Abstract
Wildlife crime presents a growing threat to the integrity of ecological communities. While campaigns have raised consumer awareness, little is known about the socio-demographic profile of wildlife offenders, or how to intervene. Using data from China Judgements Online (2014–2018), we documented 4,735 cases, involving 7,244 offenders who smuggled, hunted, transported, sold and/or purchased protected species in contravention of China’s Criminal Law. Offenders were predominantly men (93.0% of 7,143 offenders), aged 30–44 (43.9% of 4,699), agricultural workers (48.4% of 3,960), with less schooling (78.6% of 4,699 < senior secondary school). Socio-economic profiles related to crime seriousness, the type of illegal activity, motivation and taxon involved. These generalizations reveal scope to tailor specific intervention and mitigation approaches to offender profiles, through public information campaigns, proactive incentives opposed by punitive disincentives, and provision of alternative incomes.
Highlights
Criminology has established that individual demographic characteristics relate to propensity for delinquency, where consistently young people, especially men, tend to become offenders [1]
Average offender age was c. 40 years (SD = 11 years: males, mean = 39.54, SD = 11.40, n = 4,305; females, mean = 39.24, SD = 11.34, n = 393) and the 30–44 age group accounted for the majority (43.9%) of wildlife crimes. 93.0% (6,644) of offenders were male. 9.4% (462) were never schooled; 30.9% (1,524) of offenders had only primary school education; the remaining 59.7% (2,943) completed compulsory education up to junior middle school, age ca. 15 (38.3%, 1,889), senior middle school, age ca. 18 (12.9%, 637), or college and higher education (8.4%, 414)
We show that wildlife crime is prosecuted rigorously across China, where China Judgements Online provided a comprehensive and accessible resource detailing wildlife offenders
Summary
Criminology has established that individual demographic characteristics (i.e., offender profile: age, sex, education level, occupation) relate to propensity for delinquency, where consistently young people, especially men, tend to become offenders [1]. Attempts to address the illegal wildlife trade [2,3] have typically focused on consumers, tackling demand through education campaigns [4,5,6]; else face the disincentive of prosecution and punishment [7]. A recent review by Wilson & Borrato [8] highlights that the ‘tough on wildlife crime’ approach tends to be ineffective, or even counterproductive in reducing offending and recidivism. To reduce propensity to offend effectively, constituencies susceptible to wildlife crime must be identified, profiled and their motivation understood [5,9,10,11].
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