The Prosecutions Division (刑事檢控科) of the Department of Justice, is the public prosecution office in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

led by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Prosecutions Division is the largest in the department, with about 125 lawyers, known as 'Public Prosecutors', and about 115 lay prosecutors, known as 'Court Prosecutors'. The role of the Division is to prosecute trials and appeals on behalf of

, to provide legal advice to law enforcement agencies upon their investigations, and generally to exercise on behalf of the Secretary for Justice the discretion of whether or not to bring criminal proceedings in

. In addition, counsel in the Division provide advice and assistance to Government bureaux and

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in relation to any criminal law aspects of proposed

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

. The

lawyers A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

of the Prosecution Division in the former

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

colonial administration were, before 1997, titled "Crown Counsel"(檢察官). After the

transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

, they were renamed "Government Counsel" (政府律師). In 2007, to highlight their constitutional independence, lawyers working in the Prosecutions Division adopted the alternative title of "

Public Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

" (檢控官).

Structure

The Division is headed by a Director, who is supported by five deputy directors of Public Prosecutions (DDPP) in charge of different sub-divisions: # Sub-division I (Advisory): Responsible for cases in the Court of First Instance, District Court, and Magistrates' Court # Sub-division II (Policy and Administration / Chief of Staff): Responsible for providing advice to other government departments and a wide range of administrative matters, including human resources, training, and media relations # Sub-division III (Advocacy and Appeals): Responsible for advocacy work on all levels, and are also responsible for advising and conducting appeals # Sub-division IV (Commercial Crime): Responsible for prosecuting all instances of commercial crime # Special Duties: Responsible for ad hoc large scale projects as directed by the DPP, as well as certain

public-order crime In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...

and

cybercrime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or Computer network, networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cyberc ...

One Deputy Director sub-division will also be designated as Chief of Staff; currently, this is with Sub-division II.

Directors of Public Prosecutions

''For more information on the position and for a more detailed list, please see Director of Public Prosecutions (Hong Kong)'' # Peter Nguyen SBS QC SC (1997) # Grenville Cross SBS QC SC (1997–2009) # Ian McWalters SC (2009–2011) # Kevin Zervos SC (2011–2013) # Keith Yeung SC (2013–2017) # David Leung SC (2017–2020) # Maggie Yang (2021–present)

References

Law enforcement agencies of Hong Kong {{HongKong-gov-stub