Community service orders for offenders have only been implemented in 22 cases since the relevant law came into force five years ago despite the beneficial effect of such orders for both the offender and the taxpayer, criminologist Sandra Scicluna said yesterday.
Speaking during a lecture at the law courts, Dr Scicluna explained that community service orders (CSO), as issued by the courts, ordered an offender to perform work for the community as an alternative to imprisonment under the supervision of the Probation Services.
Statistics showed that it costs at least €54 (Lm23.17) a day to house a prisoner, Dr Scicluna said, adding that implementing CSOs more regularly and keeping offenders out of prison would mean a big saving of taxpayers' money.
(In reply to a recent parliamentary question, the Home Affairs Minister said that 285 prisoners were being detained at the Corradino Correctional Facility. At the current estimate that would mean a cost of about €15,390 [Lm6,605.15] a day.) Dr Scicluna, from the Institute of Forensic Studies, explained that a CSO could be given as punishment for an offence punishable by a maximum seven years imprisonment. Drug or alcohol abusers, prisoners with serious mental illness or showing patterns of extreme violence and sex offences are not eligible for the CSO.
Fifty-two per cent of all prisoners who have been sentenced to up to six months in jail and a further 10 per cent who were sentenced for a jail term of between six and 12 months were eligible for the CSO.
Dr Scicluna went on to explain that the typical profile of an offender served with a CSO was male, aged between 16 and 30 years and would have committed. He would be placed with an NGO and work for 100 hours.
She said that a number of local councils and NGOs have already benefitted from the CSO project. Projects carried out so far include maintenance of public conveniences, public fields, animal shelters, gardening, refurbishing, restoration and helping disadvantaged persons. According to statistics, 57 per cent of placements sentenced to community service worked for NGOs and 43 per cent for local councils.
Drawing attention to numerous success stories, Dr Scicluna spoke of a 25-year-old man with a stable job who had done 150 hours of community service work after committing a theft.
A second case was that of a 34-year-old mother of three who was ordered to do 100 hours of community work for drug possession. Only three people at her place of work knew it was community service and the other employees thought she was volunteering.
Paul Knepper, from the University of Sheffield, emphasised the success that CSOs have had in the United Kingdom and the significant public Ban on publication of namethey received.
Besides promoting positive thinking, this form of sentence enabled social inclusion, improved education and work skills of the offenders and allowed one to find work much more easily once one would have served the sentence, he added.
Charles Deguara, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, said that although still practically in its infancy, the Probation Services is extremely active. Various initiatives, such as this one, deserved the ministry's support and appreciation.