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  • 2022 Volume 42 Issue 9
    Published: 05 September 2022
      

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  • Gang Li, Yue Yu, Junjun Zhou, An'nan Jin
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    The crime of human trafficking is an abnormal (involuntary, passive) phenomenon of population migration (disappearance, persecution); it has attracted great attention from the public and academic community because of its resultant social harm and far-reaching impacts on individuals and families. Constrained by the concealment, dispersion, variability, and complexity of the crime of human trafficking in China, the perspectives of earlier research topics were relatively clustered and limited. During the last 10 years, geographers have gradually achieved certain new understandings and progress through continuous exploration. From the perspective of the related sub-disciplines of geography, this study focuses on the main progress, existing issues, future trends, and crime governance paths to review studies on the crime of human trafficking in China. The results indicate the following: (1) Regarding the interdisciplinary situation: The crime of human trafficking is a social pain point of common concern among multiple disciplines. Geography has the advantage of being a latecomer and its integration with other disciplines will help understand the problem in depth and solve it systematically. Geographers will have a broad stage for future research in the field of human trafficking crimes. (2) Regarding the research objects: The earlier studies on the crime of child trafficking in China in the international context were actually subject studies of human trafficking in the Chinese criminal law context. The crime of human trafficking in China is unique compared to other countries and other types of crimes. (3) Regarding the research data: In the past, the data sources mainly comprised non-governmental organizations and individuals. The current data sources show the co-occurrence of non-governmental and official sources and the trend of the integration of offline and online availability. The integration and utilization of multi-source data will be the main path to future studies. (4) Regarding field investigation: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact and the upgrading of related family tracing means, field investigation has opened up new ways, and online investigations (online interviews, participatory observation in live broadcasting rooms, etc.) have become complementary or alternative channels of traditional field investigations and surveys. (5) Regarding patterns and trends: Based on the update and verification of available data, it is found that the stability of the spatiotemporal pattern of trafficking crimes and the dependence on the main routes in China, and cross-border and inter-provincial border areas, are worthy of attention. Future research trend will shift from being independent to comprehensive—from a quantitative study to a qualitative or mixed study; from case numbers to individuals, families, and their social networks; from the source area to the bridging of source, flow, and sink areas; and from a type of human trafficking to multi-type comparisons of missing persons. (6) Regarding measures and suggestions: Combined with the existing research knowledge and current crime trends, this study presents overall strategies and specific paths for dealing with the crime of human trafficking and assisting the abducted and their relatives.

  • Rui Xue, Hui Chen, Lingling Wei
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    From the perspective of geography, human trafficking is the abnormal migration of a population. With the rise of the "relational turn" in human geography, relational geography provides a complex multidimensional and topological relationship logic system for studying human trafficking, which could help with exploring the process and correlation between the phenomenon and subjects of human trafficking. In this study, we focused on human trafficking aimed at women and young children and reviewed the relational geography theory to obtain the theoretical framework for this problem. Subsequently, we deconstructed the human trafficking and "post-trafficking" context from the paradigm of space, place, and subjectivity. Then, we constructed a relational geography logic system for the study and post-trafficking interventions. We found that (1) the connotations of "gender" and "body" in a patriarchal culture provide the "soil" and "market" for human trafficking aimed at women and young children. Because of its smallness on the spatial scale, the body is an important entrance to the study of human trafficking. Spatial physical disciplines and power separations exist in the relationship network formed by human trafficking. (2) Human trafficking generates multiple diachronic influences on victims. Children and women who have been abducted face the reconstruction of local relations and intersubjectivity during the post-trafficking stage. (3) Human trafficking governance and post-trafficking interventions should be conducted with a view toward the relational geography logic system and the paradigm of relational space, local relations, and intersubjectivity in order to open logical channels from offenders and victims. The introduction of relational geography may provide theoretical and practical contributions to the study of human trafficking. Regarding the former, it could promote the theoretical study of human trafficking crimes from the traditional paradigm of space to relationship space, as well as from the local to local relations and the subjective to intersubjectivity. In terms of application, findings of this study may draw attention to the importance of spatial physical discipline and power separation in human trafficking when strategizing regarding governance and interventions. Additionally, findings of the study may contribute to fostering more effective interventions during the post-trafficking stage because of our focus on the subjective reconstruction of women and children who have been kidnapped.

  • Junjun Zhou, Gang Li, Dandan Hong, Feng Xu, Jiahui Xu, Yue Yu, Xiliang Chen
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    As a crime that threatens public safety and social stability, child trafficking has attracted widespread attention from all sectors of society. Few studies have been conducted on child trafficking, especially in the literature review conducted from the perspective of comparison between China and abroad, which makes it difficult to fully reveal the system and development of current research. This study clarifies the thematic structure and development of child trafficking in China and abroad, based on the "Web of ScienceTM Core Collection" and CNKI data sources, using CiteSpace software. Specifically, the study comparatively examines the progress of child trafficking studies in China and abroad since 2000 and analyzes future development trends from the time of publication, regional and subject distribution, research institutions, and keyword co-occurrence. We hope that this work provides a relatively complete and objective understanding for innovative future research. The results indicate that: (1) the research on child trafficking started earlier abroad, and the theoretical system and research methods are relatively mature. From 2000 to 2020, a total of 215 articles were published in Web of Science, showing two stages of fluctuating and rapid growth, and USA ranks first worldwide. There are 46 core articles published in CNKI, showing two stages of initial exploration and fluctuating growth overall, with a relatively slow growth rate in China. More studies are distributed in the fields of social studies, psychology, pediatrics, family studies and criminology in abroad, while domestic studies are mainly distributed in the field of law, criminology and sociology. In recent years, the research in the field of geography has risen rapidly, and there is ample room for development. (2) Due to the differences in regional environment and national conditions, international child trafficking is part of a study on human trafficking, which is mainly for the purpose of exploitation, including direct and indirect exploitation, involving various topics such as commercial sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, trafficking human organs, child marriage trafficking, and other types of trafficking. Commercial trafficking and sexual exploitation are the main research hotspots of child trafficking. Child trafficking in China is usually discussed in combination with the trafficking of women, focusing on the provincial trafficking for the purpose of adoption, and "family control" and "lured adoption" are common ways of committing crimes. The legal policy and social reasons surrounding child trafficking are hot topics of concern. (3) With the increase in interdisciplinary integration, child trafficking involves suicide risk and well-being, rehabilitation and return to society, child protection and trafficking prevention and control measures, which have become popular topics abroad. The theme of domestic child trafficking has extended from focusing on legal policies and social reasons to spatial-temporal patterns, influencing factors, resettlement, and social integration. In the future, how to integrate the relevant parties involved in child trafficking (criminals, victims or guardians, and other people) with the spatio-temporal environment (social environment, built environment, and surrounding people flow environment), and explore the evolution of geographical factors and the spatio-temporal activity trajectory of child trafficking from the perspective of criminal geography? It is important to deeply analyze the occurrence mechanism of child trafficking from the interactive perspective of time, space, and humans. How to make full use of the modern technological means to track and combat child trafficking in practice, to contribute to the prevention and management of this issue at home and abroad, constitutes a key question.

  • Jinlong Shi, Gang Li, Junjun Zhou, Jiayu Wang, Yushan Huang, Mengjia Du, Xueyao Ma
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    The paper compares and discusses human trafficking from the perspective of state governance in these two countries; the five different aspect of strategies, laws and regulations, working institutions, police systems, and victim rescue and resettlement are examined. The strengths and weaknesses of the two countries in tackling human trafficking are also compared in this study. National strategies for human trafficking governance in China and the United States are formulated under the framework of "people-oriented, coordinated prevention, legal crackdown, active assistance, and proper resettlement". China is more concerned with combating the domestic trafficking of women and children, whereas the United States focuses on the governance of commercial, transnational human trafficking. China's governance is characterized by top-down management and bottom-up autonomy. Once strategies, laws, and regulations are formed, they can be quickly implemented across the entire country. In the United States, the federal government and state governments are cooperative rather than subordinate, and the separation of powers and two-party political system are other issues that indicate the need for further investigations regarding the national implementation and linkage of the governance of human trafficking. This paper concludes with several recommendations on how China should respond to and combat human trafficking crime, including escalating the implementation of China's Action Plan against Human Trafficking (2021-2030) and taking specific actions based on local conditions; enhancing the connection with the national laws and absorption from them and continuing to promote special legislations targeting human trafficking crimes; attaching greater importance to social construction and govemance of transnational human trafficking through strengthening international cooperation; refining anti-trafficking work organizations and setting up specialized working groups, special funds and smoother channels for suggestions; constructing and perfecting China's "Reunion System" supporting system.

  • Xueyao Ma, Gang Li, Junjun Zhou, Jinlong Shi, Min Hu, Juan Wang, Nuo Chen
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    Sending children out for adoption has a long history. It completely changes the trajectory of children's survival and development. Trapped in the complexity, concealment, and dispersion of this behavior, the relevant definition is controversial and research data is difficult to obtain,the systemic and deep understanding are urgently needed. Based on public welfare website cases, this study uses social networks, spatial analysis, mathematical statistics and Geodetector to explore the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of informal adoption-out from 1981 to 2010 and further summarize the process and causal mechanism of informal adoption-out. The results are as follows: (1) Adopted children are mostly females under one-year of age. The young age of the group is because of the birth families' independent decision-making. Influenced by contemporary birth policy, economic conditions, and other factors, they make decisions as early as possible. During the family planning period, the number of children was strictly controlled. Influenced by the preference for sons, some families gave up girls to have the opportunity to have boys. Traditional fertility concepts have been highlighted in the narrow fertility space. (2) Over time, an inverted U-shaped distribution of "increasing first and decreasing later" is presented. From 1981 to 1983, adopted children were mainly affected by the family's economic situation. The violation of the birth policy became the dominant factor around 1990. Spatially, it is mainly distributed in the eastern, central Sichuan-Chongqing regions of China. (3) Economic poverty, birth-policy violations, son preference, and family accidents can explain about 90% of informal adopted-out cases. Children are most likely to be dispatched when the survival and development of families and children cannot be guaranteed. (4) Population factors are the most important factors affecting the spatial distribution. Natural disasters, birth control, and economic factors have a greater impact on each period in that order. The time interval interaction detection result shows that, when families are faced with poverty and change (for example, parent is ill or dies), the probability of children being sent out for adoption greatly increases. A parent's absence will not only worsen the family's economic situation, but also reduce the emotional willingness to raise children. (5) Based on the rational choice theory, this study posits the influencing mechanism of sending children out for adoption: Culture, the fertility system, laws, and the economy constitute the macro environment of informal adoption, which also thoroughly affects family decision-making. As a basic research unit, the collection of decision-making results has both similarities and regional characteristics in macro. In 2015, China enacted the "Two-child policy," which may have led to a large number of adoptions. The goal of adoption has gradually shifted from "maximizing the interests of the family" to "maximizing the rights and interests of children." Therefore, we should learn from historical experience, rapidly improve the laws related to adoption, clarify the legal boundaries of children sent out by birth families, and combat the occurrence of crimes such as child trafficking, so as to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

  • Zhe Lin, Gang Li, Junjun Zhou, Jinlong Shi, Feng Xu, Yingying Wang
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    The problem of missing persons is a major global challenge, which causes serious harm to their families and societies. For this study, we collected 9,193 U.S. missing-persons records for the years 1996-2021 from the Doe Network platform. We used mathematical statistics and Moran's I index to analyze the socio-demographic characteristics, spatio-temporal distribution and its evolution patterns. Then the geodetector was applied to conduct an in-depth analysis of the influencing factors in socio-cultural, economic and demographic aspects. Based on above findings, a sociological theory of the formation mechanism of the missing-person phenomenon in the United States was proposed. Major findings included: (1) With age increasing, the number of missing persons initially increased and then dropped gradually. The highest missing rate was found among adolescents (13-18 years old) and adults (19-59 years old). Although more males than females were reported missing, the high-incidence period of males lagged slightly behind that of females. The high missing rate among adolescent females was linked to sexual crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, while that of adult men tended to be caused by family discord or debt problems. Among racial groups, black people faced the greatest risk of going missing. (2) From 1996, the number of missing-person incidents initially showed a wave upward trended and then fell sharply, after peaking in 2017, because of a series of immigration regulations. In 2020, it declined dramatically again, due to COVID-19. Influenced by the temperature, school holidays, and festivals, most people were reported missing during the months of June, August, and December. Only few missing incidents happened between February and April. (3) Spatially, at the state level, the missing population distribution decreased from the coastal border area to the inland area; over time, areas with a great number of missing-person incidents advanced simultaneously from the eastern and western coastal areas and the southern US-Mexico border to US inland areas. At the county level, they were concentrated on the edge and scattered internally. (4) Missing-person incidents were caused by the interaction of multiple factors; regional population mobility, fertility rate, and the number of vulnerable people had a positive impact on numbers of missing people, while per capital GDP had a negative impact. The power of population-based environmental factors was significantly enhanced after be interacted with social and economic factors, on explaining the missing-person spatial distribution, all of which were above 80%. (5) The underlying mechanism of missing-person incidents could be understood from the perspective of "social anomie". In other words, the disconnect between social goals and means led to social anomie, which then induced deviant behavior, including abduction, murder, and running away from home, increasing the likelihood of missing-person incidents. Finally, we offered suggestions for disappearance prevention and further study directions. The findings provided a basic understanding of the missing-person phenomenon, contributing to global scientific information, which could aid in preventing missing-person incidents.

  • Feng Xu, Gang Li, Dandan Hong, Jiahui Xu, Junjun Zhou, Hai Xia
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    With the rapid development of the economic and social situation and the improvement of public security defense and governance, the quantity of cases of child trafficking by means of theft, forcible robbery, and deception has decreased significantly, and the offense of selling offspring has shown an obvious increasing trend. Based on the case data of child trafficking crime on the website of Chinese Judicial Documents, this study examines the spatiotemporal pattern and criminal decision-making mechanism of offense of selling offspring. The results are as follows: (1) Sold children are characterized by "younger age," most of them are zero-year-old infants, and males are far more represented than females. Most sellers are young and middle-aged men or young women, mainly unemployed, farmers and workers. They sell their offspring to buyers with strong demand through social networks of acquaintances, special occupational groups, traffickers, network media, or persuasion by buyers/intermediaries. The reasons for selling include economic difficulties, out of wedlock birth, extra births, intermediary solicitation, debt repayment. (2) Temporally, the annual change of crime can be divided into three stages: stable sequence and low incidence, rapid growth and sustained high incidence, and steady decline, which are mainly affected by China's population policy, action on combating trafficking, and the development of the website of Chinese Judicial Documents. The monthly change presents a synchronous trend on the birth and betrayal time of the children, with spring and summer being more represented than autumn and winter. (3) Spatially, the origin region of selling presents the pattern of "three sources" with "Sichuan-Shandong-Fujian" as the core, and the destination region of selling presents the pattern of "North-South two sinks" with "Shandong-Fujian" as the core on the macro level. Microscopically, it occurs in closed spaces with a frequent flow of people, and residential buildings and open spaces with a frequent flow of people. The overall trafficking path is "inter-provincial flowing out from the southwest source area and intra-provincial flow of the South-North sink area." Inter-provincial migration is mostly driven by interests and is dominated by trafficking criminal groups, while intra-provincial migration is mostly formed by temporary one-time gang crimes to meet the needs of buying and selling. (4) Based on the theory of rational choice, this study constructs a decision-making framework for the offense of selling offspring, and finds that the crime is mainly affected by the comprehensive influence of background factors, previous experience, and situational induction, and the bounded rational choice made by potential criminals under the decision-making evaluation of "benefit-cost-risk." After deciding to sell their children, potential criminals will choose the appropriate time, place, and way to maximize interests.

  • Dandan Hong, Gang Li, Jiahui Xu, Feng Xu, Junjun Zhou, Yushan Huang, Mengjia Du
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    The crime of transnational human trafficking significantly impacts social stability and state relations, and thus, deserves in-depth research from a geographical perspective. Based on 2008-2022 case data on the transnational trafficking of women in Anhui Province, obtained from "China Judgments Online," this study uses statistical and spatial analysis methods to comprehensively explore group characteristics, spatial-temporal differentiation, and the formation mechanism of transnational women trafficking in Anhui. The results show that: (1) Tripartite-group characteristics are significantly different. The perpetrators are mainly young and middle-aged men, with a general education level of junior high school or below, mostly from the Han and Miao ethnic groups. Most victims are primarily from four countries-Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos-with Vietnamese women making up the largest group. Victims are generally abducted into China voluntarily, on the pretext of finding a job to earn money. After the crime, most are repatriated to their home countries or stay voluntarily in the place of abduction. Most buyers are male farmers of marriageable age and their parents. (2) Transnational women trafficking in Anhui has followed a "peak" trend overall; It has evolved through three stages: low volatility in 2003-2009, volatile growth in 2010-2017, and rapid decline in 2018-2020. This pattern has evidently been affected by China's population policy, anti-trafficking efforts, and website-platform development. (3) Transit provinces are distributed in an arc, with the highest incidence in Yunnan, Jiangxi, and Anhui, in that order. Transit cities have a significant adjacent-boundary feature, with Wenshan, Jingdezhen, Honghe, and Lincang as the main points of contact. The destination cities show north-south parallel double arcs distribution pattern, radiating eastward, which radiate eastwards. The northern arc is dominated by Fuyang, Bozhou, and Suizhou, while the southern arc is dominated by Anqing, Hefei, and Maanshan. The destination counties are evidently characterized by geographic proximity. Northern Anhui exhibits the characteristics of scattered-point distribution, while central Anhui is generally patchy around the high-incidence areas. The main crime paths, including Vietnam to Wenshan Prefecture; Yunnan Province to Hanshan County and Maanshan City; Cambodia to Jingdezhen City; and Jiangxi Province to Lujiang County and Hefei City, constitute a channel from countries neighboring China into Anhui through the border or inland provinces. (4) Push-pull theory is combined with telecoupling theory to explore the formation mechanism of transnational women trafficking in many parts of Anhui. Finally, based on the research results, prevention and control countermeasures are proposed, and future research avenues are explored.

  • Jiahui Xu, Gang Li, Feng Xu, Junjun Zhou, Dandan Hong, Yushan Huang
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    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.

  • Lan Yang, Jiahui Xu, Nuo Chen, Gang Li, Junjun Zhou, Xiaoxuan Niu
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    The crime of trafficking crime has a long period and high social harm, which can easily cause life-long memory trauma to the victims, which has aroused the attention of all walks of life. As a vulnerable group, minors are vulnerable to the crime of trafficking crime. Earlier related studies were mainly concentrated in the fields of law and sociology. The research on the analysis of minor trafficking crimes from a geographical perspective started late, and there was a lack of research on Yunnan Province, a high-incidence area of minor trafficking crimes. Therefore, based on the data of the public welfare platform "Baby Coming Home" website, this paper uses mathematical statistics, spatial analysis, and other methods to explore the spatiotemporal pattern and influencing factors of minor trafficking crimes in Yunnan Province from the perspective of minor victims. This study found that: 1) The inter-annual change of the crimes of trafficking minor in Yunnan province shows a strong concentration and fluctuation. The rise and fall of the number of crimes is closely related to the household registration reform system, the family planning policy, and the efforts to crack down on the crime of trafficking; In terms of age and gender, most of the trafficked minors came from rural areas, which tended to be younger; in terms of gender, there was a strong preference for younger males and older females. 2) From 1958 to 2019, the number of minor trafficking in Yunnan Province showed an "inverted V-shaped" fluctuation in time, and the high incidence period was from 1994 to 2005. 3) On the urban scale, the crime of trafficking gradually decreasing from the east to the west of Yunnan province. While trafficking was prevalent throughout the province, Qujing, Kunming, and Zhaotong had high incidence rates.On the county scale, it spreads from the Guandu district of Kunming city to the surrounding areas, the diffusion rate in the east is fast and the total number of crimes is high. 4) In terms of influencing factors, natural factors have the least impact on child abduction crimes, and there is no significant change in different time periods. Population factors are affected by regional culture, fertility preferences, and marriage and family systems, and become the dominant factor in the rapid growth period of child trafficking crimes. Social and economic factors have a significant effect on the high and low crime periods.

  • Hai Xia, Gang Li, Junjun Zhou, Yue Yu, Mengjia Du, Chenxi Feng
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    The crime of trafficking has a long history of causing serious harm to the victims, their families, and social stability, which has aroused widespread concern from the public and academic circles. Studies have shown that the southwest region of China has the highest incidence of trafficking crimes; thus, this study examines the trial data of Chinese judgment documents of the southwestern regions (Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Chongqing) from 2008 to 2020. The study comprehensively uses text analysis, mathematical statistics, spatial analysis, and negative binomial regression test to explore spatial and temporal variation patterns and the factors influencing them. The study then proposes countermeasures for prevention, control, and management. The research shows that: (1) The overall high incidence of trafficking crimes occurred in the period 2009-2014, showing a wavy pattern of "three peaks and two valleys." The "three peaks" occurred in 2009, 2012, and 2014, whereas the "two valleys" occurred in 2010 and 2013. The highest incidence was in December, with the next highest incidences concentrated in May, June, July, and September for women, and May, July, August and September for children. On the whole, trafficking crimes occurred mostly in the summer months. The four provinces have had different degrees of inter-year and inter-month variations in the trafficking of women and children. (2) The overall spatial distribution is in the shape of a significant "southeast-northwest" axis, which is highly consistent with the boundary line between Sichuan and Chongqing, Yunnan, and Guizhou, and the inter-provincial border area is a hotspot for trafficking crimes. The provincial spatial distribution is the highest in Yunnan Province and the lowest in Chongqing. Trafficking mostly occurs at medical care institutions, stations, and rural residences with a large flow of people. (3) Negative binomial regression analysis of the random effects panel shows the incidence of trafficking crimes as influenced by the gender ratio of the population and the number of urban and rural residents' minimum living standards, while the per capita disposable income of rural residents, the registered urban unemployment rate, the child dependency ratio,and the volume of passenger transport have negative effects; whereas the population sex ratio, passenger traffic, and the number of urban and rural residents on the minimum subsistence allowance have a greater impact on the crime of trafficking of women. Finally, based on the analysis of the influencing factors, the three aspects of strengthening social construction, innovating prevention mechanisms, and strengthening combating mechanisms are proposed as the prevention and control countermeasures, with a view to dismantle the breeding ground for the crime of trafficking of women and children.

  • Jianpo Wang, Gang Li, Mengjia Du, Yingying Wang, Min Hu, Yue Yu
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    The study is based on multi-source data of the public welfare platform "Baby Coming Home" website, trafficking case data from "China Judgments Online," and the major historical cases of trafficking detected by search engines, with a focus on Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a province with a high incidence of women and children trafficking in China. It uses mathematical statistics, case analysis, spatial analysis, and other methods to explore the spatiotemporal pattern and influencing factors of the trafficking of women and children in Guangxi. The results show that: 1) The perpetrators are mainly male, in the 20-55 age group, with low education levels and obvious gang characteristics. Regarding age, the victims show "double peak" characteristics of the young peak (infants), in which the infants are mainly male, and the older secondary peak (women). The buyers' education level is mainly junior high school or below, and most are farmers or unemployed. 2) The inter-annual change in the trafficking of women and children in Guangxi shows a "dune" trend, which is divided into four stages: low incidence, high incidence, medium high fluctuation, and continuous decline periods. 3) At the city level, the number of trafficked minors is generally positively correlated with the population of the city. Regarding the trafficking routes, the overall trafficking path shows the pattern of "Guangxi is the source area, and Guangdong, Fujian, and North China are the main confluence areas." The trafficking routes into Guangxi mainly show the characteristics of "surrounding and cross-border trafficking." Gender has a great impact on the trafficking path. The boys mainly turned to Fujian and Guangdong, which are relatively concentrated, and the girls mainly turned to Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hebei and Shandong, which are highly dispersed. 4) The special geographical location creates a unique social, economic, and cultural environment in Guangxi. Under the combined action of various pushing and pulling forces, the trafficking of women and children in Guangxi has occurred and expanded, and finally formed a unique criminal network.

  • Juan Wang, Gang Li, Yue Yu, Meifeng Zhao, Chenxi Feng, Nuo Chen
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    Child trafficking has been repeatedly criminalized and has become a timely and important issue of concern to society and academia. Most existing studies focus on macro-analyses and lack a memory-space discussion based on typical trafficking cases. Based on case data extracted from the "Baobeihuijia" public service platform, this study explores the memory space/map pattern and its influencing elements in the process of seeking for relatives of trafficked children. Text analysis, cognitive map analysis, and case studies were used. The results show the following: (1) The memory space of trafficked children is composed of local, family, and individual knowledge. Local knowledge includes the natural physical environment and social and cultural environment factors; family knowledge includes family member information, kinship, and other elements; and individual knowledge includes factors such as self-identification characteristics and the clothing they were wearing. (2) The memory space of trafficked children is formed in their daily activity space, which is the memory of the objective characteristics of their hometown and a combination of geographical space and humanistic emotion. With an increase in children's age and changes over time, the elements of their memory space will change accordingly, enabling them to form unique individual memories in different stages and times. Changes in children's living environments make it easy to shape complex memory spaces. (3) The memory map of trafficked children has three modes: a multifactor mixed memory map, spatial layout memory map, and single-element dominant memory map. The multifactor mixed memory map relies on a variety of sensory cognitions to form complex memory content. The multifactor positioning of the hometown area promotes the success of seeking relatives. The spatial layout memory map is mainly based on a hand-drawn complete map, which is spatial and to scale, and plays a two-way perception function to help native families and volunteers identify information and promote the success of seeking relatives. The single-element dominant memory map uses landmarks and place names as key elements to accurately locate the geographical location of trafficked children's families. However, these elements are not easily remembered, and the process of seeking relatives depends mainly on other elements. (4) Children leave a deep impression of places of frequent contact in their daily activities; uniquely shaped road and surface waters are more likely to form memory and become important promoting factors in the process of seeking relatives; the combination of place names, dialects, customs, and place names and landmarks have become key elements in the success of seeking relatives. This study draws on memory space-related research methods with case studies as the core from an individual perspective, selects trafficked children as research objects, and explores the influence of trafficked children's memory space and memory maps on the search process from the perspective of geographical memory space. This study enriches the research on memory space and is a positive attempt to expand the related literature.

  • Yue Yu, Gang Li, Tingting Xu, Jiaobei Wang, Junjun Zhou, Yushan Huang, Hai Xia
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    This study aimed to observe the sociodemographic characteristics of Chinese senior officials who have committed duty crimes as well as the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of their work place and the social network between the offenders. Further, this study aimed to investigate the formation mechanism of Chinese duty crimes and suggest prevention and control measures. Thus, we conducted text analysis, mathematical statistics, and spatial analysis based on data from 321 officials who were at sub-provincial level or above and committed crimes in China from 1985 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) The number of male officials were significantly higher than their female counterparts, the majority of officials who first disciplined and violated laws were middle-aged, and most of them were middle-aged and older adults when they were disciplined. The criminal charges were mainly corruption and bribery, and crimes mainly occurred in the energy enterprise, government department, and central government-led enterprise. (2) In terms of time, the first time the officials disciplined and violated the laws were concentrated between 1988 and 2008, showing "high fluctuation with three peaks at 1994, 2000, and 2003." The number of offenders showed the trend of "four peaks" and can be divided in to two groups: 2001 and 2004, 2014 and 2017, first increased slightly and thereafter rapidly. After 2011, the number has increased approximately straight, indicating social and economic changes and anti-corruption efforts. (3) Regarding space, most officials resided in North China, East China, and Central China, with hotspots appearing in Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, and parts of Henan, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces. The officials' work places were concentrated in North China, East China, and Central China, with hotspots and clusters in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi provinces with a few clusters in Henan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangdong provinces. Most of the officials who changed their places of employment moved to Beijing until they were disciplined, and 36.57% of them worked in their hometown until discipline. The radiation effect of the offenders' criminal behavior appeared to rely on geo-relationships and relatives and friends, take the officials themselves as the center, the members of the officials' social network relations are the key nodes to radiate outward, the criminal trajectories forming the "mobile criminal network" with characteristics of personal life trajectories. (4) Public choice theory can explain the emergence of duty crimes. Officials will take their own conditions and external environment into consideration, compare the costs and benefits of the crime and decide whether to commit duty crimes. These findings suggest that duty crimes can be comprehensively prevented and managed from various aspects.

  • Zhuo Liu, Hui Lin, Ya Tian, Yulin Wang
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    For a long time, China has been committed to combating illegal logging and trade in forests. Although there are still practical difficulties in the governance of illegal timber trade at home and abroad, it is undeniable that significant progress has been made in curbing illegal logging in domestic forests in recent years. Based on 50,094 criminal first-instance verdicts related to illegal logging crimes in China between 2014 and 2020, we have used a spatial autocorrelation analysis and the Geographical Weighted Regression model to explore the spatial distribution characteristics and driving factors of illegal logging in China. The results show that: (1) There is a high rate of illegal logging to the southeast of the Huhuanyong line in China. It is concentrated mainly in areas with strong forest-resource endowment, relatively low economic development level, low urbanization, a large agricultural population, and low degree of nationalization of forest farms, such as the southeast edge of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau,the Wushan-Xuefeng Mountains, the Nanling-Wuyi Mountains, Dabie Mountain, and Changbai Mountain. In north and northwest China and the economically developed coastal regions, there is little or no evidence of this development trend. (2) Affected by natural, social and economic conditions, there are obvious regional differences in illegal logging characteristics in the above high incidence areas. (3) The spatial autocorrelation of illegal logging in China is strong. The southwest region is the main high-high agglomeration region; the northwest and north China are low-low agglomeration regions; the northeast region and the cities along the Yangtze River are not significant, and the high-high agglomeration trend of the volume of harvested live trees in the southeast region is significant. 4) The spatial distribution pattern and characteristics of illegal logging are formed by multiple driving forces, and different driving factors have different spatial mechanisms. Natural endowment is the necessary and insufficient condition for illegal logging.With the improvement of urbanization and socio-economic development, the occurrence of illegal logging can be effectively suppressed.In conclusion, this study aims to enrich the Environmental Criminology literature, actively exploring criminal geography in relation to environmental crime in China. It also proposes corresponding policy suggestions for the governance and combating of illegal logging. This study has some limitations related to data acquisition and processing; these areas should be strengthened in future research.