Electronic tagging law approved by Parliament
Technology to be rolled out in the coming weeks, home affairs ministry says
Parliament has approved a law introducing electronic tagging for criminal offenders, with the technology due to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
The law will allow for electronic monitoring as an alternative to imprisonment in “certain cases” for sentences of less than a year, the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
Tagging will also be introduced for those on parole and prison leave and is billed as helping to reduce the risk of reoffending and “strengthening the sense of security” in communities, the ministry said.
“It will also help in the path of rehabilitation of those who have committed a crime, with more flexible control adapted to the circumstances”.
The bill was first tabled in Parliament in December, when Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said LESA will be responsible for the operation of the system.
But calls for electronic tagging to be introduced date back more than a decade. Lawyer and former MP Franco Debono had proposed it in a parliamentary speech back in 2012 and Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera has also called, in various court judgements, for it to be introduced.
The Home Affairs Ministry called the step an “important reform... to advance a more modern, secure justice system based on the balance between community safety and the rehabilitation process”.
It said the law would introduce a “central system” featuring technology which had “already been installed and tested”.
Work on the system was “at an advanced stage – with work on the infrastructure, staff training and testing on the equipment being carried out”, the ministry said.
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said the law had been introduced in a way that “always puts the victim at the centre”, adding the establishment of the Agency for Victims of Crime had accompanied the introduction of tagging “to ensure that no person is victimised twice”.
The agency provides confidential information, legal guidance and emotional support free of charge to victims of crime.
“At the same time, we are continuing to strengthen the element of rehabilitation through modern tools that are effective and fair”, Camilleri said.