Omerta in Gozo : a criminology study interrogating the correlation between 'fear of crime' and 'omerta' amongst the Gozitan population

Abstract

Omerta in its abstract and extensive interpretations has throughout the years been a stigmatic label that hovered over the Gozitan population. A term commonly used by the police when in search for information regarding a criminal offence of some serious nature. Despite the tranquillity and peaceful and quasi crimeless environs of this small island, from time to time Gozo wakes up with shattering news of the most gruesome crimes, sending shivers across all the strata of the community. Faced with such a disruptive scenario, authorities are puzzled as to the "why" are Gozitans reluctant to help the police restore the peaceful atmosphere. For this reason this study aims at establishing whether this attitude actually really exists and also seeks to explore the causes and its roots. It also focuses on the constructs of "Omerta" and "Fear of Crime" as the two major components upon which a correlation study is conducted. This research deals with Omerta as an attitude and breaks it into its various components while it. attempts to test whether these are common features within the roots of the Gozitan sub-culture and also whether a correlation exists with the various components that make up the construct of fear of crime. Two hypotheses were devised, both encapsulating these two constructs, the first accepting a correlation between omerta and fear of crime while the second being the null hypothesis. The research and the findings proved to be quite exciting. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was employed and this helped in corroborating many resulting features which at face value seemed to be of high or no significance. These findings are very interesting and finally these helped in shaping sound recommendations that may be beneficial for the authorities if implemented with the scope of breaking this code of silence.