PDF《Title》

Cohler, 1993). Therefore, there is no unique definition of delinquency for all research because of the cultural difference. According to Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics in 2010, there was a decreasing trend of the number of delinquent aged

16 to

20 being arrested from

2004 to

2009 in general, but an increasing number of delinquent aged more than

21 being arrested. In particular, the number of juvenile delinquent for those aged

16 to

20 has been dropped significantly from

2003 to 2004, and then it fluctuated slightly in the later three years. Then, it decreased dramatically from

2007 to 2009, falling to the lowest point in

2009 among the six years. Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics (2010) also included statistics from Hong Kong Police Force in 2009. Based on these statistics, there were more delinquents who EMOTION, SELF COGNITION, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

3 aged

16 to

20 being arrested for non-violent crime (for example, burglary, shop theft, and criminal damage) than violent crime (for example, rape, wounding, and murder). However, it is believed that some crime cases are not being reported. Among the age group of 16-20, the types of offence with larger proportion of person being arrested for violent crimes were serious assault, wounding, criminal intimidation and indecent assault. For non-violent crimes, the types of offence with larger number of person being arrested were serious narcotics offences, shop theft, unlawful society offences, and sexual offences (other than rape and indecent assault). However, the above statistics only showed the number of person being arrested by the police. Still, there are substantial proportion of delinquent behaviour excluded from the official statistics if the delinquents are not prosecuted because the crime is minor and such decision had been approved by the parents of both victim and offender. Based on a study conducted by McQuoid (1994), different types of offence had been grouped into five categories by using the International Self-Report Study of Delinquency (ISRD1) survey in Belfast (Breen, Manning, O'

Donnell, O'

Mahony, &

Seymour, 2010). First, property offences include shoplifting, burglary, car theft, and theft from car. Second, violent offences can be further divided into two sub-categories, including criminal damage (such as, vandalism and arson) and offences against the person (for example, group fighting, robbery, assault, and carrying a weapon). Third, drug offences include the usage of LSD, cocaine, heroin, and drug dealing. Fourth, status offences refer to the acts which are committed by young people while the behaviour are proscribed only for those below certain age (Michelson, Levine, Michelson, &

Spina, 1979), for example, alcohol drinking, driving a motor car, and cigarette smoking under age (Hollin, Epps, &

Kendrick, 1995). Fifth, computer-related crimes include computer hacking, e-mail harassment, and cyber bullying. However, these five groups only covered the offences, but neglected those delinquent behaviour EMOTION, SELF COGNITION, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

4 which are only misconducts but do not violate the legal aspects, for example, a young person going out all night without parents'

permission, premarital sexual behaviour, and buying pirated products. A recent study examined the daily activities of Hong Kong school students and found that young people spent times on watching television, surfing internet, smoking, and hanging out purposelessly (Lo, Cheng, Wong, Rochelle, &