by Emilio Viano

About the author: Emilio Viano teaches at the School of Public Affairs of the American University in Washington, D.C., and is the author of Critical Issues in Victimology.

In today’s rapidly changing world, people frequently move in and out of local communities. What was once a homogeneous rural village becomes a “boomtown,” attracting people with different lifestyles and placing difficult demands on existing values, norms, institutions and services. Generational and demographic changes affect many rural areas. Young people depart for the cities, leaving their elders behind. In cities, young adults may move out of the neighborhood to another one, and their aging parents cannot follow them. They face the challenge of having to accept, respect, and interact with newcomers who are frequently from a different race, ethnicity...