3 results
24 - Resource Extraction: Crime Impacts
- Edited by Alistair Harkness, University of New England, Australia, Jessica René Peterson, Southern Oregon University, Matt Bowden, Technological University, Dublin, Cassie Pedersen, Federation University Australia, Joseph Donnermeyer, Ohio State University
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- Book:
- The Encyclopedia of Rural Crime
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2022, pp 98-100
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Summary
Crime and disorder in resource-based boom communities has captured the public’s interest for over a century. One of the first widely reported examples was the violence and disorder occurring after the 1849 boom in the California goldfields. Since that time, there has been increasing awareness of the adverse impacts of resource extraction on the quality of life in rural communities throughout the world. This is a significant issue as the exploration and extraction of commodities is increasing in response to a growing demand for cheap energy and the changing needs of the green economy. Although the magnitude and duration of every boom differs, the criminogenic impacts of rapid population growth and industrialization in sparsely populated rural communities has gained considerable scholarly attention.
Life course of resource-based booms
Ruddell and Ray (2018) describe how resource-based booms have a life course. As local populations grow, there is a corresponding reduction in informal social control and a rise in social disorder as the population swells with newcomers who are predominately young men with little stake in these communities. A lack of safe and affordable housing is often the first social problem to emerge, although local health, education and social services are also overwhelmed with demands for service. Local justice systems are often stretched thin by the rising demands on their services, and the thresholds for arrest and detention increase, reducing their deterrent effects. Substance abuse, the exodus of older established residents and homelessness all increase, as do environmental impacts such as air, light, noise and water pollution. Along with those environmental and social problems comes an increase in crime, although the forms and volume of crime differ for each boom location.
Over 40 different studies published between 1976 and 2020 clearly establish that crimes increase after a boom beyond what can be expected with the rise in population. The social impacts and types of crimes increasing after a boom depend on the characteristics of a boom and the stage of the extractive activities. Some oil and gas booms, for instance, are spread about a large geographical area whilst others, such as a mine or energy development project, are confined to a single epicenter.
57 - Jails and Prisons
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- By Rick Ruddell
- Edited by Alistair Harkness, University of New England, Australia, Jessica René Peterson, Southern Oregon University, Matt Bowden, Technological University, Dublin, Cassie Pedersen, Federation University Australia, Joseph Donnermeyer, Ohio State University
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- Book:
- The Encyclopedia of Rural Crime
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2022, pp 228-230
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Summary
Although there is some variation throughout the world, the operation of jails and prisons in the countryside has been the norm for centuries (see Dikötter et al, 2007). There are several key differences between jails and prisons in a North American context, and those distinctions are important. Jails are typically intended for the short-term detention of individuals awaiting a court appearance or trial, or persons sentenced to relatively short sentences. Prisons, by contrast, house individuals convicted of committing serious offences and are serving lengthy sentences. In some nations, however, a single type of facility holds both detained and long-term sentenced inmates.
Although jails are found in both urban and rural areas, most prisons are in the countryside. Placing correctional facilities in rural areas creates challenges for jail and prison personnel, the people living in these facilities and their families. Moreover, the impact of placing these facilities in rural areas on the people living in those communities is often overlooked.
Jails
There are two types of jail operations. The first is the stand-alone jail, which is typically operated and funded by a local government. Whilst some urban jails hold thousands of inmates, there are about 1,500 facilities with fewer than 100 beds in the United States and these small stand-alone facilities – that are not part of a larger network – are found throughout the world. Many of these small facilities are underfunded as they are located in economically depressed locations that draw from impoverished tax bases. This underfunding inhibits the ability of their personnel to deliver safe and humane care.
The second model of jail operations are facilities operated by departments of corrections or similar bodies and are funded by regional, state, provincial or federal governments. These jails often hold hundreds of residents, and they are generally able to provide better care than their smaller counterparts. Moreover, they are often part of a network of similar facilities that allows them to share expertize and resources; enabling them to deliver more professional services.
83 - North America
- Edited by Alistair Harkness, University of New England, Australia, Jessica René Peterson, Southern Oregon University, Matt Bowden, Technological University, Dublin, Cassie Pedersen, Federation University Australia, Joseph Donnermeyer, Ohio State University
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- Book:
- The Encyclopedia of Rural Crime
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2022, pp 333-337
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- Chapter
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Summary
The development of the social sciences in Canada, the United States and Mexico and other countries in Central America has been heavily influenced by these countries’ European counterparts. This common root can be traced back to their colonial histories, but also to the constant waves of European immigrants after they gained independence, which contributed to shaping the populations in these three countries. Intellectuals and scholars were also part of these European immigration waves, especially in the context of the two world wars.
To some extent, these countries can be considered settler societies; that is, their histories are replete with the decimation and ongoing marginalization of the Indigenous and Black populations by European immigrants. This shared past informs current responses to crime, as these countries adopted the laws and justice systems of their colonizing nations. To a considerable extent the criminological research carried out in North America today also displays a distinctively Western orientation and has focused primarily on urban crime and justice.
Canada
Canada’s rural population has been decreasing for decades, but the overall rural property and violent crime rates have been increasing and are now higher than the city rates, according to a study by Perrault (2019). Despite those trends, studies of rural crime and justice have traditionally been relegated to the periphery of criminological research.
A review of the historical literature shows that issues such as access to justice for rural peoples, rural policing and delivering community correctional services outside the cities were often addressed indirectly. Grygier’s review of the criminological research of that era, for example, did not cite any exclusively rural research. Grygier’s review also found that most crimerelated studies were carried out by law professors, sociologists and social workers, although historians such as Marquis also increased understandings of the economic, political and social arrangements that shape responses to urban and rural crime.
The focus of Canadian scholars has often been on crime and the operations of justice systems, rather than developing theoretical explanations for rural crime. Hagan’s work on sentencing disparities for Indigenous peoples in the 1980s, for example, increased awareness of their over-representation in Canada’s justice system.
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