Author(s)

Qingyuan Wu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom

Corresponding Author

Qingyuan Wu

ABSTRACT

Left-behind children [LBC] in rural China are vulnerable to psychological trauma and behavioural deviance due to prolonged parental absence and weak guardianship. Using secondary qualitative analysis of academic interviews, NGO case studies and media reports, this article examines how some LBC move from victimisation to offending. While social disorganization theory stresses community breakdown, the article develops the concepts of "semi-effective family support" and "conditional peer support" to explain why peer groups become both sanctuaries and sites of deviant socialisation. Under structural disadvantage, peer networks initially provide emotional security but, when exposed to external stigmatisation and institutional neglect, can be pushed into oppositional identities and violent coping strategies. By linking the victim–offender overlap to conditional peer support, the article proposes a structural model of "alienated sanctuary" and outlines implications for community-based protection mechanisms.

KEYWORDS

Left-behind children; Social Disorganization; Conditional Support; Secondary Qualitative Analysis; Juvenile Delinquency

CITE THIS PAPER

Qingyuan Wu. Alienated Sanctuary: Deviant Pathways of Left-Behind Children through the Lens of Social Disorganization and Conditional Support. Science of Law Journal (2025) Vol. 4: 42-48. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/DOI: 10.23977/law.2025.040606.

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