What We Know About Rural Crime in Poland? – First Conclusions of the Research Project

• In Event: Advances in Rural Criminology

Abstract

In Poland there wasn’t in-depth research or analyses on rural crime. In the Polish literature on this subject, there are no detailed publications that characterize rural crime, although there are a few publications in which rural areas are compared with cities as places where crimes are committed. In order to fill this gap in Polish research on crime, the aim of my project is be to conduct research to understand rural crime. The research carried out under my project should make it possible (1) to identify the types of crimes most frequently experienced by inhabitants of rural areas in Poland; (2) to determine the etiology and unique characteristics (including evolution) of rural crime; and (3) to identify the role of formal and informal social control in rural areas. In order to gain knowledge about rural crime, quantitative and qualitative research will be conducted as part of the project (e.g. a diagnostic survey, individual in-depth interviews – among residents of rural areas, police officers working at police stations and posts located in rural areas; researching criminal court cases). The presentation will discuss the assumptions of the project and its first results on rural crime in Poland.

Author

• Emilia Jurgielewicz-Delegacz, University of Bialystok (Poland)