Crimes of Need

This report section presents findings from the Malawi National Crime Victimisation Survey regarding public and victim perceptions of who commits crimes and the motivations behind them. It highlights a strong belief that crime is committed by local residents and driven by economic necessity, while noting a lack of xenophobic perceptions regarding criminal activity.

• The majority of survey respondents in Malawi believe that crime is committed by people within their own communities rather than outsiders or foreigners. Specifically, 45.6% of respondents identified people from their own areas of residence as the primary offenders, while only 2% attributed crime to foreigners.
• Economic hardship is perceived as the primary driver of criminal activity in Malawi. Poverty or a lack of means of survival was cited by 44.1% of respondents as the main motivating factor, and 16.1% cited unemployment.
• Criminal activity is relatively visible within communities, with 24.6% of interviewees stating they personally know someone who makes a living through crime. This perception is more pronounced in the South and Central Regions compared to the Northern region, where respondents were less likely to know a professional criminal and less likely to cite poverty as the main motivator.
• Victims of crime generally share the public's perception that offenders are local. In cases of housebreaking, 24% of victims recognized the offenders personally, 22.5% knew them through community knowledge, and 11.9% were informed by witnesses who recognized the offenders.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (n.d.). Crimes of Need. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CRIMES5PUBLIC.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Crimes of Need. n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CRIMES5PUBLIC.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Crimes of Need |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CRIMES5PUBLIC.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudiesndcrimes, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Crimes of Need}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CRIMES5PUBLIC.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }