Malta under intense pressure to iron out serious failures in justice
Owen Bonnici, parliamentary secretary for justice, is brimming with confidence that the imminent reform of the justice system will be a success. But underlying his confidence is acute awareness that failure is not an option
9 June 2013, 12:00am
Raphael Vassallo
Raphael Vassallo
1 min read
Parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici
In an interview in today's edition of MaltaToday, the parliamentary secretary for justice warns that failure is not an option when it comes to implementing a long-overdue reform of the justice system.
Describing the justice commission's recommendations as "the most audacious reform of the sector in 30 years', Bonnici reveals that Malta is under intense pressure from the European Commission to iron out a number of serious systemic failures in the system.
"They have shown us the yellow card... the situation as it stands today is so serious that justice reform has now been listed by the EU as a CSR (country-specific recommendation)... which means it will come up for discussion at the next Council of Ministers' summit..."
Bonnici also expresses his agreement 'in principle' with the controversial proposal to decriminalize certain offences in a bid to reduce the caseload before the criminal courts. Drug possession cases are one example, but there are others.
Personally - and so long as we are talking about simple possession as opposed to trafficking - I don't consider this to be a justice issue, as much as a health issue. If someone has a health problem he should go to a doctor, not be dragged in front of a magistrate..."
Read more in today's print edition
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This is no new idea as I had already uttered it before: I have a proposal for the Honorable Parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici:
One of the ways forward to reduce the shameful caseload before the criminal (and other) courts is a "Devolution of justice with the creation of District Courts" whereby each case/offense would be fully dealt with in the District where it would have been registered/committed.
This would reduce the pressure on Valletta, re-energize the legal and associated professions and mostly, hopefully bring faster timely justice closer to the citizen!
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In you we trust Dottore.
