Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/228594
6 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 DECEMBER 2013 Housing estates 'breeding ground for delinquency and violence' MIRIAM DALLI HOUSING estates in Malta are "a breeding ground for delinquency and violence", according to criminologists Savior Formosa and Janice Formosa Pace, who conducted a study on government housing and crime in the surrounding areas. According to the two researchers, while the crime rate in Malta was not perceived to be alarming, financial insecurity and helplessness was leading people toward substance abuse as a way of abandoning their worries. And with marital separation and family breakup on the increase, the study claims that this was leading increased violence, mental health problems and children "left roaming the streets" unsupervised. "It seems that housing estates can be considered as potential crime hotspots since, in some cases, they seem to have become a breeding ground for delinquency and violence," the study claims. It attributes delinquency to "deviant youths" in entertainment zones and bars where fights – even amongst neighbours – and "the use of foul language" were considered to be one of the biggest problems. "A steady increase in teenage pregnancies, single parenting and marital separations are leading to a diminished quality of life and poor childsupervision." But while this scenario is usually tied to high-poverty areas, an analy- Research claims that housing estates may be considered to be potential crime hotspots sis between offences and unemployment found no relationship between such areas and offence locations. A spatial analysis of poverty and the offences committed in an area, showed that "offence clusters" were radically different from "poverty clusters". "A cross poverty-offence analysis shows that very few poverty hotspots intersect with offender hotspots," Formosa found, showing that crimes take place in areas that could be deemed to be more prosperous. The same research delved into land use but could not establish any discernable relationship between poverty and dwelling type. Poverty appeared to be located in areas close to village cores, but not essentially within these village centres. And a "new wave of poverty" appeared to have crept into the north of the island in low-rental property areas like Qawra, Bugibba and St Paul's Bay. A recent study by Caritas found that tourist resort Qawra exhibited 16 times the national poverty standard. Theft was predominantly the most reported crime at 55%, across the Maltese islands, while bodily harm and domestic violence amounted to 6.6% of reported crimes in 2012. Malta retained a low rate of 39 offences per 1,000 people – far low than the EU average of 110 per 1,000. Gozo's stood at just 15, but Formosa's study argues that the double insularity experienced by Gozo might have actually led to lower reporting rate – an omertà that sees less crime being reported. "Crime analysis requires studies at more detailed levels, since these levels indicate that parochialism or control by organised crime deters reporting to the authorities," Formosa says, adding that not reporting keeps the police away from particular areas. In fact, the crime hotposts in Gozo were found to be Xlendi, Marsalforn, Mgarr and Rabat – all areas frequented by tourists – and in Xewkija where the Gozo University Campus is located. "These areas are mainly frequented by Maltese and foreigners, who could imply that most reports made to the police are brought forward by nonGozitans," the study pointed out. "The findings elicit a possibility that the mitigation of crime is neither taken to the police nor reported. It may suggest that victims take up their own means to get justice." mdalli@mediatoday.com.mt 'I love the Republic', says anti-censorship ATTORNEY GENERAL WHO APPEALED ACQUITTAL OF AUTHOR, SAT ON HONOURS' COMMITTEE THAT NOMINATED CAMILLERI AND VELLA GERA MATTHEW VELLA MARK Camilleri "loves the Republic" Author Alex Vella Gera at the launch of his bestselling book, Is-Sriep Regghu Saru Velenuzi and has not shied away from endorsing the Republic Day honour awarded to him on Friday in recognition of his campaign against Malta's censorship laws which, as irony would have it, are yet to be changed and brought well into the 21st century. It was not the only irony of the day. Republic Day under the new Labour government was a celebration of a wide array of people who had served the country, from the Armed Forces' maritime unit to the winners of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. But while it toasted transgender Joanne Cassar, who fought government in the European Court of Human Rights for refusing to recognise her right to marry a man, it handed an honorary honour to former USSR ambassador Valentina Matvienko, the Russian Federation Council speaker who approves the Saint Petersburg assembly law project, that penalizes gay propaganda. Yet it was Alex Vella Gera's refusal of his own medal for service to the republic, that stole the show. Like Camilleri he was nominated for his role in the censorship debacle provoked by his short story 'Li Tkisser Sewwi', that embroiled the two men in an criminal obscenity case that illustrated much that was wrong with Maltese law-making. "I cannot accept an honour from the Maltese political class which, apart from some exception, has been causing so much damage to my country," Vella Gera, who lives in Brussels, announced on Facebook. "I feel I've made the right choice not to involve myself in this farce, where someone who is given a national honour becomes a pawn in the insidiousness of the Maltese political game." The 25-year-old Mark Camilleri rose to prominence when a student pamphlet he edited, entitled Ir-Realtà, was reported to the police by the University of Malta rector Juanito Camilleri, specifically for the short story 'Li Tkisser Sewwi' penned by published author Alex Vella Gera. To the public's general outrage, the two men faced obscenity charges and faced jail, but they were acquitted by both the criminal court and the court of appeal. The subject of censorship became a TV mainstay in 2011 and 2012, and Camilleri fronted the Front Against Censorship. Camilleri, a history graduate who is pursuing his academic studies, was not forgotten by the Labour government, accepting the role of chairman of the National Book Council earlier this year. But although his absent-mindedness saw him failing to even attend Friday's award ceremony, Camilleri has defended his decision to accept the award Vella Gera renounced. "I love the Republic and I say this with utmost moral and political conviction: this is a Republic founded on left-wing principles and on the struggle for freedom, against colonialism and poverty," Camilleri wrote on his blog yesterday. "I believe that we should celebrate the Republic in many ways possible, including by giv- Mark Camilleri in an anti-censorship protest held in 2010