Abstract
Previous criminological literature has mostly neglected rural communities, often treating these places as smaller pieces of urban culture. Literature suggests rural communities operate differently than urban neighborhoods, with distinctive values, norms, and community cohesion. For example, concepts surrounding collective efficacy may work counterproductively in rural areas—further exploiting outed community members within “close-knit” environments. The current study sought to compare perceptions of collective efficacy and social cohesion, crime, and victimization between rural and urban counties across one Midwestern rural state. Using a mixed-methods approach, community stakeholders from a variety of professions were surveyed. Quantitative results suggest similar perceptions of collective efficacy and social cohesion in rural and urban communities while qualitative responses paint a much different picture—an image of rural communities “minding their own business” and both formally and informally intervening only in the most extreme and personalized scenarios.
Document Type
Article
Source Publication
International Journal of Rural Criminology
Version
Published Version
Publication Date
Summer 2021
Volume
6
Issue
1
First Page
96
Last Page
115
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Rights
© The Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Lockwood, A., & Terry, A. (2021). Community stakeholders’ perceptions of crime and victimization: A mixed-methods approach to understanding collective efficacy and social cohesion in the rural heartland. International Journal of Rural Criminology, 6(1), 96-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.18061/ijrc.v6i1.8629
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