Redai dili (Sep 2022)
Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Formation Mechanism of Typical Demand-Front Places in Trafficking Crime: An Empirical Analysis of Offenders
Abstract
Trafficking crime has a long history, violating personal safety and disrupting social order. At present, most relevant studies focus on the places that supply victims of trafficking. Research on the places that create demand is insufficient. As a typical site of trafficking, Hebei Province has a relatively mature "buyers' market". Based on the China Judgment Documents and online interview data, this study focuses on trafficking criminals and analyzes the multidimensional characteristics and formation mechanism of trafficking in Hebei Province, using mathematical statistics, spatial analysis, case analysis and other methods. The findings are: 1) The proportion of male and female trafficking crime offenders is unbalanced and ranges from 30 to 45 years of age. These offenders have a low level of education, with more than half having no more than a primary- or junior-high-school education. The crime of trafficking in women and children accounts for 79.8% of all trafficking crimes; 67.5% of offenders have been imprisoned for correction, and 7.2% have been sentenced to more than 10 years. 2) The interannual change in the occurrence of trafficking crimes in Hebei Province presents an "inverted-spoon shape," which can be divided into three periods: increase, fluctuation, and decrease. Case trial times show a "single peak" in 2014. The average time interval between the occurrence of a trafficking crime and the trial is about 3 years. Between 2011 and 2020, about 23 cases of abduction and trafficking were tried each year on average. 3) Trafficking offenders in Hebei Province have formed a spatial pattern of "two hots and one cold" as they are concentrated in the southern Hebei region and on the border of Yunnan and Guangxi. The victims are also concentrated; trafficked children are concentrated in Southern Hebei, while trafficked women are concentrated in northern Hebei. In addition, major criminal paths have formed, such as internal flow in Handan City, Hengshui-Xingtai-Shijiazhuang, Southern Hebei-Western Shandong, Sichuan-Yunnan-Guangxi-Guizhou region. Finally, from the perspective of a multi-dimensional integration analysis, the present study finds that trafficking crimes in Hebei Province are formed in part by "push-pull" interactions. Differences in the natural, social, economic, and cultural elements in different regions provide the basic conditions for trafficking crimes to form, creating a "push-pull" effect on the populations between regions, and promoting the occurrence of abduction and trafficking crimes. At the same time, a special regional network of kidnapping crimes has developed, based on differences in the natural, social, economic, and cultural conditions in various regions within Hebei Province.
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