Toward a New Criminology of Place and Crime: Applications to China

• In Event: Crime in Rural China (Organized by the Division of Rural Criminology)

Abstract

There are many criminological theories of crime and place, and all developed with a primary focus on crime in an urban context, a context that largely comes out of consideration of cities in North America and Great Britain. This paper attempts to redress three fundamental shortcomings of these contemporary criminological theories of place. First, historically, the problem of crime was considered first, followed by attempt to create a theory of place to explain it. We propose the opposite, that is, the development of a theory of place which can account for the diverse contexts within which crime can better understood. Hence, we propose a new criminology of “place and crime”, not “crime and place”. Second, our theory is informed from previous studies of crime in its various rural contexts. Rural places far outnumber urban localities, and likely have as much or more diversity to its social, economic and cultural characteristics. Third, we propose a theory that allows for a comparative, international perspective. We discuss implications of our theory of place through issues related to crime in rural China.

Authors

• Joseph Donnermeyer, The Ohio State University

• Qingli Meng, University of Northern Iowa

• Walter Steven DeKeseredy, West Virginia University