Letters • February 1 2004

The problem of sexual abuse

Marianna (sive Marina) Galea Xuereb
Dingli

I refer to recent letters and articles in the media about all kinds of child abuse. I have never formally studied such subjects but being the mother of a four-year-old child I obviously cannot ignore such matters.
Legislators in the United States have tried to control one aspect of the sexual abuse problem by passing laws requiring states to register convicted sex offenders and letting the general public know where they're living. One can even access such data on several websites such as:
http://www.sexcriminals.com/registration-notification for example.
I would like to ask all our politicians to kindly consider enacting similar (and possibly better) legislation for the Maltese Islands. Personally I believe there should be at least two such publicly accessible databases. One listing sexual abusers in general (including those whose victims were adults) and another database listing all kinds of child abusers (people who committed physical, mental, emotional, sexual abuse as well as the abuse or neglect of children).
Would all current and future members of the European Parliament please work to bring about a European directive to similar effect? Why should a convicted abuser, especially one whose victims were minors, be able to settle and work in a village, town, county or country where his /her past is completely unknown? I am fully aware that certain so-called human rights activists oppose such measures like those I am suggesting on the basis that all criminals who have served their prison sentence should be allowed adequate privacy and the chance to make a fresh start. Even I myself agree that certain law breakers, those who can demonstrate that they are no longer a threat to society, should be given a second chance to integrate themselves into the community without fear of discrimination and/or harassment from the bullies that, unfortunately, tend to exist in most societies. However experiences all over the world have shown that several child abusers and sex offenders tend to repeat such crimes and to (consciously or subconsciously) actively seek jobs that afford them (the abusers) the opportunity of more contact with children or their preferred kind of victim. Thus the welfare of children and other possible victims should over-ride any right to privacy concerns as far as I am concerned.
Now that we are soon to join the European Community, such legislation is more essential than ever.
We must all keep in mind that, even though the Maltese islands are small and every body is supposed to know everybody else over here, good, usually reliable, old-fashioned Maltese and Goziten gossip has sometimes not been enough to prevent convicted, locally known sex offenders from repeating crimes in situations where the opportunity would not have arisen had the new victims or their friends or guardians been informed of the abuser’s past record. As the old saying goes ‘Foretold is forewarned.’
In Malta we still lack basic legislation stipulating that the name and whereabouts of a convicted child molester must be published, for example. It is my feeling that, unless Maltese as well as EU laws are amended, we will end up with a worse situation come next May.
There will then be absolutely nothing to prevent a person convicted of abusing children abroad, for example, from coming to Malta to work as a nanny/babysitter or in a school or children’s institution unless, of course, the employer in question has enough good sense, and adequate resources and contacts to check out the new employee through and through.
These requisites, despite all the hype about the extreme ease of communication these days, may still prove to be a very tall order, without laws and official lists such as the ones I am suggesting.
As the local law now stands, if a foreign person - make that a non-Maltese European Community citizen in view of the fact that once Malta joins the EU it would technically be politically incorrect to refer to say, an Italian or
German person as a foreigner - abuses children in Malta, the Maltese Courts will have to forbid the publication of such a criminal’s identity too, if the defending lawyer so requests, in order to treat the ‘non Maltese’ in the same way way a Maltese child abuser would be treated.
I urge all us Maltese - and anyone else who may be reading this – especially those of us who are parents or grandparents to lobby their MPs and not shy away from pestering them if that is what it takes to bring about legislation - and more important, its enforcement - that might one day protect us or one of our children, relatives or friends from at least the already identified abusers, be they Maltese or foreigners.
Sadly, most American states made publicly accessible sex offenders lists mandatory only after children had already suffered needlessly, such as was the case in New Jersey, where in 1994 seven-year-old Megan Nicole Kanka was
sexually molested and murdered by a previously convicted sex offender who had served his sentence and then settled in the Kanka’s neighbourhood where no one knew of his past. Megan’s mother later campaigned for laws to require that neighbours be notified when sex criminals move into an area after they have served their time in prison.
However careful we are and however much we may try to shelter and protect our children, we cannot be around to watch them all the time and for ever.
We have to send them away from us to schools and clubs in order to help them develop to their full potential and God forbid, anyone’s child may end up institutionalised, fostered or adopted should the natural parents and responsible relatives die or became sufficiently incapacitated. Thus no one in his/her right mind can seriously believe that one's child is adequately protected and will remain so till full adulthood. No one can really rest
assured in the belief that ‘It will never happen to my child’ so legislation such as I am asking for is practically in everybody's (except unrepentant abusers) interest. I will not dare suggest that all abusers would be against such legislation since there may be ex-abusers who may
prefer to let others know of their mental sickness or inclination in order to seek help in keeping away from temptation, for example.
Personally I do not intend to settle in any other EU country, at least not in the foreseeable future anyway, but I believe in the old maxim ‘Do as you would be done by.’ Thus we should not just demand to be notified of where abusers (whether of Maltese or foreign origin) are living in the Maltese Islands but we should also not hinder citizens of other countries from finding out about all abusers (even Maltese ones) in their communities.
Hence we should do away with the Maltese (or any other nation’s for that matter) courts' habit of ordering that the names of certain people accused (or even actually convicted) of certain crimes should not be published. This practice is, after all, a form of unfair discrimination since the names of people accused of crimes such as theft, fraud, murder or drug trafficking are usually published as soon as such people are first charged in court and the media are not obliged to wait for an actual conviction before publishing names. Why should it be any different for people accused or convicted of crimes against children?