Spatiotemporal Patterns and Factors Influencing Wildlife Crimes in the Sichuan-Chongqing Region

Abstract

Wildlife crime, especially in the notably hard-hit region of Sichuan and Chongqing, constitutes a pivotal research domain within green criminology research. Taking this region as the core research area, grounding our analysis in the theoretical framework of social-ecological systems theory, using spatial analysis, geo-detector and other methods, to explore the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of wildlife crime in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Study findings include the following: (1) wildlife crimes in the Sichuan-Chongqing regions mainly involve illegal hunting and killing precious and endangered wildlife, the species involved are predominantly birds and beasts, with the number of pheasants of the pheasant family, owls, and various snakes of the reptile family being the most numerous. The main body of the offence is far more men than women, and young adult Han people are often involved. The overall cultural level is low, and the main job is farming. (2) A single wildlife crime often involves a number of offenses; the most common criminal process involves (seller) hunting/hunting-killing-transportation-selling-(buyer) acquisition. (3) The overall inter-annual variation of the crime shows strong volatility, which can be divided into a gradual growth phase, a sharp decline phase and a sharp growth phase, the monthly distribution is high in November. (4) The overall pattern of "high incidence in the east and west and low incidence in the center" is shown in the city scale; in the county scale, the Shuangliu District of Chengdu City and Wanzhou District of Chongqing City are the most common. In microplaces, there are differences in the main places where offences are committed and transacted under different offences. (5) The occurrence of crime is mainly affected by the average annual temperature, total water resources, the state of natural ecosystems and other natural factors, male and female gender ratio, level of education, transport network density, ease of access and other socio-economic and cultural factors; the level of consumption of the population, the rate of natural growth and the combination of other factors have a significant impact on wildlife crime. The integrated crime pattern theory and rational choice theory suggest that by rationally considering multiple factors such as the natural environment (e.g. abundant wildlife resources and hidden habitats), the social environment (e.g. weak regulation, strong market demand or weak public awareness of protection) and their own psychological characteristics (e.g. the relationship between costs and benefits), offenders are more likely to convert their criminal intent into actual action, which will in turn The criminal intent is more likely to be transformed into actual action, thus contributing to the eventual occurrence of the criminal behaviour.

Keywords

• wildlife crime
• green criminology
• socio-ecological systems theory
• geo-detector
• sichuan-chongqing region