Foreigners, immigration and crime : a Maltese perspective

Abstract

This study aims to determine if foreigners and immigrants are more crime prone than natives and what types of crimes are most common within their population. This relationship is studied with regards to other factors of foreigners such as: Gender, Age, Nationality, Residing address in Malta and offence type. Theories which suggest a positive immigrant crime relationship are analysed in detail and compared to the results obtained in this study. The results in this study are all obtained from court sentences found online through the justice service online portal. The cases studied were all from 2014 and the cases were heard in front the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature. With regards to the results presented, the study will provide recommendation for further research which can help with the development of immigrant and foreigners systems in Malta.