“Left-behind children” and their pathways into criminality: A mixed-method study of delinquent adolescents in China

IF 2.5 1区社会学 Q1 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Journal of Criminal Justice Pub Date : 2025-05-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102432

Kai Lin , Jia Qu

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Abstract

Over the past several decades, China's internal migration has led to a large number of “left-behind children” (LBC) growing up with substantial parental neglect in rural areas. LBC have been found to suffer from multiple social vulnerabilities, including a heightened risk of offending behavior. Utilizing both quantitative survey and qualitative interview data from 383 delinquent adolescents in two correctional settings in an underdeveloped region of China, this study explores key factors affecting the onset, severity, and persistence of delinquent behaviors, with a particular focus on the impact of parental migration. This research contributes to developmental and life course criminology by revealing the unique challenges (such as insufficient parental bonding and authoritarian parenting by grandparents) faced by LBC, a group at the forefront of some of the adverse consequences of China's rapid economic growth with significant inequalities. It also sheds light on the complex interactions between economic migration, familial disruption, and juvenile delinquency in a non-Western context of the Global South.

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“留守儿童”及其犯罪途径：中国犯罪青少年的混合方法研究

在过去的几十年里，中国的国内人口流动导致大量的“留守儿童”（LBC）在农村地区在父母的严重忽视下长大。LBC被发现存在多种社会脆弱性，包括更高的犯罪行为风险。本研究利用来自中国欠发达地区两个教养机构的383名犯罪青少年的定量调查和定性访谈数据，探讨了影响犯罪行为发生、严重程度和持续时间的关键因素，并特别关注父母迁移的影响。本研究通过揭示LBC面临的独特挑战（如父母关系不足和祖父母的专制教育），为发展和生命过程犯罪学做出了贡献，LBC是中国经济快速增长和显著不平等的一些不利后果的前沿群体。它还揭示了经济移民、家庭破裂和全球南方非西方背景下青少年犯罪之间复杂的相互作用。

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来源期刊

Journal of Criminal Justice CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY-

CiteScore

6.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

审稿时长

23 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Criminal Justice is an international journal intended to fill the present need for the dissemination of new information, ideas and methods, to both practitioners and academicians in the criminal justice area. The Journal is concerned with all aspects of the criminal justice system in terms of their relationships to each other. Although materials are presented relating to crime and the individual elements of the criminal justice system, the emphasis of the Journal is to tie together the functioning of these elements and to illustrate the effects of their interactions. Articles that reflect the application of new disciplines or analytical methodologies to the problems of criminal justice are of special interest. Since the purpose of the Journal is to provide a forum for the dissemination of new ideas, new information, and the application of new methods to the problems and functions of the criminal justice system, the Journal emphasizes innovation and creative thought of the highest quality.