Victims of certain types of crime now have the opportunity to resort to legal action to obtain financial compensation.

In announcing the implementation of the system last week, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg described it as a “regulation intended for create a balance between the rights of the victim and the rights of the accused”. The regulation applies to voluntary violent crimes that have taken place since 1 January 2006, but the intention is to expand it to cover other types of offences in the future. The government rightly chose to introduce the system in a gradual manner, and see how the public reacts to it before widening its scope.

Applicants must prove that all other possible remedies have been exhausted in order to qualify for the compensation, which has been set at a maximum of Lm10,000 (EU23,290) and which will reflect the type of crime that was committed.

Victims of crime are often “forgotten”. The way our judicial system has worked up to now concentrates mostly on punishing the perpetrator and pays little attention to the people who suffer the consequences of the crime. While seeing the perpetrators being punished might, in some way, give a sense of relief to the victims, they will bear the scars of their suffering for a long time, perhaps forever.

We are in no way criticising the work carried out by the police in their investigations into criminal acts, and the work of the courts of justice in dealing with the many criminal cases that the police bring forward. This is the way the system works, and we have no qualms about that, although as in anything else, there could be improvements. For example, sometimes the courts take too long to reach a conclusion.

While it is important that the people who commit a crime are investigated, charged and, if proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, receive the punishment they deserve, it is equally important to offer remedies to the people who are the victims of the crime that has taken place.

These people are often ignored by society, when they should be receiving all the help they can get in order to, as much as possible, get over their traumatic experience.

Of course, no amount of money will bring back a lost loved one. No amount of money will make up for the physical and psychological injuries suffered. And no amount of money will compensate for the fear, distress and helplessness that one feels after experiencing such a trauma.

People with a strong character have greatly suffered after a harrowing experience, let alone those who are frail. And therefore society must show its support to all victims of crime.

This can be done by various means, and before the government introduced this new regulation, the victims could resort to other measures by which they could, somehow, be compensated for the crime that was committed against them, including compensation from the people found guilty of that crime. Now, they have an extra card to play because, if all other remedies have been exhausted, they can file an application for compensation for the crime from the government.

The success or otherwise of the introduction of this new regulation will be seen in the long term. Apart from the press conference to announce the regulation, which came into force on 27 July, the government – perhaps with the aid of the agencies and NGOs that work with victims of crime – should embark on an exercise to create more public awareness.

Let us then hope that the system will not be too bureaucratic in its implementation and avoids creating unnecessary extra hardship to the victims themselves.