Katja Eman

Short Resume

Katja Eman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor. Her research interests include criminology (especially green and rural criminology), victimology, penology, crime prevention, and crime mapping. She has (co)authored publications on crime and criminal justice, including crime victims in general and victims of environmental crime, as part of her studies in the field of green criminology. In the past decade, she participated in different national and European research projects: Safety and Security in Local Communities: Comparison of Rural and Urban Environments (2019-2024), Water Crimes in Europe (2016-2017), and project SHINE on sexual harassment in nightlife city areas (2020-2023). She is currently a lead researcher in the national project Risks due to natural and environmental disasters in the areas of the Slovenian Army operation (2023-2025).

Title of the presentation

Green Criminology Goes Rural – Have Environmental Crimes and Harms in Rural Communities Been Ignored in the Past?

Abstract

More than half a century has passed since green criminology as a science that studies environmental crimes and harms emerged. During this time, there has been a lot of progress in and changes in this field. One of the last decade’s innovations is the development of rural criminology. This new branch of criminology moves criminological studies from an urban to a rural environment. In doing so, it turned out that smaller concentrations of residents, closer interpersonal relationships, a higher level of help between neighbours, and strengthened informal social control characterize rural areas. Because people are interconnected and dependent on each other, some incidents (i.e., crimes) are never reported to the competent authorities, so (environmental) crime and (environmental) victimization in rural communities have been neglected in criminological research for many years. The presentation discusses the issue and consequences of the green criminology 'ignorance' of environmental issues in rural communities. Furthermore, the fact that many past criminological studies in the countryside could be placed in the field of rural criminology and the overlap or complement between rural and green criminology is emphasized. Finally, the presentation discusses possible positive aspects of intertwining green and rural criminology for the future.

Keywords

green criminology, environmental crime, environmental harm, rural environment, rural criminology