Rurality and Crime: A Qualitative Study Exploring Young People’s Experiences in a Region of England

Studies of youth offending have mostly been conducted within urban settings and have focused predominantly on individualised accounts of offending behaviour. Findings from sociological research on young people’s experiences of rurality have not been fully considered in criminological theorising of youth crime or youth justice practice. In order to address the limited understanding of ‘the rural’ in youth offending and youth justice, this small-scale qualitative study explored young people’s experiences of crime and the Youth Justice System (YJS) in one rural setting in England. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with young people serving a youth community sentence in this setting. Our thematic analysis revealed the dualities of young people’s experiences of rurality. First, rural spaces were perceived as both a place of sanctuary and respite and of isolation and restriction and second rural spaces provided young people with an opportunity to fly under the radar but they could equally feel hyper-visible. The findings provide an insight into how young people’s needs and development are influenced by rurality and their experiences of the YJS in a rural setting. The findings call for the distinct needs of young people within the YJS in rural settings to be better understood and for concerted efforts to be undertaken to support these young people in their desistance journeys.