Moviment Graffitti calls out institutional racism in sentencing of migrants

Moviment Graffiti called out the recent judgments in relation to migration offences by the Criminal Justice System as “forms of institutionalised racism”. 

Graffitti called for a more humane and just application of punishment towards the vulnerable. 

The NGO was referring to the six-month prison sentence handed to two couples caught trying to leave Malta with forged passports, whose innocent young children have been left “orphaned by the system”.

Graffiti said that although the Malta Immigration Act does provide for a six month to two-year sentenced for such acts, community based sanctions are permissible under the Probation Act.  “This discriminatory use of sentencing towards migrants and asylum seekers demonstrates that the criminal courts are being deliberately over punitive towards the most vulnerable. “ 

They added “cruel” prison sentences are contributing to the current overpopulation crisis in the prison system. 

“While organised crime and human trafficking are not to be ignored, there is a dire need for a more humane approach in dealing with immigration offences, so that the vulnerable are not criminalised and enmeshed in criminal justice processes. 

“This is definitely not the scope of the criminal justice system which is supposed to provide a fair and just treatment to all as well as to ensure that the severity of the punishment is proportionate to the offence committed.”