Session 8- Crime and threats in rural areas
From Vania Ceccato
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Chair: Dr. Catharina Alwall Svennefelt, Eva Göransson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Crime and threats against Swedish animal production – The perspective of Swedish farmers
Speaker: Peter Lundqvist, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, Email: peter.lundqvist@slu.se
Farmers with animal production in Sweden can experience different types of criticisms directed against their activities from consumers, the media and inspecting government agencies. On another level, threats, damage, tampering, robbery and other criminal acts are directed against the farm's activities, but also against the farmer, family members and employees. This study main goal is to investigate the nature of the experiences of victimization materialized as threats, crimes and criticism against animal production in Sweden. This is achieved by assessing the consequences for individuals and farms, health, social and economic conditions. Interviews with farmers, focus groups as well as data coming from official statistics as well as media coverage will underlie the methodology of this study. We focus on farmers not as ‘victims’ but rather as ‘active agents’, by illustrating ways that farmers handle, cope and respond to the criticisms and threats they are exposed in a daily basis. In this presentation, we discuss preliminary results of our ongoing research project on crime, threats and criticisms against animal production in Sweden that is carried out by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU-project leader), Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).
An assessment of crimes against animal production in Sweden
Speaker: Jonatan Abraham, KTH, Sweden, Email: jabraham@kth.se
Over the last decade, Swedish media have covered an increase of crimes against farmers related to animal production, especially by animal rights activists groups. This study attempts to investigate the nature of crimes against animal production - with a focus on mink, pig and rabbit farms - using data from media archives from 2009 to 2019. The study reports types, frequency, and location of the crimes. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is used to report the geography of these offences at municipal level. Results show that mink farms often experience vandalism and trespassing, while property crimes are more common against pig and rabbit farms. Animal rights groups appear to often defend themselves using techniques of neutralization, such as ‘appealing to higher loyalties’, as their expressed goal is to defend the welfare of animals. Other and multiple techniques could be used together, all while exploiting situational conditions of the farms themselves.
Victimization, reporting rates and crime prevention practices among animal production farmers in Sweden: Preliminary findings
Speaker: Vania Ceccato, KTH, Sweden, Email: vania.ceccato@abe.kth.se
In this presentation I will report preliminary findings of a nation-wide survey (N=3836) that indicates victimization of farmers (animal producers), crime reporting practices and the types of crime prevention measures they adopt. Findings show that while one in six farmers declare being exposed to harassment or assault against themselves or their families because they are an animal producer, one in five acknowledged being victims of overall crime, such as theft, robbery or violence in the last 4 years. Although half of animal producers know someone who was victimized by crime, the large majority of these incidents remain underdetected by the police. Animal producers declare being extra alert about the risk of victimization, so they often implement one or more safety measures against crime (locks, CCTV, alarms) and/or they organize themselves in farm watch schemes. I will finalize my presentation discussing the next steps in this ongoing collaborative research project.
Crime and threats against Swedish animal production – The perspective of Swedish farmers
Speaker: Peter Lundqvist, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, Email: peter.lundqvist@slu.se
Farmers with animal production in Sweden can experience different types of criticisms directed against their activities from consumers, the media and inspecting government agencies. On another level, threats, damage, tampering, robbery and other criminal acts are directed against the farm's activities, but also against the farmer, family members and employees. This study main goal is to investigate the nature of the experiences of victimization materialized as threats, crimes and criticism against animal production in Sweden. This is achieved by assessing the consequences for individuals and farms, health, social and economic conditions. Interviews with farmers, focus groups as well as data coming from official statistics as well as media coverage will underlie the methodology of this study. We focus on farmers not as ‘victims’ but rather as ‘active agents’, by illustrating ways that farmers handle, cope and respond to the criticisms and threats they are exposed in a daily basis. In this presentation, we discuss preliminary results of our ongoing research project on crime, threats and criticisms against animal production in Sweden that is carried out by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU-project leader), Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).
An assessment of crimes against animal production in Sweden
Speaker: Jonatan Abraham, KTH, Sweden, Email: jabraham@kth.se
Over the last decade, Swedish media have covered an increase of crimes against farmers related to animal production, especially by animal rights activists groups. This study attempts to investigate the nature of crimes against animal production - with a focus on mink, pig and rabbit farms - using data from media archives from 2009 to 2019. The study reports types, frequency, and location of the crimes. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is used to report the geography of these offences at municipal level. Results show that mink farms often experience vandalism and trespassing, while property crimes are more common against pig and rabbit farms. Animal rights groups appear to often defend themselves using techniques of neutralization, such as ‘appealing to higher loyalties’, as their expressed goal is to defend the welfare of animals. Other and multiple techniques could be used together, all while exploiting situational conditions of the farms themselves.
Victimization, reporting rates and crime prevention practices among animal production farmers in Sweden: Preliminary findings
Speaker: Vania Ceccato, KTH, Sweden, Email: vania.ceccato@abe.kth.se
In this presentation I will report preliminary findings of a nation-wide survey (N=3836) that indicates victimization of farmers (animal producers), crime reporting practices and the types of crime prevention measures they adopt. Findings show that while one in six farmers declare being exposed to harassment or assault against themselves or their families because they are an animal producer, one in five acknowledged being victims of overall crime, such as theft, robbery or violence in the last 4 years. Although half of animal producers know someone who was victimized by crime, the large majority of these incidents remain underdetected by the police. Animal producers declare being extra alert about the risk of victimization, so they often implement one or more safety measures against crime (locks, CCTV, alarms) and/or they organize themselves in farm watch schemes. I will finalize my presentation discussing the next steps in this ongoing collaborative research project.
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