Uncovering the nuances of criminal motivations and modus operandi in the Russian Far East: A wildlife crime case study

Abstract

Wildlife crime is a relatively new line of inquiry for scholars of criminology; traditionally it has been the purview of conservation science. However, as conservation is fundamentally about changing human behavior, the value of a criminological perspective to understand both the theoretical underpinnings of wildlife crime commission and practical mitigation strategies is being increasingly recognized. Based on an ethnographic case study on the poaching and trafficking of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East, this article reflects upon the use of criminological ethnographic methods to understand the complexity and subtleties of wildlife crime by directly interviewing the poachers, middlemen, buyers, and smugglers involved. The article seeks transparency on how qualitative methods can be successfully employed to engage in fieldwork with active criminals in peripheral settings.