ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of crime and safety issues in rural areas using a Scandinavian country as a case. It presents 10 reasons that crime and community safety are relevant to criminology and rural research. The book then presents a number of theories of crime prevention drawing on the paradigm of Crime Science. It also illustrates trends and patterns of crime in rural areas and compares crime rates in Sweden with those found in the United States and the United Kingdom. The book focuses on the geography of property and violent crime in Sweden. It then focuses on examples of what fear of crime statistics show in different countries about rural and urban environments. The book also presents crime in a rural context with a focus on farm and environmental and wildlife crimes, youth-related problems, and violence against women.
