Home Affairs Minister Emanuel Mallia has had a meeting with Victim Support Malta, during which he discussed how the government can best help victims of crime.

The Department of Information said that the minister urged the NGO to prepare a report about cases of victims of crime who found no help from the authorities, so that the government could offer its assistance. The minister also asked the NGO to submit its accounts so that the government could see how it could benefit from funding.

The DOI made no reference to the recent prisoners' amnesty, with the NGO had criticised.

Dr Mallia said prison reform would also be beneficial to the victims of crime. He pointed out that three-quarters of prisoners were repeat offenders. Should the prisons truly by a correctional facility, there would be a lower crime rate and fewer victims of crime.

Dr Roberta Lepre, who heads the NGO, said the NGO sees some 80 victims of crime annually, the biggest numbers being victims of domestic violence and theft.

In comments to The Times of Malta last Friday Dr Lepre said that amnesties   “impinge on the victims’ right to reparation, while also undermining the rule of law.”

 

 

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