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This article reviews Matthews' (2014) Realist Criminology as an opportunity to address larger shortcomings within critical criminology, which is the failure to develop an alternative theory of crime and place to the mainstream theories of social disorganisation and collective efficacy. It uses rural criminological work related to violence against women and substance use, production and trafficking to illustrate the importance of place for development of a realist criminology that can consider localised expressions of power and inequality, and the multiplicity of networks and roles by which people can simultaneously be involved in both conforming and deviant/criminal behaviours. The article also suggests that a critical theory of crime and place would be useful to the synthesis and re-interpretation of criminological literature that is either theory-less or lacks a critical perspective.

Over the past quarter century, a growing volume of rural-focused criminological work has emerged. In this article, the literature related to three rural criminological issues are examined and discussed in terms of their lessons for critical criminology. Research on rural communities and crime is examined as a way to criticize and challenge mainstream criminological theories and concepts like social disorganisation and collective efficacy, and to remind critical criminologists of the importance for developing critical perspectives for place-based or ecological theories of crime. Agricultural crime studies are discussed in terms of the need to develop a critical criminology of agriculture and food. Finally, criminological studies of rural 'others' is used to show the need for critical criminologists to give greater analytic attention to divisions and marginalities of peoples living in smaller and more isolated places based on gender, race, and lifestyles, among other factors.

AbstractThis paper examines social factors that are associated with crime in two rural Australian communities with high proportions of Aboriginal people. It draws upon the theoretical contributions of Braithwaite (1989) to explain how levels of community integration and cohesion affect the presence of crime. Data for the case studies are derived from secondary statistics, surveys, observation and in‐depth interviews. Existing literature on crime in Australia emphasises the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people within the criminal justice system. Yet, by comparing and contrasting the two communities, the analysis demonstrated that social structural and perceptual characteristics, rather than Indigenous status, account for high levels of crime in one community and low levels in the other. The analyses demonstrate that communities with high levels of social cohesion can ameliorate the affects of social disorganisation, division, and disadvantage in communities with high Aboriginal populations. It further demonstrates that rural crime is a complex and multi‐faceted phenomenon.