Crime prevention in rural Sweden
| Author | Vania Ceccato,Lars Dolmen |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370812457763 |
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
European Journal of Criminology
10(1) 89 –112
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370812457763
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Crime prevention in rural
Sweden
Vania Ceccato
CEFIN, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, KTH, Sweden
Lars Dolmen
National Police Board, Sweden
Abstract
In this article we report examples of crime prevention (CP) experiences using case studies in
rural municipalities in Sweden. Data from three different sources were analysed: semi-structured
interviews with representatives of CP groups in eight rural municipalities, responses from an
email survey, and a database of CP projects receiving funding from the Swedish National Council
for Crime Prevention. Findings show that youth-related problems are the major CP concern,
which are translated into projects against violence and alcohol and drug addiction. National CP
guidelines overlook the nature of rural crime, its seasonality and what happens outside the urban
core. Although CP groups in rural Sweden face a number of challenges, they show indications of
being well prepared to address youth-related problems. The article concludes with a summary
of results and flags the need to extend the international evidence on crime prevention to include
experiences that go beyond large city problems.
Keywords
Crime prevention, offences, countryside, remoteness, Sweden
Introduction
Studies reporting experiences with crime prevention (CP) in rural areas are relatively
few in the international literature in comparison with those in urban areas (Jones, 2010;
Payne et al., 2008; Yarwood and Edwards, 1995). In this article we suggest that there is
a need to extend the international evidence of CP to include experiences and challenges
from rural areas. We report examples beyond the US and UK contexts using case studies
of rural areas in Sweden. In 2010 there were 300 CP groups across the country.1 We
Corresponding author:
Vania Ceccato, CEFIN, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Stockholm 100 44, Sweden.
Email: vania.ceccato@abe.kth.se
457763EUC10110.1177/1477370812457763European Journal of CriminologyCeccato and Dolmen
2013
Article
90 European Journal of Criminology 10(1)
assess the nature of CP practices in rural areas by looking at CP groups’ actions, organi-
zation, cooperation, projects, evaluations and challenges. We look more closely at expe-
riences with youth-related problems because, historically, youth crime constitutes the
most common issue targeted by CP groups (BRÅ,2 2005) and risk factors for youth crime
have a different impact in rural than in urban areas (Barclay et al., 2007).
Far from being a homogeneous entity, rural is considered here as a diverse set of com-
munities with different characteristics and needs but that share a number of qualities and
challenges. In Sweden, rural municipalities can be of two types: ‘remote rural’ areas are
more than 45 minutes by car from the nearest urban neighbourhood with more than 3000
inhabitants, whereas ‘accessible rural’ areas are 5–45 minutes by car from urban loca-
tions with more than 3000 inhabitants. Municipalities with more than 3000 inhabitants
and reachable in 5 minutes by car are regarded as ‘urban’ areas (Swedish National Rural
Development Agency, 2005). Although problematic because it does not incorporate
other dimensions of rurality, this definition reflects the municipalities’ population size
and accessibility, which are important criminogenic factors.
For this study, we selected eight municipalities (in northern, middle and southern parts of
Sweden) to capture a variety of types of rural areas according to the municipalities’ geo-
graphical location, type of economy and crime levels. Figure 1 indicates the municipalities
classified according to these criteria. There are 290 municipalities in Sweden, with an aver-
age population size of 31,000 inhabitants. There is a clear north–south divide in the popula-
tion distribution: most remote rural municipalities are located in the mid-northwest of the
country (22), whereas accessible rural (156) and urban (112) areas are found in the mid-
south. The study areas representing the new and the old economy are chosen based on the
percentage of the active population employed in service sectors (Åre, Gotland, Storuman
and Söderköping) and in traditional sectors of the economy (Arvika, Markaryd, Dorotea and
Gnosjö), respectively. Selecting municipalities using crime rates was a challenge in rural
areas since their rates do not differ much from each other. High and low crime levels are
defined based on the relative rural regional average rate: high-crime municipalities are those
with crime rates above the average and low-crime municipalities show a rate below the rural
average (Åre and Gotland from the new economy and Arvika and Markaryd from the tradi-
tional economy are high-crime municipalities; low-crime municipalities are Storuman and
Söderköping from the modern economy and Dorotea and Gnosjö from the old economy).
The next section reviews the international research literature and puts forward a num-
ber of reasons why CP should accommodate the diversity of rural conditions, as well as
presenting hypotheses tested in the study. Then the methodology and the Swedish case
study are presented. The final sections examine the characteristics of CP work in rural
areas and review current challenges for CP in rural areas.
Theoretical background
Why is a rural perspective necessary in crime prevention?
Far too often low crime rates in rural areas are taken as a sign of there being ‘no problem’.
This can lead to the wrong assumption that, ‘because there is less crime in the countryside,
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