Measuring public-involving economic crime: A case study in Beijing, China.

Public-involving economic crime refers to economic crimes that use false propaganda to obtain money or other valuable items from multiple, unspecific victims in the Chinese context. Based on the Beijing public-involving economic crime cases from 2012 to 2018, this study analyses the operation features and effects of public-involving economic crimes. We find that the intersection in criminal and civil procedures, inefficient property preservation, repeat prosecution, and inappropriate information disclosure remain the major judicial dilemmas of public-involving economic crimes. We examine the causes of public-involving economic crimes from the opportunity perspective. Lack of effective regulation and inadequate financial literacy among investors creates opportunities that offenders can easily exploit. This study suggests that practical administrative efforts such as continuous supervision of market entities' economic activities and financial literacy education can block crime opportunities and prevent public-involving economic crimes. • Recent years has witnessed a high incidence of public-involving economic crime as an emerging type of crime since the Reform and Opening up. • The Chinese public security and judicial organs have listed this type of crime as a key economic crime. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies in this area. • In this paper, we analyse operations of public-involving economic crimes and discusse the countermeasures based on the public-involving economic crime cases in Beijing from the years 2012–2018. • This paper discusses the judicial dilemmas, such as the intersection of public-involving economic crime in criminal and civil procedures, and provides countermeasures. • It is argued that lack of effective regulation and inadequate financial literacy among investors creates opportunities that offenders can easily exploit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]