Ancient-Tomb Robbery in China: A Descriptive Analysis of Court Records, 2011-2016

• In Event: New Approaches to Understanding Property Crime

Abstract

The rampancy of ancient-tomb robbery in China is boosted by the growing demand in trade of black market cultural heritage property. The existing empirical uncertainty in the topic of grave robbery limits the development of effective crime prevention strategies. This study aims to illuminate the patterns of ancient tomb robbery, as well as the characteristics of perpetrators and targets, examining court documents nationwide during the period January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2016. Data regarding the features (e.g., perpetrators, targets, means) of grave robbing is extracted from a Chinese court document database using Python. Findings will help police departments and other relevant agencies develop their strategies to prevent ancient-tomb robbing.

Authors

• Weijun Liu, People’s Public Security University of China

• Yuchen Hou, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY

• Yun Zhang, People’s Public Security University of China