Juvenile offenders : a comprehensive study of the criminal trends and relative community based interventions

Abstract

Identifying criminal trends, locating and mapping where these take place and where they originate from, and finding adequate countering community measures was and still stays a conundrum for today's studies. Employing both quantitative research as the core methodology and qualitative as a supporting method this research aimed at creating a comprehensive study of the juvenile criminal trends and relative community based interventions in the islands of Malta. Quantitative research methods were employed to examine the data extracted from a series of files of criminal cases from the juvenile courts archives of Malta and Gozo that were closed in the last forty months. This part of the research inquired the criminal trends of juveniles between nine and sixteen years of age and illustrated which periods of the year; seasons and days, when juveniles commit more crimes. Subsequently, this information also indicated which gender is more prone to be involved in specific crimes, when and where crimes are mostly committed and the average distance travelled to commit such crimes. The qualitative aspect of this research entailed six interviews with professionals in the field that provided first-hand perspectives that complimented the quantitative results with further knowledge. The interviews focused on: the diverse issues that affect the lives of juveniles that lead them to engage in criminal behaviour, what kind of programmes are available to help these youths and how the current system could be improved to enhance its effectiveness. Combining together these two methodologies provided a number of significant findings that delineate the juvenile criminal trends as well as potential policy improvements. Findings indicate that juvenile crimes occur mainly in entertainment areas during weekends and offences against the person are prevalently high compared to other crimes. Another major issue was the importance of considering both the social and situational contexts when implementing crime prevention strategies.