Judicial attitudes towards foreign domestic helpers in the Hong Kong criminal courts

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the Hong Kong media context, Ladegaard (2013) has observed that: Employers’ crimes against FDHs are consistently mitigated and explained, whereas FDHs’ offences against their employers are characterised as evil actions committed by ‘aliens’ with a flawed character. Deploying a content analysis methodology, in this article we ask: does the discrimination and stereotyping which foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) suffer in Hong Kong society permeate into judicial sentencing remarks in serious criminal cases involving FDHs as either perpetrators or victims? Surprisingly, we answer this question negatively. Nonetheless, the language used by judges in a few decisions did betray ingrained social prejudice against FDHs. The findings also tend to counter our expectation that the decisions would be either explicitly partial to employers or portray individual employer-defendants as aberrant members of an otherwise upstanding social group. Several decisions under analysis identified the inherent potential for the victimization of both employers and FDHs and encouraged systemic reform. However, most judgments did not call attention to the social and legal context of FDHs’ employment.