ABSTRACT
Drawing upon international literature and the Swedish context, the chapter presents 10 reasons why crime and safety are relevant issues in a rural context. The first five of them are: crime is not just an “urban problem”; low crime rates in rural areas do not equate to “no problems”; rural areas are heterogeneous entities; rural areas are in constant transformation; and the nature of rural areas influences crime. The remaining five reasons are: perceived safety is unequal; commodification of security in rural areas is taking place; crime prevention is urban-centered; an intersectional gendered perspective of safety in rural context is needed; and crime and safety are important dimensions of sustainable rural development. Rural areas in Europe are quite diverse not only geographically but also in terms of the different challenges they face. This is just an example that it is a mistake to assume that patterns of crime are homogeneous across rural areas.
