Estimating Crime in Rural America: The Contribution of the First Phase of The West Virginia Community Quality of Life Survey

Abstract

The study of crime, law, and social control is now much less urban-biased than it was at the start of this millennium, and there is an ongoing significant increase in international qualitative and quantitative rural criminological research. Nonetheless, a conspicuous absence of reliable estimates of crime victimization in rural parts of the United States continues to exist. This article helps fill a major research gap by presenting the results of the first phase of the West Virginia Community Quality of Life Survey.