Offenders should be registered
I cannot understand why the courts did not make use of the child offenders’ register – “a very good instrument” made available to them to protect children, as the former Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said.
But then, why was this decision left at the discretion of the judges and magistrates, and not obliging them to put all the names of those found guilty on this register?
How can the children be protected effectively if the courts stop at registering the abusers?
At least now we have a magistrate who started the ball rolling and added the first name to the child offenders’ register. Others should emulate her.
As the Victim Support Malta organisation said, judges and magistrates should be provided with guidelines on how to list people on the child offenders’ register to ensure it is implemented consistently. But I go one further: the law should be amended so that the courts shall have to register the offenders and not leave it at their discretion.
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Peter Murray
Jul 4th 2012, 17:44
WHERE OR HOW CAN ONE ACCESS THIS REGISTER AND HOW IS SUCH VITAL INFORMATION PROMULGATED?ANYONE KNOW?
GL Calleja
Jul 4th 2012, 17:12
The reason for all this is very clear and oooooops here I go again. IT IS FOR PURE POLITICS. ( caps intended). Everything we do in Malta has to do with the power of politics. Anybody convicted of rape, pedophile and sex offenders should be put on the list barring none. Our main concern should be the victim and not the criminal. So far our courts seem to favour the latter. In other words pure politics by our courts. maybe Franco Debono has a point in wanting to overhaul our prejudiced and archaic Judicial System. But alas, the Minister in charge has been dismissed. It seems like protecting votes is more important than fixing our archaic laws.
Ramon Casha
Jul 4th 2012, 11:30
Laws should be written using the brain, not the gut. Search for "sexting" and find out about the hundreds of children and adolescents, some as young as ten, who have been placed on similar registers, alongside rapists and sex offenders, for the rest of their lives because of laws that tied the judiciary's hands in the way being suggested here.
Francis Sammut
Jul 4th 2012, 10:47
Agree. The law needs to be amended so that the courts shall have to register the offenders and not leave it at their discretion. As stated above, so far, only one name had been added since the law was enacted!
Peter Murray
Jul 4th 2012, 09:49
You are not alone Theodore in this failure to comprehend.As when a person is found guilty and convicted of an offence against a child -especially of a sexual nature-it should be an automatic application to enter that person's name on such a register designed for that sole purpose.I would go further and include that person's address on such a register to inform parents of youn,g vulnerable children of who is within their midst.Can anyone tell me how access ,or the availabitity to access, such a register is made known?
Please choose the reason of your report below: