Crime and Safety in the Rural

Criminology has until recently neglected the nature and levels of crime outside the urban realm. This is not a surprise as crime tends to concentrate in urban areas and the police directs resources where the problems are. Yet, there are many reasons why scholars, decision-makers and society as a whole should care about crime and safety in rural areas. This book highlights 20 reasons why crime and safety in rural areas is a topic of relevance. We attempt to untangle currently simplistic views of the rural by discussing a number of facets of the countryside as both safe and criminogenic, and more importantly, a hybrid place worth to be examined in its own right. We adopt the notion of a rural-urban continuum that captures the nuances of places of varied nature, spanning from remote and desolate spaces to accessible and connected environments of the urban fringe. Areas on the rural-urban continuum may be in constant transformation given local and global influences, which imposes challenges for policing and long-term social sustainability.

Then, the book critically reviews a rich body of English-language literature in rural criminology that extends over more than four decades—a scholarship that has engaged researchers and practitioners in all continents. The books finishes with a discussion of the emergent research questions of the field, and offers implications for practice and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

“The book is ambitious for a self-defined ‘extended essay,’ but is written in a clear, concise and engaging manner. The authors are skilled writers and demonstrate a solid understanding of academic research, the wide range of topics and literature surveyed, and the needs of the intended audiences. In summary, Crime and Safety in Rural Areas is a book which is useful and will be used often.” (James Windle, Crime Prevention and Community Safety, Vol. 25 (4), 2023)​

VANIA CECCATO is a Professor and Head of the Urban and Community Safety research group at the Department of urban and environment, at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analytical methods underlie her research that focuses on the nature of crime and fear in urban and rural environments. She is the (co)author of hundreds of internationally peer-reviewed published articles (mostly in environmental criminology and geography), four books including ‘Rural crime and community safety’ by Routledge, in 2016, and (co)editor of five edited volumes, including ‘Transit Crime and Sexual Violence in Cities’ in 2020. Ceccato has been appointed as International Ambassador of the British Society of Criminology (BSC) in 2016 and is the founder and coordinator of Safeplaces network, a partner of the UN-Habitat SaferCities program.

JONATAN ABRAHAM is a Doctoral Student at the Department of urban and environment, at the KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. His research has focused on crime and fear, especially in rural and farm environments, using mainly Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis. He is part of the Urban and Community Safety research group at KTH.