Could you count on a swift police response if you rang in a crime in the dead of night?
For those in the country, limited access to police, courts, and justice are some of the key factors in a punitive push against criminals, according to a new study.
Researchers agree that this may not feel like breaking news for those in the bush, but rather a confirmation of what they already know, in towns where crime can feel closer than ever.
Lead author, criminology lecturer at Griffith University and PhD student Caitlin Davey, said growing up in rural NSW, and working as a parole and corrections officer, gave her a first-hand look at the failings of the justice system for rural communities across the country.
"Living in rural spaces, there are real challenges that we face with justice. I grew up in a small town where the police station exists, but it's not manned. Court sits really infrequently, and access to justice is pretty poor," she said.
"Understanding what is happening in a rural context matters because when policies are created, it typically takes this city focus, and it doesn't translate particularly well to rural settings all of the time."
More than 500 people from across Australia shared their perceptions and fears of crime, confidence in the justice system, belief in the 'redeemability' of a person and their levels of trust in others for the study, published in the Journal of Rural Studies.
"There were two factors that we found that were really influential in this space, which were fear of crime and a general lack of confidence in the criminal justice system," she said.
"These were strong factors, particularly in the rural space, whereas in the city, there was more put on the individual offender themselves, rather than the contextual factors that lead to offending in that rural setting."
Compared with urban residents, who cited the 'moral failings' of a person who may break into a home or steal a car, contextual factors in the country played a leading role, but still led to a call for harsher punishments.
"People across Australia hold quite punitive attitudes, so there's this preference for harsher sentences for offenders," Ms Davey said.
"Typically, we're talking about prison, and when we did that rural component of this, we found that people within rural spaces were more punitive than people who live in cities."
Rural communities are also deeply impacted by crime in ways city-dwellers are not, said co-author and senior lecturer in Criminology and co-director of the Centre for Rural Criminology, University of New England, Dr Kyle Mulrooney. In the bush, you may run into both the victim and the perpetrator at a footy game, at the grocer, or in town on a court sitting day.
"Working in rural communities and talking to farmers, you know crime happens; it feels qualitatively close in a rural community. People talk about it, discuss it amongst each other. They probably know the victim," he said.
"If you've got that environment which is creating that anxiety, that stress, that closeness, and then you're looking to a source or solution for that anxiety and that stress, but you don't have confidence in that source, it's compounding."
Real experiences of crime, perceived risks of crime, along with a lack of confidence in policing and the courts to address concerns, were a 'circular problem,' Dr Mulrooney said.
"It's usually attracting emotion, and probably rightfully so. People have been severely harmed and are afraid, and that's what is getting attention. This [study] allows a little bit more nuance, allows us to take a step back and actually really look at the picture," he said.
"Urban people can count on is picking up the phone and having a timely police response. Not everyone on the land can have that.
"It's not a one-size-fits-all approach to crime and justice."
Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of New England, Sue Watt, said the data-driven approach could help policymakers in the city, and residents in rural areas, gain a 'big picture' understanding not just of crime, but the strong emotions surrounding it.
"It's quite easy to overestimate the likelihood that you'll be affected by crime and that that can make you feel frightened, and perhaps more frightened than you need to be, and that can have a whole lot of negative consequences for how you live your life," she said.
"It's difficult to actually know what the levels of crime out there are; we do tend to be biased by hearing these individual reports."
While debates about finding solutions to regional crime continue in state parliament, including an inquiry into community safety in regional and rural communities, Ms Davey said there was more work to be done in the halls of power.
"One of the next steps, really, is to understand [the city-country policy divide] further and have politicians and policy makers pay attention," she said.
"We need to put mechanisms in place to improve access to justice in these rural places, which then contributes to what we actually found around that lack of confidence."