in Magistracies and user departments. The purpose of upgrading the system are first, to enhance the systems Chinese language capability and second, to improve the efficiency and economy of administration at the Magistracies.
15. The estimated expenditure for the project is $35.9 M. The annual recurrent expenditure for the project in 1997/98 when the project is completed will be $2.2 M.
DARTS
16. Installation of digital audio recording and transcription systems (DARTS) in the courts helps relieve judges and judicial officers from tedious note-taking and ensures the keeping of accurate and timely court records. DARTS is also important to the Use of Chinese in Courts Programme because it enables court records of Chinese cases to be produced and transcribed accurately and speedily. So far, a total of 62 courts have installed the system. They are :
|
Courts
|
No. of courts with DARTS
|
|
High Court
|
12
|
|
District Court
|
27
|
|
Eastern Magistracy (including Coroners Court, OAT)
|
16
|
|
(including Coroners Court, OAT)
|
|
|
Western Magistracy
|
7
|
|
Total:
|
62 |
17. It is planned that by 1999, all 171 courts will be provided with the recording system. The installation plan is as follow :
|
Timing
|
Courts
|
|
By March 1997
|
62 more courts will be provided with the recording system. They include all the magistrates courts in Kowloon (34) and in the New Territories (28).
|
|
By April 1997
|
21 more courts will be provided with the recording system. They include the 2 remaining courts in the District Court, all the courts of the Lands Tribunal (3), abour Tribunal (10) and the Small Claims Tribunal (6).
|
|
By 1999
|
The remaining 26 courts in the High Court will be provided with the recording system. |
18. The total amount spent on the system is $40.3 M. It is expected that a further $72.9 M will be spent for the full implementation of DARTS in all courts. The annual recurrent expenditure will be $24.6 M in 97/98 and $38.4 M in 98/99 respectively.
PILOT SCHEME ON THE USE OF SIMULTANEOUS
INTERPRETATION IN COURTS
19. In response to a suggestion from the Panel in 1994/95, the Judiciary conducted a series of mock trials to assess the feasibility using simultaneous interpretation in courts. In anticipation, a provision of $130 M was included in the 1996/97 Estimates for installation of SI facilities in courts. After much efforts and full deliberation, it was decided that SI was not an acceptable mode of interpretation in court because possible discrepancy in simultaneous interpretation could not be easily detected before it is too late. The risk of such discrepancy was considered unacceptable as it could lead to possible miscarriage of justice. Plans for introducing SI services and facilities were therefore abandoned.
INDIRECT EXPENDITURE SUMMARY
20. The total indirect expenditure spent in 1996/97 for Caseman Re-development, DARTS and the Pilot Scheme on SI in courts are $40.3 M and a further $115.2 M is expected to be spent in the coming year.
Conclusion
21. The Use of Chinese in Courts Programme has a major impact on the judicial proceedings as a whole. New arrangements will emerge in the light of operational experience. The Judiciary is monitoring the Programme closely and is conscious of the need to provide the necessary resources to cope with the changes in order to ensure that a bilingual court system would be in place by 1 July 1997.
Judiciary Administrators Office
7 January 1997
Annex
Resource Allocated for the Use of Chinese in Courts
Direct Expenditure
|
96/97
$M
|
97/97
$M (Estimate)
|
|
I. Staffing -
Creation of 8 CI posts in 96/97 and 8 CI posts in 97/98
|
1.6
|
7.8
|
|
II. Training
|
0.56
|
0.8
|
|
III. Purchase of Chinese law books and periodicals
|
0.14
|
0.2
|
|
Total
|
2.30
|
8.8 |
Indirect Expenditure
|
One-off Project Expenditure (Actual)
$M
|
One-off Project Recurrent
Expenditure (Estimate)
$M
|
One-off Project Recurrent Expenditure (97/98 Estimate)
$M
|
|
I. Caseman Re-developmnet
|
--
|
35.9
|
2.2
|
|
II. DARTS
|
40.3
|
72.9
|
24.6
|
|
III. SI Pilot Scheme
|
---
|
6.4
|
---
|
|
Total :
|
40.3
|
115.2
|
26.8 |
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