If we aim to be at the forefront of nations that champion the rights of victims of crime we must improve on the good that we have achieved so far in promoting and implementing the many types of assistance, aid and other support that any victim of crime will require. Not for a moment must we turn away from victims.

Their pain is discomforting. Their anger is sometimes embarrassing. Their personal experiences are upsetting. Victims are vital reminders of our own vulnerability. I know this because I have worked with victims of crime for some time.

Our government must ensure fair compensation for victims of crime, increasing the range of crimes for which compensation can be claimed and extending the coverage of the damage. This must include damage to property and any kind of quantifiable damage that a victim of crime may have suffered and the availability of compensation must be more clearly publicised.

It is time to legislate for a percentage, which need not be that large, of all total fines, penalties and other forms of pecuniary punishments inflicted by our criminal courts on convicted offenders that will go directly to a central compensation fund, administered solely for the paying out of all compensation awards done by the Claims Officer under our law.

It is only in this instance that crime should pay! It is precisely here where one can come up with an ingenious and lawful mechanism to compensate victims of crime profusely, not from taxpayers’ money but directly from convicted offenders.

What better way to mark the European victims of crime day, falling on 22 February, yearly? Each new victim personally represents an instance in which our legal and judicial system has failed to prevent crime. Lack of concern for victims compounds that failure.

 

Dr Mark Said

Msida