Citation

Mawby RI. Int. J. Rural Criminol. 2007; 1: 21-43.

Affiliation

Department of of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Plymouth

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Ohio State University (US) and the Institute for Rural Futures, University of New England (Australia))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The fact that most research on offense patterns and crime hot-spots has focused on urban areas is scarcely surprising, given the almost unanimous finding that crime is concentrated therein. However, there are also marked variations in crime levels between rural areas. Using data collected in one rural county of England (Cornwall) as part of the 2004 crime audits, this paper seeks to identify hotspots and unsafe areas in the county and explain why risk increases in such areas. Variations in crime and disorder are derived from two main data sources: 1) Police crime data for 2001-2004 and 2) Victim survey data, covering both experiences of crime and perceptions of crime and disorder in ones area of residence and local town.

These are compared according to three sets of variables, using primary and secondary data: 1) Urban/rural location; 2) Deprivation/disadvantage; and 3) Tourism Crime and disorder concentrations are illustrated on both a county-wide and town level.

Analysis suggests that crime is more prevalent in the most urban parts of the county, but that there are variations in crime and disorder between different towns. These are to some extent explained by deprivation/disadvantage, with less affluent areas experiencing most crime. However, both the extent and nature of tourism are important: in particular, towns marketed as centres for mass tourism and youth tourism, or those where poverty combines with tourism, experience most problems.