Rural and Agricultural Crime

Much of the theory, research, and policy analysis in criminology has been devoted to urban locations. Yet crime is not exclusively an urban phenomenon. Rural crime involves theft from farms, illegal dumping, and illegal hunting and fishing, as well as familiar issues, such as drug use and production. Crime in rural areas raises important questions concerning the seasonality of activity, characteristics of offenders and victims, and the meaning of rural poverty. It requires thinking through responses from law enforcement and courts and the appropriateness of crime prevention initiatives. As well, rural criminology compels rethinking about criminological theories and their generalizability to a world whose population until recently was majority rural. This chapter reviews five key areas of rural criminology: criminology theory and rural criminology; rural community and crime; rural police; agricultural, environmental, and wildlife crime; and drug use and trafficking.