Minister of Legal Affairs at the President's Office, Aishath Azima Shakoor has stated that the crime rate in Maldives has decreased in the past three years.Speaking on Maldives Today TV programme aired on PSM News, the Minister of Legal Affairs at the President's Office, Aishath Azima Shakoor said that statistics and analysis shows a decrease in the crime curves.According to Maldives Police Service, 3 thousand 752 cases were reported during the first quarter of 2017 while 4 thousand 487 cases were reported in the first three months of 2016.Azima said that the current government's efforts to reduce the crime rates in Maldives are noteworthy."What we are seeing right now is that the crime curves are going down. That is already established in the data and statistics": said Azima.Commenting on the new penal code brought into effect on the 16th of July 2015, Azima stated that the new penal code brought historic changes to the criminal justice system of the Maldives and added that punishment should adhere to the crime."I think the important issue here is for the punishment and for the rehabilitation system to adhere to the types of crime and the need of offending. Basically, the new penal code that had come in last year would have total punishment system which is adhere to this as well.So, the new criminal procedure code and the new penal code has this system which is based and targets on the specific crime type itself"; said Azima.She said that the government of the Maldives works continuously to reduce all kinds of crimes and increase the public safety by conducting several programmes for youth.