Using the notion of ‘crossroads’ to provide a unique lens through which to examine the realities of rural crime, Crossroads of Rural Crime provides an understanding of the nature of rural life and ways in which transgression manifests itself in the context of a presumed rural-urban divide.

Promoting the view that rural crime and justice should be of interest to a wide audience, the authors--all professors at Illinois State University--examine what can be learned about crime, culture, and geography in rural settings while remaining aware of their wider implications. The range of topics they discuss will sound familiar to anyone, in an urban or rural setting (environmental crimes, guns, poverty, gangs, arson, and jails and prisons) yet they also emphasize the needs of rural communities in areas such as specialized training for police, rural stereotypes such as "white trash" and "rednecks," and small town municipal police. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The key reference guide to rural crime and rural justice, this encyclopedia gives 70 concise and informative synopses of the key issues in rural crime, criminology, offending and victimisation, and both institutional and informal responses to rural crime.

In this first book in the Research in Rural Crime series, experts in rural criminology draw from theories of modernity, feminism, climate change, left realism and globalisation in a thought-provoking collection of essays.