Preventing violence against women in the heartland

• In Event: Roundtable: Rural Crime Prevention: Theory, Tactics and Techniques

Abstract

Male-to-female violence against rural women is a world-wide problem. Actually, an international body of empirical work conclusively shows that rural women are more likely to be beaten, raped, and abused in other ways by men than women living in suburban and urban contexts. What is to be done? The main objective of this paper is to answer this question. The progressive policies and practices suggested here are key elements of much-needed community-based, collaborative efforts. The solutions recommended, too, are highly sensitive to the ways in which broader social forces contribute to male violence against women. The approach taken in this chapter moves most of the discussion of crime control and prevention out of the realm criminal justice and into that of social and economic policy. Still, some legal reforms, such as stricter gun control, are addressed, but it must be emphasized that the criminal justice system alone cannot prevent the harms covered in this chapter. Some concrete examples of policies to be examined are: (1) transportation subsidies; (2) job training and education; and (3) increased funding for rural service providers.

Author

• Walter Steven DeKeseredy, West Virginia University