Rural criminology is a field of research that acknowledges that rurality and community size have an impact on the incidence of crime, types of crime, response to crime and access to related services. Researchers in the Centre for Rural Criminology study the most compelling problems that impact upon rural and regional communities in order to produce valuable information that can inform policy and enhance community health and wellbeing.
One of the primary problems facing rural communities is incidents of crime that impact on the function of pastoral, agricultural and aquaculture farming operations. The impact of ‘farm crime’ is significant. Not only is the farming sector important to the Australian economy, but such crimes can have devastating financial, psychological and physical impacts on farmers, rural landowners and communities.