Work

Crime, Violence, and Criminal Justice in Rural America: Toward a Rural Neighborhood Effect

Year: 2024

Type: review

Abstract: We review the current scholarship on rural policing, punishment, crime, and reentry. We shift the focus from the “square of crime” to an expansive understanding of crime and punishment in rural communities that uses neighborhood effects to study inequality across places. A central focus of the article is an investigation of the prison boom or the tripling of prison facilities in the United States. Ultimately, the prison boom is largely a rural phenomenon. As such, we examine how prison building is a product of carceral capacity tied to rurality and race. By focusing on the neighborhood effect, we can theorize what contributes to, and mitigates, crime and punishment across rural communities. In building toward a theory of a rural neighborhood effect, we investigate context through understanding the role of spatial and racial stratification in shaping inequality across rural places.

Source: Annual Review of Criminology

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-criminol-061020-051150

Authors: John M. Eason, Sarah Jensen, Chloe E. Haimson

Institutions: Urban Institute, Brown University

Language: English

Topic: Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: U.S. Department of Justice