Heavier penalties proposed to close doors on crime

The government is increasing penalties and further enforcing legislation to prevent modern delinquency, such as sexual exploitation of minors with the use of information technology, and fight crime.

Introducing the Various Laws (Criminal Matters) Amendment Bill, Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said this was the second proposal linked to security in Malta, and that the third would be presented at the start of next year.

This second package was intended to introduce security measures including the mechanisms that the EU was promoting. Legislation was being extended to include 70 additional clauses with increased penalties.

The Bill amended various laws related to criminal matters and acknowledged that legislative steps needed to be taken to cater for today's needs and close existing loopholes. He explained how the Bill would amend the Criminal Code in terms of child pornography and soliciting, traffic contraventions, driving under the influence of alcohol, gas cannons, possession of arms or items of a nuclear, radioactive nature, and money laundering, among others.

At the top of the list, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, was the need to protect minors who were increasingly exposed to dangerous situations brought about by modern electronic and information technology.

The Bill would give adequate empowerment to institutions in protecting minors from sexual perpetrators. This, he said, would also allow for an increased number of legislative clauses to cover child pornography and the sexual or non-sexual soliciting of minors through the internet. The minister emphasised that steps towards fighting these crimes were crucial.

The Bill would also introduce heavier penalties across frontiers.

A step forward would be made towards a legal framework that allowed for a public register of sexual offenders. This would strictly prohibit the perpetrator's proximity to children in educational institutions and other activities where minors were present. When one was convicted of such an offence, the prohibition should form part of the criminal record.

The Criminal Code would also increase penalties for traffic contraventions, because drivers who respected the law needed to be protected from those who did not.

Speaking about traffic contraventions, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that there was a need in Malta to increase such penalties. The amendments the Bill was introducing were many. Jumping traffic lights would become a crime rather than a contravention, because the driver would be endangering other people's lives. This would also include the use of mobile phones while driving, as well as tighter regulations on the wearing of seatbelts. There had been 8,000 cases of contraventions by people not using seatbelts, and some had included children.

The Bill introduced a new framework for driving under the influence of alcohol through the introduction of new mechanisms to replace the present outdated apparatus. But if suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, one could still be stopped and traditional means of identifying these drivers would continue to be used. Refusal to take a breathalyser test would be considered a crime on the presumption that such refusal would be due to driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Bill also introduced automatically higher penalties in cases of homicide, in which more than one person lost their life or suffered involuntary serious injury.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici spoke about the need for an ad hoc article prohibiting the use of gas cannons that caused small timed explosions disturbing the public peace.

The Bill made joint investigations with other countries possible. Using the example of the Malta-registered Russian vessel Arctic Sea, he mentioned the efficacy of the Prum Treaty. Malta had obtained EU funds to introduce an updated system of criminal records, and success in fighting crime in the future depended on this type of advancement. The Lisbon Treaty also laid down that every country had to set up a committee to monitor internal security.

The Bill also outlawed the sale of toy firearms. Anybody breaking the law would lose their licence. Another amendment prohibited the transfer of radioactive or nuclear material.

The minister called for a stronger criminal code that increased the number of crimes covered and penalties therefor. Harsher penalties were needed to combat modern methods of crime. The number of reported cases to the police had dwindled, but stronger law enforcement was needed to guarantee people's fundamental right to individual protection. There was no crime that was not considered important, he added.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that prison sentences were to be increased from 18 months to five years in cases of exposing minors to indecent photography, pornographic images and recordings, simulated visual images and even cartoons. These radical changes were needed because of the increased use of information technology, making minors more vulnerable than before.

A person who used information technology to meet and exploit a minor for sexual purposes could be handed a prison sentence from 12 months to four years. The Bill also contemplated heavier penalties for people taking part in sex tourism involving minors and other people considered at risk.

The minister referred to the sex offenders register and said this should not be limited to perpetrators but should also include others who would have been instrumental in the crime. Police individual records had to include sentences delivered abroad to persons found guilty of sexual abuse.