Probation cases up by 16% in a year

During 2011, the number of cases of persons on probation increased to 486, up by 16% over the previous year. During 2010, probation officers were responsible of 784 active cases, increasing to 880 a year later. Two years ago, probation was mostly given to those between 15 and 19 years of age.

Last year this age group increased to between 25 and 29, with the perpetrators mostly coming from Valletta, Bormla and Qormi. The majority of the probation cases were related to thefts, but an increase in cases of violent offences was also registered. These included domestic violence, grievous bodily harm and assault.

This information was revealed in parliament this evening by Justice Minister Chris Said as he listed the proposed amendments to the Probation Act. Taking part in the debate from the Opposition's side was shadow minister José Herrera.

The aim of the Bill is to transpose the EU's Council Framework Decision 2009 on the application of the principal of mutual recognition to judgments and probation decisions with a view to the supervision of probation measures and alternative sanctions.

In other words, a probation sentence handed down by a court in a member state can now be recognised in any another member state if the perpetrator decides to move from one country to another.

In many cases that involve foreigners, the Maltese judiciary would be forced to hand down a sentence of conditional discharge or a suspended prison sentence because a probation sentence would not be recognised in the perpetrator's country. The EU's directive, transposed in to Maltese law through this Bill, will address this problem.

While stating that this Bill will not be subject to polemics, as the directive "makes sense", Herrera took the opportunity to reiterate his call for the proper implementation of reparative justice.

He said that while the government talked about wanting to help perpetrators rehabilitate themselves, yet this wasn't reflected in the sentences handed down by the Maltese courts,

According to Herrera, the problem was that the judiciary didn't have laws that allow "a human approach". He went on to add that a person caught for cultivating marijuana for personal use is treated as if he were "a drug baron"; a person caught smoking a joint may face up to a year and a half in prison.