Hasty Justice Worse Than Lazy Justice, Franco Debono Warns As Minister Mulls Timeframes For Criminal Cases
Prominent criminal lawyer Franco Debono has advised for caution in light of radical reforms being proposed by the government to clamp down on excessive court delays.
“I believe that huge reforms to the system took place, all of which I had proposed as an MP prior to 2013,” Debono said.
“We don’t need legislative tampering. The framework is now in place and we should give it a chance to work. Strengthen the Office of the Attorney General and keep one thing in mind – lazy justice is bad but hasty justice is worse.”
In a recent interview with Lovin Malta, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard proposed imposing legal timeframes to clamp down on the plague of delays in the criminal justice system.
“Some delays don’t make sense to the accused, the victim or society,” he warned. “It’s an absolute priority for us to make decisions and implement reforms so as to seriously address this reality that has been with us for a long time.”
Times of Malta then quoted unnamed government sources as stating that the proposed overhaul would set a one-year limit on pre-trial proceedings.
Another proposed reform would see an overhaul of the rinviji process, whereby evidence presented in criminal cases is passed on to the Office of the Attorney General Office every month, with the AG given six weeks to review it and decide whether more witnesses should be summoned.
While this was an important check and balance when the police were the sole prosecutors, it has been rendered largely redundant now that AG’s Office is part of the prosecution too.
However, Debono argued that imposing timeframes could lead to a hasty justice system, and risk propagating injustices, with people thrown into jail unfairly.
“The law already stipulates that evidence compilation proceedings should close in a month and that witnesses who testify in an inquiry shouldn’t testify again at the compilation stage,” he said.
“Secondly, with the AG’s Office present in the courtroom, the process will speed up if we give the system enough time to absorb these changes without further tampering. What will happen if the compilation doesn’t close in a year? Will the entire case collapse?”
He noted that the AG’s Office has passed through a “generational shift” in recent years, with several young lawyers currently being blooded, while at the same time the courts have entered “uncharted territory” when faced with complex financial crimes.
“What shall we do? Rush things and throw a bunch of people into jail? Some legal points take time to be resolved.”
Debono also gave a shout-out to PN MP and former Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who he had heavily criticised during his time in Parliament for failing to enact reforms to the judicial system.
In 2012, Mifsud Bonnici was even forced to resign as minister after Debono voted with the PL Opposition in a motion of no confidence.
However, Debono said he and Mifsud Bonnici have now buried the hatchet and acknowledged the merits of his former colleague’s stance in favour of not fixing things that aren’t broken.
“The problem with Carm back then was that he stretched the argument of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ excessively,” he said. “However, if ten years ago, there was a lot to fix, we have now entered a phase of excessive tinkering.”
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