Spatial analysis of welfare spread and hotspots identification

Abstract

The theoretical constructs discussed earlier in the chapter enabled investment into the study of crime within a spatial construct. The leap from non-spatial to spatial study lead to the conceptualization of Environmental Criminology theory which can be defined as the study of crimes based on complex relationships structured through space and place (McLaughlin et al: 2001, 132). This includes the study of offender residence, offence location, offender- offence relationship and the myriad interactions between the three pivots of incidence (crime), space (relationship) and place (geographical location). Each of these pivots are central to this research since crime in Malta has only been reviewed through its absolute levels and rarely statistically or even spatially, let alone through an investigation of the interactivity between crime, space and place. In view of this, this research took up the role to review the main theories as they apply to the Maltese context, as well as having investigated related theories that have built upon environmental criminology approaches. The study initially places emphasis on the ‘wider’ theoretical approaches such as those investigated in the early part of the 20th Century as based on offender rate analysis inclusive of residential construct as well as those taken up by revival research that has concentrated on offence rate analysis. The study then looks at the relationship between the two theoretical components through a detailed analysis of the land-use and social constructs of the Maltese Islands, basing its encompassing approach on Structuration Theory, Opportunity Theory and Routines Activity Theory. Each of these analysis types is essential to the study in order to establish the geography of crime in the Maltese Islands. Concentrating on one theoretical approach to the exclusion of the others will not do justice to understanding what makes a small island’s crime tick.