An examination of the influence of procedurally just strategies on legal cynicism among urban youth experiencing police contact

Abstract

Adolescents experience more police-initiated contacts resulting from relatively minor infractions than any other group, and often these interactions do not result in notable legal consequences. However, such interactions may have long-term consequences for adolescent perceptions of the justice system. Using data from the age 15 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, our study examines associations between situational and process features of police contact and legal cynicism in adolescence, accounting for demographic characteristics, self-reported delinquency, neighborhood context, and stop outcome. Relative to youth who experienced only vicarious police contact, youth who had direct or both direct and vicarious police contact reported higher levels of legal cynicism. Youth perceptions of procedural justice were associated with lower legal cynicism. Situational features of police contact such as harsh language and frisking were related to higher legal cynicism. Directions for future research, including the need for longitudinal research on this topic, are discussed.

Low Self-control and Legal Cynicism among At-Risk Youth: An Investigation into Direct and Vicarious Police Contact

“…At the most recent wave of data collection, when youth were, on average, approximately 15 years of age, youths were asked a series of four questions pertaining to their attitudes toward the law (see Hofer et al 2020). These items resemble those employed in prior research measuring legal cynicism (see Reisig et al 2011; Zimmerman 2010).…”

“…These items resemble those employed in prior research measuring legal cynicism (see Reisig et al 2011; Zimmerman 2010). Subjects were asked to report the extent to which they agree (on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree ) with the following statements: “It’s okay to do anything you want.” “There are no right or wrong ways to make money.” “Laws are made to be broken.” “If I fight with somebody, it’s nobody else’s business.” Following the lead of prior research on legal cynicism using FFCWS data (Hofer et al 2020), responses (which were coded to range from 0 to 4) were summed into an additive scale ranging from 0 to 16 (α = .58; mean interitem r = .23). 2 Ultimately, higher values on the scale are intended to reflect a greater degree of legal cynicism (Hofer et al 2020).…”

“…A separate line of social science research suggests that intrusive police contact will carry salient psychological consequences, which in turn may have implications for legal cynicism (Del Toro et al 2019; Geller et al 2014; Jackson et al 2019; Sundaresh et al 2020). For instance, Geller and Fagan (2019:30) suggest that “when interactions with police are harsh or intrusive, the psychological fallout—stress, stigma, anger—can skew the meaning of legal actors and the laws they stand for.” Indeed, past research finds key features of the police stop (e.g., officer intrusiveness, low procedural justice) are associated with greater legal cynicism (Geller and Fagan 2019; Hofer, Womak, and Wilson 2020), and persons with low self-control are at risk of experiencing negative police encounters that worsen social stigma and psychological distress (Jackson et al 2020). However, it remains unknown whether the association between low self-control and legal cynicism would remain upon taking intrusive, procedurally unjust police encounters (and their associated psychological repercussions) into account.…”

“…Indeed, despite the important contributions of prior literature, there are a number of relevant features associated with the police stop that have yet to be investigated. For example, recent research suggests that perceptions of procedural justice and related features of police stops (e.g., arrest, officer intrusiveness) are associated with the development of legal cynicism (Geller and Fagan 2019; Hofer et al 2020) and that adverse experiences and negative perceptions of a police stop are more common among low-self-control youth (Jackson et al 2020). Accordingly, in the case of direct exposure to police contact, it may be meaningful to consider core features of the police stop (e.g., stop frequency, stop intrusiveness, citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice, psychological repercussions of stop) and whether such features might confound the association between low self-control and legal cynicism among stopped youth.…”

Communities and the enforcement of lower level offenses

“…Hofer, Womack, and Wilson () build upon findings by Geller and Fagan () and examined whether community characteristics are associated with legal cynicism among youth using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. They argue that adolescents and young adults are the cohorts most impacted by proactive policing and lower level enforcement and that their early impressions of legitimacy and legal cynicism are likely to sustain over time.…”