Intergenerational Continuity in Offending: An Approach to the Phenomenon in the Maltese Islands

This study explores the concentration of convictions in Maltese families through a study of all inmates interned at the prison setting, Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF), between 1950 and 2010. The main aim of this study is to explore patterns of
intergenerational crime for the first time in the Maltese islands, to understand how and why convictions run in Maltese families. In other words, the focus here is on the potential role of the family in crime continuity, the familial relationships between incarcerated inmates and the influence of these relationships on emerging crime trends. Quantitative methods are used to examine intergenerational presence and the evolvement of crime covering at least two to three generations of families. This is achieved through employing a risk factor approach to explore potential “crime promoters” that could act as transmission proxies in crime continuity. One in every three inmates registered at CCF belongs to the intergenerational cohort. Moreover, the findings from this study identify that having a sibling, a parent and/or a spouse convicted of a crime is a risk/mediating factor for crime continuity, and the risk is further augmented by the increased presence of criminal relatives. This is compounded by exposure to crime through co-offending, social networks between related inmates within the walls of CCF and also the time a person spends in their neighbourhood. The intergenerational cohort is more crime prolific as attested by intense conviction patterns and recidivism trends and is also inclined towards committing serious crimes and crimes that require more planning and organisation. The processes required for this may be accommodated by the family
providing one with entrusted accomplices. The relatively larger crime families (5-node to 10+ node structures) together represent one quarter of the intergenerational cohort. As crime families increase in size, a blend of restricted and extended relationships features evidently attesting the concentration and continuity of offending. The `orma (a large group of people/children), hosting 54 related inmates symbolises the fusion of five crime families through assortative partnering; representing crime continuity across two to five generations. The occurrence of multiple risk factors for intergenerational offending in Malta that were simultaneously identified in this study include: economic inactivity; residing in neighbourhoods laden with crime families; poverty pockets and offenderresidence hotspots. These combined individual and ecological risk factors help to explain the concentration of convictions in a relatively small number of crime families