Attitudes toward legal actors among dual system youth

Abstract

The role of contact with the child welfare system (CWS) in legal socialization is not well understood. This is particularly true of youth who have contact with both the juvenile justice system and the CWS, known as dual system (DS) youth. Furthermore, much of the legal socialization research excludes Latinx youth, for whom legal socialization may function differently. Is CWS contact, compared to-and in addition to-juvenile justice system contact, associated with Latinx youths' attitudes toward police and judges? The present study addresses this research question among a sample of 417 Latinx youth who had been arrested for the first time, 74 of whom were DS youth. Results indicated that DS youth perceive police as less biased, and both police and judges as more legitimate, than their juvenile justice system-only counterparts. CWS contact was not associated with perceptions of situational procedural justice for police or judges, suggesting that CWS contact colors general attitudes toward legal actors' bias and legitimacy, but not specific interactions with legal actors. The results suggest that CWS contact, above and beyond juvenile justice system contact, has a nuanced impact on children's legal socialization.