CrimeMalta Observatory annual crime review : year 2017

Abstract

2017 figures depict a long-sought stabilisation in reported crimes following 8 years of steady increase in offences. The year 2017 saw a slight decrease in the number of crimes over the previous year. The Maltese offence profile has maintained the past two years’ shift from a public-oriented to a personal target structure. Crime has evolved from a social-space structure to the invasion of personal-space. Displacement is also very evident as the migration of crimes from one zone to another becomes more pronounced with San Giljan’s rate of crime dropping from a height of 19.5 in 2012 to 10.6%, the lowest in the last 13 years. Malta maintained a generic lower than EU average across most crime categories, except for theft. In terms of societal reaction, moral panic played a part this year in rendering a perception that crime is increasing, when the facts depict a stabilised scenario. In terms of predicted crimes for 2017, the difference between the expected and observed crimes was significantly lower, indicating that the number of crimes that should have occurred during the year, did not occur, resulting in a safer scenario.