Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlotte FatMan
The reason I say that is because a fair amount of the crime committed in Macau and HK is from Chinese mainlanders who do not have a good grasp of the judicial system. In the mainland, the crime for theft vs. murder is similar. Many do not realize the difference and thus, you can find yourself on the wrong end of a blade for no good reason.
All in all, this is not much of an issue because outside of the possibilities of pickpocketing in HK or Macau and petit larceny, you are in a very safe environment.
My initial comment was made to agree that the areas are safe, especially in comparison to the US and especially some areas where casinos are located (like AC).
It appears I misunderstood your initial post, although I dispute that theft punishments are similar to murder as murder is normally a capital offence in China and theft certainly isn't. Not unless you are stealing $100,000,000 from the government anyway.
I agree with you that the only crime a regular person is likely to experience is pickpocketing or similar and that in general China including Macau and HK is a very safe place to be.
From wikipaedia:
The Republic of China Criminal Code (zh:中華民國刑法) rules the following offenses eligible for death penalty, although none of them carries mandatory death penalty[3]:
* Treason (Article 101)
* Espionage (Article 103,104,105,107)
* Hijacking (Article 185-1)
* Murder (Article 271,272)
* Robbery with murder, rape, or arson (Article 332)
* Piracy (Article 333,334)
* Kidnapping (Article 347,348)
Article 63 of the Criminal Code also rules that death penalty cannot be imposed on juvenile offenders aged under 18 or senile offenders aged above 80 for any offenses.
Other special laws which rule non-compulsory capital offenses:
* Unauthorized manufacture, trafficking or selling of heroin, opium, morphine or cocaine (Act for the Control of Drug Abuse, zh:毒品危害防制條例 Article 4)[4]
* Unauthorized manufacture, trafficking or selling of firearm weapons (Act for the Control of Weapons, zh:槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例 Article 7)[5]
* Serious counterfeiting which disturbs financial order(Act for the Punishment of Counterfeiting, zh:妨害國幣懲治條例 Article 3)[6]