ABSTRACT
Rural occurring state crimes provide a unique challenge to researchers due to not only the complexity of the topic but also because of several issues such as definitional arguments, lack of funding, and access that further marginalize already quieted voices. This chapter offers an introduction to the methodological approaches available to researchers of the topic. The intent is not to be an exhaustive instructional manual but rather to offer insight into the significant barriers that are navigated when studying harms perpetrated by the state in rural places. By drawing on four examples of rural occurring state crimes, this chapter argues that the complexity of these crimes, coupled with their variability across states, regions, and continents, calls for a creative research approach that, more often than not, does not fit with more traditional positivist methodological techniques.
