Legal Cynicism and Parental Appraisals of Adolescent Violence

Abstract

Research suggests that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which the law is viewed as illegitimate and ineffective—encourages violence to maintain personal safety when legal recourse is unreliable. But no study has tested the impact of legal cynicism on appraisals of violence. Drawing from symbolic interaction theory and cultural sociology, we tested whether neighbourhood legal cynicism alters the extent to which parents appraise their children’s violence as indicative of aggressive or impulsive temperaments using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We find that legal cynicism attenuates the positive association between adolescent violence and parental assessments of aggression and impulsivity. Our study advances the understanding of micro-level processes through which prevailing cultural frames in the neighbourhood shape violence appraisals.

Violent Peers and Street Efficacy in Legally Cynical Neighborhoods

“…Extending insights from research on legal cynicism (Kirk and Papachristos 2011; Soller et al 2014), we argued that youth who interpret their social worlds through a legally cynical frame understand that they are not adequately protected by law and its enforcement agents. Perceiving they lack legal protection, youth may exhibit decreased street efficacy.…”

“…Importantly, individuals encounter different cognitive landscapes—and, therefore, interpret their circumstances differently—to the extent that their neighborhoods vary along these cultural dimensions. For example, Soller, Jackson, and Browning (2014) found that parents are less likely to interpret their children’s violent delinquency as symptomatic of impulsive or aggressive temperaments as legal cynicism increases within their neighborhoods. The authors argue legal cynicism fosters the understanding that violence is sometimes necessary to prevent victimization or to rectify interpersonal conflicts (see also Anderson 1998).…”

Surrounded by violence: How do individual perceptions and community context shape views about violence?

“…For example, Kubrin and Weitzer (2003a) find that people living in disadvantaged communities in St Louis are more likely to complain about police being unresponsive, biased, racist and abusive and that these communities experience more retaliatory homicides compared to different categories of homicide. Most recently Soller et al (2014) find community legal cynicism impacts upon parents' appraisals of whether or not adolescents' violent behaviour is a reasonable response to conflict in Chicago. Also in a study of young people (specifically young males), Gau and Brunson (2015) find that poor perceptions of police legitimacy lead to self-protective behaviours in St Louis.…”

“…Formal social control represents ‘the practices of the authorities to maintain order and enforce legal and regulatory codes’, whereas informal social control refers to the actions of ordinary citizens to regulate unwanted behaviour (Black, 1984, p. 7; see also Bursik & Grasmick, 1993). Under Black’s (1983) definition, violence to resolve conflict is the most extreme mechanism of informal social control (see also de Haan & Nijboer, 2005; Peterson,1999; Phillips, 2003; Soller et al . , 2014; Topalli et al., 2002; Wilkinson et al., 2009).…”

“…In the current study we examine antisocial informal control in local residential communities. Unlike prosocial informal control, antisocial mechanisms of control (like the use of violence to resolve conflicts) are not frequently considered in the empirical literature (although see de Haan & Nijboer, 2005; Gau, 2008; Kubrin & Weitzer, 2003a; Peterson, 1999; Phillips, 2003; Soller, Jackson, & Browning, 2014; Topalli, Wright, & Fornango, 2002; Wilkinson, Beaty, & Lurry, 2009). We use data from over 4000 residents living across 148 communities 1 in Brisbane, Australia to examine the community- and individual-level characteristics associated with the perceived use of violence as a mechanism of informal social control.…”