A Decade of Self-Incrimination in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Abstract

The topic of self-incrimination has reached the Court of Final Appeal in only a handful of cases in its first decade. The Court decided most of these cases under the common law and in only one case was consideration given to the protections against self-incrimination under the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. While the Court has fortified the common law position in discrete areas, it has yet to recognise a constitutional right to silence which opens the door to greater coherence in the law and protection for individuals. This article analyses the case law on self-incrimination between 1997 and 2007 to identify general legal propositions, trends in the development of the jurisprudence, and possible areas of future development.