Abstract
People are most likely to come into contact with the police for the first time as teenagers. Numerous studies have shown that these contacts impact adolescents’ attitudes towards the police. The Group Engagement Model (GEM) proposes that contact with the police matters because our perception of this interaction conveys information about our place in the group. However, few researchers have sought to discern the role played by the type of contact. Three hundred one youths completed an online survey. The current article explores the relationship between the presence of different types of contact with the police (i.e., asking for information, being a witness, victim, or offender) and attitudes towards law enforcement. We also test whether satisfaction with contact is linked to attitudes. We examine whether these relationships are mediated by sense of belonging to society. The results suggest that only presence of police contact as offender and satisfaction with police contact to request information and for witnessing a crime are linked to attitudes towards the police. Sense of belonging to society partially mediated some links, but not satisfaction of contact for reporting victimization or for offending. The study which follows highlights the importance of distinguishing between the types of contact that youth have had with the police.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, L. M., upon reasonable request.
References
Akinlabi OM (2017) Young people, procedural justice and police legitimacy in Nigeria. Polic Soc 27(4):419–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2015.1077836
Alberton AM, Gorey KM (2018) Contact is a stronger predictor of attitudes toward police than race: a state-of-the-art review. Policing Int J 41(1):2–23. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2017-0070
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-5, 5e edn. American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Baz O, Fernández-Molina E (2018) Process-based model in adolescence. Analyzing police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency within a legal socialization framework. Eur J Crim Policy Res 24(3):237–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-017-9357-y
Blumstein A, Cohen J, Roth J, Visher C (1986) Criminal careers and career criminals. (Vol. 1). National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/922
Bradford B (2014) Policing and social identity : procedural justice, inclusion and cooperation between police and public. Polic Soc 24(1):22–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2012.724068
Bradford B (2016) The dog that never quite barked : social identity and the persistence of police legitimacy. Oxford University Press, In Changing Contours of Criminal Justice
Bradford B, Milani J, Jackson J (2017) Identity, legitimacy and “making sense” of police use of force. Polic Int J 40(3):614–627. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2016-0085
Brechwald WA, Prinstein MJ (2011) Beyond homophily : a decade of advances in understanding peer influence processes. J Res Adolesc 21(1):166–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00721.x
Brick BT, Taylor TJ, Esbensen F-A (2009) Juvenile attitudes towards the police : the importance of subcultural involvement and community ties. J Crim Just 37(5):488–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.07.009
Brown BB, Larson J (2009) Peer relationships in adolescence. Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. American Cancer Society, pp 74–103. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479193.adlpsy002004
Cavanagh C, Cauffman E (2015) Viewing law and order : mothers’ and sons’ justice system legitimacy attitudes and juvenile recidivism. Psychol Public Policy Law 21(4):432–441. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000054
Cavanagh C, Cauffman E (2019) The role of rearrests in juvenile offenders and their mothers attitudes toward police. Law Hum Behav 43(3):220–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000313
Cavanagh C, LaBerge A, Cauffman E (2021) Attitudes toward legal actors among dual system youth. J Soc Issues 77(2):504–527. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12441
Clayman S, Skinns L (2012) To snitch or not to snitch? An exploratory study of the factors influencing whether young people actively cooperate with the police. Polic Soc 22(4):460–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.641550
Curcio AL, Mak AS, George AM (2017) Predictors of delinquency among adolescents and young adults : a new psychosocial control perspective. Aust N Z J Criminol 50(2):155–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004865816628594
de Maillard J, Hunold D, Roché S, Oberwittler D (2018) Different styles of policing : discretionary power in street controls by the public police in France and Germany. Polic Soc 28(2):175–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2016.1194837
Degner J, Dalege J (2013) The apple does not fall far from the tree, or does it? A meta-analysis of parent–child similarity in intergroup attitudes. Psychol Bull 139(6):1270–1304. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031436
Elliott I, Thomas SDM, Ogloff JRP (2012) Procedural justice in contacts with the police : the perspective of victims of crime. Police Pract Res 13(5):437–449. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2011.607659
Fagan J, Piquero AR (2007) Rational choice and developmental influences on recidivism among adolescent felony offenders. J Empir Leg Stud 4(4):715–748. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2007.00105.x
Fagan J, Tyler TR (2005) Legal socialization of children and adolescents. Social Justice Research 18(3):217–241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-005-6823-3
Fine AD, Cavanagh C, Donley S, Steinberg L, Frick PJ, Cauffman E (2016) The role of peer arrests on the development of youths attitudes towards the justice system. Law Hum Behav 40(2):211–218. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000167
Fine AD, Amemiya J, Frick P, Steinberg L, Cauffman E (2021) Perceptions of police legitimacy and bias from ages 13 to 22 among Black, Latino, and White justice-involved males. Law Hum Behav 45(3):243–255. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000445
Flexon JL, Lurigio AJ, Greenleaf RG (2009) Exploring the dimensions of trust in the police among Chicago juveniles. J Crim Just 37(2):180–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.02.006
Flexon JL, Greenleaf RG, Dariano DS, Gibson D (2016) An examination of police stops and youths’ attitudes toward police : do interracial encounters matter? Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice 14(1):21–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2014.997953
Galand B, Philippot P (2005) L’école telle qu’ils la voient : Validation d’une mesure des perceptions du contexte scolaire par les élèves du secondaire. / school as they see it: validation of a measure of secondary students’ perceptions of the school context. Can J Behav Sci 37:138–154. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087251
Geller A, Fagan J (2019) Police contact and the legal socialization of urban teens. RSF Rus Sage Fndn J Soc Sci 5(1):26–49. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2019.5.1.02
Goodenow C, Grady KE (1993) The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to academic motivation among urban adolescent students. J Exp Educ 62(1):60–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1993.9943831
Gouveia-Pereira M, Vala J, Palmonari A, Rubini M (2003) School experience, relational justice and legitimation of institutional. Eur J Psychol Educ 18(3):309–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173251
Harris JW, Jones MS (2020) Shaping youths perceptions and attitudes toward the police : Differences in direct and vicarious encounters with police. J Crim Just 67:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101674
Hayes AF (2022) Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis (3rd edition)
Hepburn JR (1977) The impact of police intervention upon juvenile delinquents. Criminology 15(2):235–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1977.tb00064.x
Hergovich A, Sirsch U, Felinger M (2002) Self-appraisals, actual appraisals and reflected appraisals of preadolescent children. Soc Behav Personal Int J 30(6):603–611. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2002.30.6.603
Hinds L (2009) Youth, police legitimacy and informal contact. J Police Crim Psychol 24(1):10–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-008-9031-x
Hough M, Jackson J, Bradford B (2014) La légitimité de la police : Conclusions de l’Enquête Sociale Européenne. Cahiers de la Sécurité et de la Justice 154‑170
Hurst YG, McDermott MJ, Thomas DL (2005) The attitudes of girls toward the police : differences by race. Polic Int J 28(4):578–593. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639510510628677
Hurst YG, Frank J (2000) How kids view cops : The nature of juvenile attitudes toward the police. J Crim Just 28(3):189–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(00)00035-0
Kolivoski KM, Shook JJ, Johnson HC, Goodkind S, Fusco R, DeLisi M, Vaughn MG (2016) Applying legal socialization to the child welfare system : do youths perceptions of caseworkers matter? Child Youth Care Forum 45(1):65–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-015-9317-y
LeBlanc M (1996) MASPAQ, manuel sur des mesures de l’adaptation sociale et personnelle pour les adolescents québécois : [Manuel et guide d’utilisation. Groupe de recherche sur les adolescents en difficulté, Université de Montréal, École de psychoéducation
Lee JM, Steinberg L, Piquero AR (2010) Ethnic identity and attitudes toward the police among African American juvenile offenders. J Crim Just 38(4):781–789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.05.005
Lee H, Heafner J, Sabatelli RM, LaMotte V (2017) Side-by-side : an evaluation of Connecticut’s police and youth interaction model. J Hum Behav Soc Environ 27(8):806–816. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1339652
Massez L, Virat M, Przygodzki-Lionet N (2023) Le rapport à la loi et à ses représentants est-il altéré par le contact des adolescents avec les acteurs de la chaîne pénale ? Une revue systématique de la littérature. Psychol Fr 68(1):21–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psfr.2022.05.001
Murphy K (2013) Policing at the margins: fostering trust and cooperation among ethnic minority groups. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 8(2):184–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2013.821733
Oliveira A, Murphy K (2015) Race, social identity, and perceptions of police bias. Race and Justice 5(3):259–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368714562801
Orth U (2002) Secondary victimization of crime victims by criminal proceedings. Social Justice Research 15(4):313–325. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021210323461
Pennington L, Farrell A (2019) Role of voice in the legal process. Criminology 57(2):343–368. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12205
Piccirillo D, García-Sánchez E, Chies-Santos M, Gomes AM (2021) The role of police contact and neighborhood experiences on legal socialization: longitudinal evidence from adolescents in Brazil. J Soc Issues 77(2):437–461. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12428
Rengifo AF, Slocum LA, Chillar V (2019) From impressions to intentions : direct and indirect effects of police contact on willingness to report crimes to law enforcement. J Res Crime Delinq 56(3):412–450. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427818817338
Roeser RW, Midgley C, Urdan TC (1996) Perceptions of the school psychological environment and early adolescents’ psychological and behavioral functioning in school : the mediating role of goals and belonging. J Educ Psychol 88(3):408–422. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.88.3.408
Romain DM, Hassell KD (2014) An exploratory examination of the sources of socialisation influencing juvenile perceptions of the police. Int J Police Sci Manag 16(1):36–51. https://doi.org/10.1350/ijps.2014.16.1.326
Sargeant E, Bond CEW (2015) Keeping it in the family : parental influences on young people’s attitudes to police. J Sociol 51(4):917–932. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783313482817
Sargeant E, Antrobus E, Murphy K, Bennett S, Mazerolle L (2016) Social identity and procedural justice in police encounters with the public : results from a randomised controlled trial. Polic Soc 26(7):789–803. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2014.989159
Schuck AM (2013) A life-course perspective on adolescents’ attitudes to police: DARE, delinquency, and residential segregation. J Res Crime Delinq 50(4):579–607. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427813481977
Simon P (2015) The choice of ignorance: the debate on ethnic and racial statistics in France. In: Simon P, Piché V, Gagnon AA (eds) Social statistics and ethnic diversity: cross-national perspectives in classifications and identity politics. Springer International Publishing, pp 65–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20095-8_4
Sindall K, McCarthy DJ, Brunton-Smith I (2017) Young people and the formation of attitudes towards the police. Eur J Criminol 14(3):344–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370816661739
Skogan WG (2006) Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with police. Polic Soc 16(2):99–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439460600662098
Slobogin C, Fondacaro MR (2011) Juveniles at risk : a plea for preventive justice. Oxford University Press
Slocum LA, Wiley SA, Esbensen F-A (2015) The importance of being satisfied : a longitudinal exploration of police contact, procedural injustice, and subsequent delinquency. Crim Justice Behav 43(1):7–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815609069
Sunshine J, Tyler TR (2003) The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping public support for policing. Law Soc Rev 37(3):513–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5893.3703002
Tajfel H (1974) Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Soc Sci Inf 13(2):65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204
Tapp JL, Levine FJ (1974) Legal socialization : strategies for an ethical legality. Stanford Law Review 27:1–72. https://doi.org/10.2307/1227929
Trinkner R, Rodrigues H, Piccirillo D, Gifford FE, Gomes AMM (2020) Legal socialisation in Brazil : examining the generalisability of the procedural justice model. Int J Comp Appl Crim Just 44(1–2):7–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2019.1587710
Trinkner R (2015) The ubiquity of legal socialization : parental influences on legal attitudes and values in adulthood
Tyler TR (2005) Policing in black and white : ethnic group differences in trust and confidence in the police. Police Q 8(3):322–342. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611104271105
Tyler TR (2011) Trust and legitimacy : policing in the USA and Europe. Eur J Criminol 8(4):254–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370811411462
Tyler TR, Blader S (2000) Cooperation in groups : procedural justice, social identity, and behavioral engagement. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203782842
Tyler TR, Blader SL (2003) The group engagement model : procedural justice, social identity, and cooperative behavior. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 7(4):349–361. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0704_07
Tyler TR, Huo Y (2002) Trust in the law : encouraging public cooperation with the police and courts. Russell Sage Foundation
Tyler TR, Trinkner R (2017) Why children follow rules : legal socialization and the development of legitimacy. Oxford University Press
Tyler TR, Casper JD, Fisher B (1989) Maintaining allegiance toward political authorities : the role of prior attitudes and the use of fair procedures. American Journal of Political Science 33(3):629–652. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111066
Virat M, Leoni V, Archambault I (2022) Teachers’ compassionate love, teachers’ esteem and students’ attitudes toward the justice system : the mediating role of school belonging. European Journal of Developmental Psychology 20(2):287–306
Wolfe SE, McLean K (2021) Is it un-American to view the police as illegitimate? The role of national identity in the legal socialization process. J Soc Issues 77(2):577–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12434
Wolfe SE, McLean K, Pratt TC (2017) I learned it by watching you : legal socialization and the intergenerational transmission of legitimacy attitudes. Br J Criminol 57(5):1123–1143. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw038
Woolard JL, Harvell S, Graham S (2008) Anticipatory injustice among adolescents : age and racial/ethnic differences in perceived unfairness of the justice system. Behav Sci Law 26(2):207–226. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.805
Zhang H, Zhao R, Zhao JS, Ren L (2014b) Social attachment and juvenile attitudes toward the police in China : bridging eastern and western wisdom. J Res Crime Delinq 51(6):703–734. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427814538034
Zhang H, Zhao J, Ren L, Zhao R (2014a) Social bonds, traditional models and juvenile attitudes toward the police in China. Policing An Int J Police Strategies Manag 37(3):596–611. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2013-0106
Funding
The nonprofit organization “la Sauvegarde du Nord” provided financial support for the research by financing the dissertation work from which this study draws.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Disclaimer
La Sauvegarde du Nord had no involvement, however, in the performance of the study, the drafting of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Massez, L., Virat, M. & Przygodzki-Lionet, N. Police Contact and Adolescents’ Attitudes Towards the Police: Is the “Social Identity Mediation Hypothesis” Observed in Different Contexts?. J Police Crim Psych 39, 411–421 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-024-09684-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-024-09684-9