Electronic tagging of criminals and a serious offenders' register will be in place by the end of the year when a law regulating these matters should be finalised.
The two measures form part of the government's efforts to fight crime, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said during a press conference to outline work carried out by his ministry in the past year.
He said the ministry had worked on the groundwork for the introduction of electronic tagging. It would apply to those out on bail awaiting judgement as well as to keep track of prison inmates' whereabouts. It would also benefit foreign people charged in Malta who might not otherwise be granted bail for fear they might abscond.
The tagging, which may be in the form of a bracelet, could also apply to inmates granted parole, one of the main proposals in the White Paper on Restorative Justice that was presented earlier this year.
The serious offenders' list would include a paedophile register and would aim to protect people from perpetrators and keep track of those who were convicted of serious crimes, a ministry spokesman elaborated.
The type of "serious crime" to make the register would be determined by the severity of the punishment. However, the details were still being worked out.
"The information contained within the list should be accessible primarily to law enforcement agencies, school authorities and those working with youths and children," the spokesman said.
Over the past months the ministry had embarked on a process of internal consultation with relevant stakeholders including the Commissioner for Children, Carmen Zammit.
The commissioner had to postpone internal consultation on the subject due to take place earlier on this year, due to lack of funds.
Listing the ministry's achievements in the past year, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said several laws had been amended, including the Explosives Ordinance that increased the punishment for those who manufactured fireworks illegally or in inhabited areas. A law introducing the concept of moral damages would also be tabled in Parliament.
Last year, he said, the government concluded the Visa Waiver Programme with the US and signed cross-border crime treaties with Ukraine, Latvia, Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, China and Ireland.
The Civil Protection Department invested in training to ensure it was prepared to face disasters; the Attorney General's office increased its staff and set up new units; and the police worked to reduce the crime rate - reported crime dropped by almost nine per cent to 13,820 cases last year from 15,148 in 2007.
On immigration, he said Malta had made an impact on an EU level which led to burden-sharing being mentioned in EU documents (the immigration pact) for the first time.
The number of asylum applications processed increased, the media were granted access to detention centres, the Ta' Kandja detention centre was extended and educational programmes for immigrants were held to help with integration.