Physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect should be treated as seriously as sexual abuse and people convicted of any of them automatically placed on the child offenders register, according to a new study.

“The evidence demonstrates that the harm caused to children by these types of abuse at least matches that caused by sexual abuse,” according to the study titled ‘Protecting our Children: Exploring and Preventing Child Abuse’, carried out by the University of Malta’s Faculty for Social Well-being and sponsored by BOV.

The multi-layered research, led by faculty dean Andrew Azzopardi and Roberta Attard, included data collected through questionnaires as well as interviews with professionals working in the field. Data collected through the questionnaire showed that physical and emotional abuse remain the most common.

Professionals who work in child protection pointed out shortcomings in the law saying the Protection of Minors Registration Act (POMA) was not being used enough. Since 2012, when the registry came into force, there were 104 names listed until the end of 2022.

Who is on the child offenders register?

Currently, convictions that can lead to inclusion on the register cover cases of rape, having sex with minors, child abduction, prostitution, pornography, trafficking in minors and the harassment and neglect of children. Physical and emotional abuse are not included.

It is at the discretion of the court to decide whether to list an offender. Once listed, a person cannot work or hold any position within an organisation involved in the education, care, custody and welfare of minors be they teachers, doctors, nurses, youth workers, police officers, voluntary workers, priests or social workers.

Professionals interviewed in the study believe that the registry is not being used enough: “A conviction for child abuse or neglect should result in the person’s name being registered automatically, and not according to the discretion of the judge or magistrate, and it should not only be used for convictions of sexual abuse but for all cases of abuse,” the study said.

Doing so would protect children from convicted perpetrators but also be a means to support convicted perpetrators to avoid possible temptation whilst they are going through support programmes.

Professionals also recommended having a joint register and Police Conduct Certificates, which are used by some employers to review the criminal record of an individual prior to employment.

“Gaps in the efficacy of the POMA register and Police Conducts Certificates in safeguarding of children were pointed out, mostly resulting from delays in the updating of Police Conduct Certificates to reflect court sentences related to child abuse as well as government regulations allowing employers to apply for POMA records prior to commencing a person’s employment however permitting them to proceed with the employment of that person prior to having received the individual’s court decree, due to delays in the system.”

‘I wish you were never born’

Replies to questionnaires showed that physical and emotional abuse were the most common forms of child abuse. A total of 484 respondents replied to the online questionnaire made available to the public, aged 18 years and over, in early 2023.

When asked what type of abuse they suffered, 366 respondents (76%) identified having experienced physical abuse, 334 respondents (69%) experienced emotional abuse, 275 respondents (57%) experienced sexual abuse and 131 respondents (27%) experienced neglect during childhood.

Physical and emotional abuse and neglect was mostly prevalent in the younger years (five to 10 years) and early adolescence (11 to 15 years), whereas sexual was mostly prevalent throughout childhood and adolescence (five to 18 years).

Parents were the most commonly reported perpetrators in the case of physical and emotional abuse, with 228 respondents (26%) mentioning mothers and 207 respondents (23%) mentioning fathers as their perpetrators for physical abuse. When it came to emotional abuse, 231 respondents (30%) mentioned their mothers and 171 respondents (22%) mentioning their fathers as their perpetrators.

Educators and teachers were the third most commonly reported group of perpetrators for physical abuse (7%) whereas brothers were the third most commonly reported group in the case of emotional abuse (4%).

When it came to the most common type of abuse – physical abuse – respondents mentioned being “hit or punched”, “beaten with an object”, “pulled hair”, “pinched or twisted ear” and “kicked”.

With regard to emotional abuse, respondents recalled being “threatened to be abandoned or refused into home” and mentioned being told “I/we wish you had never been born” or “I/we wish you were dead”.

In the case of child sexual abuse, strangers (11%), other relatives (10%) and the respondent’s partners (6%) – with the latter suggesting a stronger prevalence in adolescence – were the most commonly mentioned perpetrators.

Out of the total number (1,016) of individual occurrences of sexual abuse reported, 154 (15%) mentioned that someone exposed their genitals to them in a way that made them distressed or uncomfortable and 149 respondents (15%) mentioned that someone touched their genitals. A total of 102 respondents (10%) highlighted that they were talked to using sexual or explicit language or were forced or enticed to touch another person’s genitals (81 responses, 8%).