Theft in nineteenth century Malta
Journal: OAR@UM (University of Malta)
Year: 2016

Malta’s crime history has been rather limited focusing mainly on sensational crimes and the prison. This article studies the different aspects of theft in 19th century Malta including motivations for theft and the disposal of the stolen items. Thieves and their victims exposed their social and economic problems when they appeared at the Criminal Court in Valletta. The statistics gleaned from the Criminal Court records from 1838-1888 reveal links between the occurrence of theft and the general ec