Blindness describes justice positively. It is, or at least is meant to be, totally objective, influenced by nothing but hard evidence. In Malta, blindness is not a virtue but an affliction of our system of justice. From time to time, hard stories appear to raise the point yet again. One such story appeared in Times of Malta last Wednesday. Its theme was justice delayed, again in a different sense than the usual prompt that justice delayed is justice denied.
Years ago, a young man became a drug addict. He says that bullying in his early youth drove him to seek self-esteem through drugs. Now he is fully aware of the futility of such reasoning. His ‘now’, however, is a horrifying reality. Nine years ago the young man was caught sharing a gram of heroin with a friend. Somehow (possibly there are gaps in the story), that made him guilty of trafficking when the case came to judgment on Friday week, fully nine years after the lapse took place.
The man was sentenced to six months in prison. One must assume that judgment could not be otherwise. Yet the reality now surrounding it throws fresh light on the case. One who was 23 nine years ago is not the same person today. That is a trite truism. The passing of the years brings with it change, whether for good or bad.
Happily, in this case the change was for the good. The young man kicked his drugs problem away five years ago. Today a changed man, he has a steady job and is in a happy relationship with a woman with whom he says he was completely honest. She knows his background. So does her family and his.
The man’s partner is now expecting his child. The baby will arrive while the man is in prison. He will not experience the joy of sharing the baby’s arrival with the mother, or the soul-forming experience of seeing the baby change from a lump of flesh into a being with his or her own budding personality.
The man recognises his error of nine years ago. He feels, though, that it is unfair that he should be made to pay for it now, when he is a changed person and in his particular situation. He is right. This is justice delayed of the wrong kind. Owen Bonnici, the Minister of Justice to whom the man addressed himself, feels so too. He made an apology in Parliament for the delay in meting out justice. Such delay is ingrained in our justice system. Cases differ, and that of the man sentenced after nine years from being caught out may be an exception. But the rule is that long delays negatively affect most of those who appear before the law courts.
One who was 23 nine years ago is not the same person today
Sometimes it is their fault – they deliberately drag and obstruct proceedings. At times it is the fault of their lawyers. But in general it is the system that fails to work properly. In the case revealed during the week, the man, as articulate as can be, fears that although he is a reformed heroin addict he may be sucked back into addiction while in prison. This has been known to happen and society still has to be convinced that prison sentences really serve a correctional purposes.
Sometimes they do. At other times they lead to fresh corruption of the prisoner. The prison system, the bane of every minister of justice, still has to be vacuumed clean so that it fulfils its proper purpose, which is not just to deter and to punish, but also – I would say above all – to rehabilitate.
When it comes to drugs there is much divided opinion. Traffickers should be severely punished. Otherwise circumstances should be taken into account more liberally and humanely. Society wants reform, not vengeful punishment. The point was eloquently made in the same issue of Times of Malta by Fr Hilary Tagliaferro.
Fr Hilary is a priest of the world. His experience, made up of so many reality encounters, led him to conceive the Millennium Chapel, whose devotees include late-night revellers in Paceville who find solace in the chapel’s atmosphere where you can turn into yourself and truly feel that God exists.
Regarding a separate case of a reformed drug addict being sent to prison, he said, bluntly and pithily: “This is vindictive justice”. He was referring to the case of a man sent to serve a five-year prison sentence after he had reformed. “If a person has proved that he has rehabilitated himself and is living a normal life, it makes no sense to pay him back by sending him to prison,” said Fr Hilary.
He also called for a humane approach to be reflected in the police certificate of conduct, whereby drug addicts often have to contend with past mistakes stamped in the certificate, making it difficult for them to find a job.
There is no easy way forward. The justice system has to ensure that it is not abused by hard-nosed people who claim reform where none has taken place. Above all, it must retain and indeed strengthen the deterrent against trafficking. Yet it is a fact that the system has to be reviewed and revised to make justice more far-seeing and easier to acquire.
Bonnici, his short experience in the role already suggests, may be the perfect minister to succeed where so many more experienced predecessors have failed.