Criminal justice reform proposes limiting compilation of evidence period to one year

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard is proposing a cap on the length of compilation of evidence proceedings as part of sweeping reforms for the criminal justice system.

Compilation of evidence hearings during which evidence is exhibited in court would be capped at one year, doing away with the renvoi procedure where the court sends case files to the Attorney General for a decision as to whether more evidence must be exhibited.

The proposal forms part of a package of reforms announced on Tuesday, which will be open for public consultation.

The abolition of the renvoi procedure was first suggested 12 years ago by lawyer Franco Debono, at the time an MP.

Other proposals include increasing the upper limit on cases which may be tried summarily before the Court of Magistrates, forcing the prosecution to exhibit its evidence within a 70- day period, and allowing more types of witnesses to submit affidavits instead of testifying in the compilation of evidence.

Documents not exhibited during the compilation of evidence will be allowed to be exhibited before the Criminal Court.

Defendants are to be entitled to 20 days from the date when the prosecution finishes exhibiting its evidence to file a note, declaring the intention to exhibit its own evidence. Defendants are to have a 40-day period, extendable by another 30 days, to exhibit evidence. Guilty pleas are to result in an automatic reduction in punishment by two grades, except in respect of crimes punishable by life imprisonment. If at the end of the compilation proceedings the presiding magistrate does not find prima facie grounds for indictment, the defendant is released.

Attard said the proposed reforms would ensure society is better protected from criminality while the rights of persons accused, as well as their victims, are safeguarded. 

He pointed to the government’s increased investment in the justice sector, saying the proposed changes were building on prosecutorial reforms that began in 2019. He highlighted the recently introduced procedure allowing revision of decisions taken by the AG, stressing the importance of checks and balances.

Under the proposals, there will no longer be a need for the court to send the acts of proceedings back to the AG to decide on whether more evidence is to be collected or not.

“Fundamental rights issues, Constitutional cases will not be allowed to stop criminal cases from proceeding,” he said, explaining that the idea behind this is to avoid the process from getting bogged down.

The reforms were aimed at freeing up human and infrastructural resources in the justice sector to respond to other needs, Attard said.

Asked whether the time limit will favour the accused, particularly in cases dealing with complicated crimes of a financial nature, Attard insisted that proceedings that drag on for years, favour no one.

“This reform needs everyone to upgrade their working practices… Will it create pressure? Yes. But these are the decisions which must be taken to ensure justice is delivered in reasonable time,” he said.

Retired judge Antonio Mizzi, who assisted in the drawing up of the new procedure said that the time had come for Malta to seek different solutions to what it has at the moment.

Mizzi said the consultation process was a wide one. His office had suggested changes to the first draft. The final draft is not just his office’s work but also the work of experts consulted by the minister, the judiciary and lawyers.

“This reform is aimed at the people,” said the judge, “not to satisfy the vainglory of the legal profession and judicature.”

He expressed great respect for today’s magistrates, recalling how in his days as a magistrate, the lower courts had a much more limited remit, wheras today they are responsible for handling cases punishable by up to 12 years’ imprisonment.

“Sending a person to prison is not easy at all. To the contrary it is very difficult… we are dealing with a person’s liberty, and we must be sure that the decision is correct.”

"It is presumed that when a person is being arraigned, all the evidence is already in hand, but sometimes this is not possible and hence the 40-day period can be extended by another 30 days," Mizzi explained, adding that it was being proposed that at the end of this period, the defendant has a 20-day period to decide whether to exhibit evidence.

If the defendant opts to do so, there will be a 40-day period extendable by 30 days for defence evidence to be exhibited.

Another proposal is that civilian witnesses will still be required to testify, but expert and police witnesses who often are only asked to confirm their reports on oath, are not. The right to cross-examine expert witnesses will still be available to the parties.

With regards to implementation, the retired judge said that at a point in time, there will be a monitoring and evaluation period where the two systems will be working in parallel. Mizzi recommended that a dedicated team of magistrates start using the new system and identify any areas requiring revision, before it is fully operational,“ adding that this was the reason for having an evaluation period.

"A good law doesn’t require interpretation,” Mizzi said, 

Franco Debono says proposed amendments vindicate his "riforma gustizzja" vision 

Franco Debono, who had been the first to submit a number of the proposals launched today, during his time as a PN MP some 12 years ago, welcomed the move.

“Today the Government is implementing another part of my vision regarding the justice and the interior, the one proposed by me as a Nationalist MP through the private members motion of 8 November 2011 on Holistic Reform for Justice and Internal Affairs where point number 8 deals with - radical reform in the penal procedure, including the arraignments and renvoi,’" the lawyer said in a reaction posted to Facebook, in which he reiterated the salient points of his proposed reform.

“This is the vision that I offered to the Nationalist Party and to the country more than ten years ago. History continues to show its validity even today.

In what was announced today there are some good proposals, others which need to be improved and still others which need to be discarded, but the general principles are exactly those I proposed, ten years ago.”