It is a shame how we have still not managed to come up with a juvenile justice system in EU Malta in the 21st century. We have sought to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency in Malta by sending our children to adult prisons and whoever made this law has a lot of reckoning to do before the Creator.
Unless you’re not aware, the US government had spent USD30,000 on me on juvenile justice in 1996-97 with the blessing of the Maltese government; but unfortunately no action was taken on any of the reports I submitted when I came back in 1997 after a year in the States.
These were my recommendations way back in 1997:
I recommended that the age of the offender should be extended to persons who have not attained their eighteenth birthday since in criminal law, 16-year-olds are considered as adults and charged in an adult court.
Young offenders are to be arraigned in the Juvenile Court even if the other co-accused are adults. The system now is still that these young offenders are arraigned in an adult court when the other offenders are 16 and older. It is cruel both for society and for that young offender to treat him as an adult and to put him in an adult jail because he took part in a crime with adult offenders. The system at present encourages the juveniles to stay with their peers when the peer group may be the major problem and cause of delinquency in the young offenders.
The charges are to be accompanied by a social report providing information to the magistrate about the family background, school progress and any other relevant details about the offender. The social report is to contain information about the youth’s family, friends, health, neighbourhood, religion and school progress. It is used to help the magistrate and other staff working with the youth to make informed and appropriate decisions for treatment. This helps the magistrate in his/her decision regarding bail.
I also recommended that there should be a Youth Authority who shall recommend a programme for the juvenile pending the outcome of the criminal charges. It is a pity that we still leave our young offenders without any help until their case is finally decided, and it is a nail in their coffin when we punish them with a suspended sentence or with jail in an adult prison. In the former case, it’s because we are giving them the visa for jail because a suspended sentence without the right rehabilitation programme is a passport for jail’ and in the latter case, we are telling them that they do not stand a chance of making it in life and that they might as well rot in jail.
Even as regards truancy, I am afraid to say they are still taken lightly by our authorities so much so that they are heard by the local tribunals and the system has proved that it is not serving as a deterrent. There is more than a fine to truancy because truancy is a social problem, which incorporated in it the family problems. It is not enough to arraign parents but also children ought to be charged before the Juvenile Court for not going to school.
The new Minister of Education, Mrs Dolores Cristina, must look into this serious problem because the ministry never had the resources to tackle truancy effectively, without ignoring the fact that there are not unscrupulous doctors out there issuing false certificates to children so that they are excused from going to school. The fine is not acting as a deterrent: it is discouraging the education officers who prosecute these charges, it is costly to the taxpayer because of the logistics involved and it is ineffective.
In 1997 when I was in Minnesota doing the juvenile justice programme, I remember that the judge of the juvenile court, on finding the child guilty of a petty crime, ordered the child to pay a fine of up to USD100 and to participate in a community service project and a probation for up to six months. If that child has a drug problem, the court orders that child to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation and if warranted by this evaluation, order participation by the child in an inpatient or outpatient chemical dependency treatment programme.
Even interrogation of young offenders is still treated as adult interrogation. We still do not have a procedure in the interrogation of young offenders as other countries have so that the police can use the same tactics and techniques that they use with adult delinquents. I know that the police like to tick the number of convictions they have throughout the year but let us be real: convictions for children are not the solution.
In EU countries such as England, there is what is known as diversion. Diversion is part of the pre-delinquent intervention programme, which can also be included in the criminal justice system in Malta. The situation at present is that the police are bound to prosecute when they have a prima facie case whereas diversion will give first-time offenders the responsibility and the opportunity to decide their future.
This means that the offender is taken out of the judicial system by imposing on him a programme in the community which may include also some type of counselling or assistance, sometimes even involving the parents. This will avoid stigmatising the offenders and sending them to court, let alone to prison, is the last resort.
In England, diversion consists of a formal warning given by the police and it is known as a ‘police caution’. A caution is recorded and can be referred to when making decisions on any subsequent offences. Once cautioned offenders do not have a criminal record but it can be cited in court in subsequent charges but they are required to work at a programme such as individual counselling, group work or some form of reparation or mediation or community work and that the offender’s parents must agree to a caution.
In Malta, much to our disgust, and it seems also that this was done with the blessing of Appogg we have opted to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency by sending our children to adult prisons. It is so unfortunate that no lobby groups have taken any stand against this gross injustice and it is high time that the matter is referred to Brussels and to Strasbourg so that they get to know how we treat our young offenders down here!