Series Editors’ Preface

Summary

Contemporary criminology grew out of mass transformations in society during the twentieth century – a period that witnessed the formation and consolidation of cities through migration and the restructuring of ‘the urban’ following the emergence of the information age. Considerable debate, research and scholarly theory have been formed primarily within the urban domain in this regard: witness, for example, the influence of the Chicago School and its influence on the rise of urban ecology-based approaches to crime prevention.

Rural areas themselves are currently being transformed by the new patterns of global flows as societies undergo transitions within. Nevertheless, myths about peaceful, crime-free areas beyond the cityscape persist, when, in fact, rural crime is multi-faceted – raising new policy predicaments about policing and security governance. With approximately 45 per cent of the global population living in rural areas, a focus on rural crime in these diverse communities is critical. The series provides a space for new research and writing on a wide range of rural crime topics, rural transgressions, security and justice.

The Research in Rural Crime series has emerged to fill an important gap – to provide an outlet for mid-length monographs which focus on rural crime and responses to rural crime – providing an opportunity for original, cutting-edge monograph-length research in the criminological subfield of rural criminology. Truly international, it welcomes and produces titles that are jurisdictional specific or related to themes that transcend political and juridical boundaries, and presents outlooks on contemporary theory, research and pressing public policy issues.

In essence, this series provides a formalised space for voices hitherto overlooked or without a venue for longer-length exploration of rural crime, policing, security and other issues. It allows for the consolidation of intellectual thoughtfulness in monograph form, either from sole or joint-authored volumes or from groups of colleagues in edited collections. Importantly, too, it provides an opportunity for the combination of academic scholarship and empirical research with contemporary application.

Contributors to this series provide cutting-edge interdisciplinary and comparative rural criminological perspectives. Titles will be theoretically and conceptually driven, empirical or adopting mixed-methods approaches, and topics will focus on regional, rural and remote parts of the globe that are often overlooked in criminological works.