Ask people in Malta whether they feel safe in their own country and a worrying number will hesitate before answering. That hesitation says a great deal as it betrays a sense of unease which sadly has grown in the past years.
Safety depends on more than lip-service, it rests on a solid confidence that if something goes wrong, the system will step in, the truth will come out, and those responsible will answer for what they did within a reasonable time. That confidence has been wearing thin for years, and the justice system sits at the heart of the problem.
The case for an overhaul of the justice system has been brewing for a long time, starting from the victims, who sadly are often left with the short end of the straw. Anyone who has lived through a court case in this country, or watched a family member go through the ordeal, knows how long and gruelling the process can be.
Hearings are put off, cases drag on for years, and the victim is expected to relive the worst moments of their life every time the case returns to court. We ask a great deal of these people while offering them very little in return. At the very least, victims going through lengthy proceedings should be offered proper support, so that the wait for justice does not become a second injury inflicted by the very system that is meant to protect them.
Support for victims, however, can only go so far if the system itself keeps moving at a snail's pace. What we need is a clear justice delivery plan, with defined timeframes, measurable targets and someone accountable for meeting them. Every other sector of public life is expected to plan and report on its performance, and there is no reason why the delivery of justice should be treated as the one area where delays are simply accepted. People deserve to know how long a case should reasonably take, and they deserve to see the system held to that standard.
Much of the delay comes down to capacity. Modern crime, especially financial crime, is complex, technical and often international, and it cannot be investigated or prosecuted properly on goodwill and overstretched resources. The courts need dedicated financial investigators, prosecutors and technical experts who can build strong cases and see them through, and those professionals need to be given the time, the tools and the stability to do their work well.
Above all, they must be left to work in peace. Investigators and prosecutors who have to look over their shoulder, or who suspect that a case might be slowed down or steered away from certain people, cannot deliver the kind of justice a democracy depends on. Freedom from interference is a basic condition for the rule of law, and the public will only trust the outcome of a case when it is confident that nobody had a hand on the scales along the way.
Ultimately, a justice system that works quickly and reliably is one of the strongest deterrents a country can have. When people know that wrongdoing will be investigated thoroughly, prosecuted competently and punished within a reasonable time, they think twice before crossing the line. When they see instead that cases collapse, drag on for a decade or fade away, some conclude that the risk is worth taking. That message travels, and it reaches those who come to our shores as much as those who were born here. Anyone who lives in or visits Malta should understand, from day one, that the law here is enforced seriously and fairly, whoever you are and wherever you come from.
Restoring that certainty is the real task ahead. It will require investment, a clear plan and a political class willing to give the institutions the independence they need, even when that independence becomes inconvenient.