Following a report commissioned by former justice minister Chris Said lamenting the poor state in which victims were treated, Malta introduced the Victims of Crime Act (2015) on the 2nd of April of that year.[84] The report emphasised the need to increase the amount of resources for the legal aid office and said that victims should be able to receive benefits from the service.[84] The new Act provides free legal aid to victims of crime, where this was only open to the accused prior to its assent.[84][85]