CrimeMalta Observatory annual crime review : year 2020

Abstract

2020 crime figures depict a year-on-year reduction in crime reports which changed the opportunity crime structure of the Maltese Islands; a year steeped in societal crime inversion and the minimization of crime opportunities brought about by a unique pandemic. The year 2020 experienced a reduction of tourists visiting the Islands, the closure of recreational areas, diminishing crowds and the self-closure of citizens. Such resulted in a lesser number of crimes but also a reflection of how the national crime structure is depicted without the advent of tourism and in turn less chances for offenders to partake to. In contrast, crimes committed in virtual and domestic domains took on a new realism. 2020 depicted a decrease in the number of crimes over the previous year dropping by 16% or 2,502 incidences, this being the largest decrease since 1998 when the new incident reporting system was upgraded. This takes the Maltese crime scenario to the 2009 level, which serves as the baseline prior to the increase in crimes exhibited from that year. The Maltese offence profile has maintained and refocused the past years’ shift from a public oriented to a personal-target structure with an increasing focus on financial related offences. Displacement is also very evident as the migration of crimes from one zone to another becomes more pronounced, particularly in the Gozitan Island, the latter due to an increasingly dynamic and diverse societal change. With a prolonged entity closure, San Giljan’s rate of crime dropped by 48% between 2019 and 2020, falling from a height of 19.5% of all crimes in 2012 to 9.1% in 2019 and to 5.6% in 2020. This even when considering that January had seen a generic crime increase. In terms of societal reaction, moral panic still plays a part in rendering a perception that crime is increasing, when the facts depict a stabilised scenario.