THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING RURAL CRIME PERVADES THE LITERATURE. OTHER COMMON PROBLEMS INCLUDE THE MIXING OF RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN POPULATIONS IN STATISTICS, AND THE INACCURACY OF POLICE RECORDS ON WHICH STATISTICS ARE BASED. RURAL CRIME STUDIES HAVE DEALT WITH THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF RURAL CRIME (ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO URBAN CRIME), CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL OFFENDERS, STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL VARIABLES AND THEIR RELATIVE INFLUENCE ON RURAL AND URBAN CRIME, AND CRIME RATES IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF RURAL COMMUNITIES (AGRICULTURAL, MINING, LOGGING, FISHING). OTHER STUDIES HAVE FOCUSED ON REGIONAL PATTERNS (PARTICULARLY VIOLENCE IN THE RURAL SOUTH), CRIME IN REMOTE AREAS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, APPLICATIONS OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY (SUBCULTURE, DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION, ANOMIE, ALIENATION) IN RURAL CONTEXTS, CHANGES IN RURAL CRIME RATES, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN RURAL AREAS. RESEARCH ON RURAL CRIME SHOULD TAKE THE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS: ACCURATE HISTORICAL SURVEYS, CLEAR SEPARATION OF RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN AREAS AND STUDIES OF BOTH, ANALYSIS OF RURAL CULTURE AND ITS LINK TO VIOLENCE, CRIME-CATEGORY STUDIES (FRAUD, MANSLAUGHTER, ARSON, ETC.), STUDIES OF THE RELATIVE PUNITIVENESS OF RURAL AND URBAN POLICE AND COURTS, STUDIES OF VIOLENCE IN RURAL HOMES, REGIONAL STUDIES, STUDIES FOCUSING ON ECONOMIC TYPES OF RURAL COUNTIES, AND STUDIES DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND CULTURE AS CRIMINOGENIC VARIABLES. OTHER DIRECTIONS SHOULD INCLUDE IMPROVED SELF-REPORTS, COHORT STUDIES, AND VICTIM REPORTS; REPLICATIONS OF STUDIES; CLASS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE STUDIES; RACIAL AND ETHNIC STUDIES; LONGITUDINAL STUDIES; EVALUATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF RAPID SOCIAL CHANGE; APPLICATIONS OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES; INTERINSTITUTIONAL STUDIES (E.G., RURAL SCHOOLS AND CRIME); STUDIES OF URBAN PERSONS IN RURAL AREAS; ASSESSMENTS OF THE EFFECTS OF LAWS AND COURT DECISIONS ON RURAL CRIME; AND STUDIES OF FEMALE CRIMINALS IN RURAL AREAS. TABLES AND GRAPHS SHOWING VARIATIONS IN CRIME RATES BY POPULATION SIZE IN 1976 ARE INCLUDED. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS PROVIDED.