Legal socialization: Understanding the obligation to obey the law

Fine, Adam; Rooij, Benjamin van

doi:10.1111/josi.12440

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Police authority is a privilege that law enforcement officers must use ethically and judiciously ( McCartney & Parent, 2015 ). People can acquire values and information about police authority through their legal socialization, such as in police interactions, that can lay expectations of how police should exert their power, including the bounds or limits to their authority ( Bradford et al, 2013 ; Fine & van Rooij, 2021 ; Trinkner et al, 2018 ). Judgements of the rightful and appropriate use of authority may be crucial for police legitimacy and for individuals to see law enforcement as right, proper, and to be obeyed ( Huq et al, 2017 ; Jackson & Bradford, 2019 ; Tankebe, 2014 ; Trinkner et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers

Greer

Selfridge

Watson

et al. 2021

Contemporary Drug Problems

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Many young people who use drugs are structurally vulnerable to policing powers given the ongoing criminalization of drug possession. Police authority limits and the expression of that authority may play a significant role in police encounters among young people who use drugs. This qualitative study explores the views of young people who use drugs toward police power and authority in their recent encounters with police officers. Interviews were conducted with 38 young people who recently used illegal drugs in British Columbia, Canada. We found five interrelated themes related to perceptions of police authority: (1) skepticism and distrust toward authority; (2) paternalism and authority over drug use; (3) officer use of force; (4) police as power-hungry; and (5) officers above the law. Participants described police authority as limitless, unpredictable, untethered, easily abused, and lacking accountability. Participants feared holding police officers accountable to power abuses in a criminal justice system that they saw as stacked against them. Moving forward, institutional reforms may consider and account for the expression, limits, and use of police authority among young people who use drugs and other structurally vulnerable communities.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers

Greer

Selfridge

Watson

et al. 2021

Contemporary Drug Problems

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“…captures the extent to which they feel that they should obey the law regardless of different circumstances [47][48][49]. 4.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Social distancing in America: Understanding long-term adherence to COVID-19 mitigation recommendations

et al. 2021

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A crucial question in the governance of infectious disease outbreaks is how to ensure that people continue to adhere to mitigation measures for the longer duration. The present paper examines this question by means of a set of cross-sectional studies conducted in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, in May, June, and July of 2020. Using stratified samples that mimic the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population, it seeks to understand to what extent Americans continued to adhere to social distancing measures in the period after the first lockdown ended. Moreover, it seeks to uncover which variables sustained (or undermined) adherence across this period. For this purpose, we examined a broad range of factors, relating to people’s (1) knowledge and understanding of the mitigation measures, (2) perceptions of their costs and benefits, (3) perceptions of legitimacy and procedural justice, (4) personal factors, (5) social environment, and (6) practical circumstances. Our findings reveal that adherence was chiefly shaped by three major factors: respondents adhered more when they (a) had greater practical capacity to adhere, (b) morally agreed more with the measures, and (c) perceived the virus as a more severe health threat. Adherence was shaped to a lesser extent by impulsivity, knowledge of social distancing measures, opportunities for violating, personal costs, and descriptive social norms. The results also reveal, however, that adherence declined across this period, which was partly explained by changes in people’s moral alignment, threat perceptions, knowledge, and perceived social norms. These findings show that adherence originates from a broad range of factors that develop dynamically across time. Practically these insights help to improve pandemic governance, as well as contributing theoretically to the study of compliance and the way that rules come to shape behavior.

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“…Typically, legal socialization scholars follow a "blueprint" model of ubiquity (Trinkner & Tyler, 2016) whereby early experiences with non-legal authorities creates a model that will inform one's orientation and expectations toward later interactions with legal authority. While non-legal authorities are a vital part of legal socialization (Tyler & Trinkner, 2018), they do not make up the entirety of the non-legal forces at play during legal development (e.g., Cole et al, 2021;Fine & van Rooij, 2021;Forrest, 2021). Second, ubiquity is taking on a new meaning within the legal realm itself.…”

Section: The Four Pillars Of Legal Socializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent work has argued that shifts in values and beliefs emerge as people integrate themselves into their communities, social institutions, and society during adulthood (Fine & van Rooij, 2021;Forrest, 2021). Importantly, the experiences across a life course are not independent events, but rather build on each other.…”

Section: The Four Pillars Of Legal Socializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Celebrating 50 years of legal socialization

Trinkner

Reisig

2021

Journal of Social Issues

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This article presents the 2021 JSI special issue on legal socialization, which we planned to celebrate the legal socialization scholarship that was largely initiated by a special issue of JSI (1971, Vol. 27, Issue 2) published 50 years ago. In its broadest sense, legal socialization refers to the process by which people develop their relationship with the law. Undergirding this process is the acquisition, formation, and development of legal values, attitudes, and reasoning capacities. This intellectual tradition rests on four pillars-foundationality, reciprocity, ubiquity, and continuity-that provide order to a field of study where scholars are trained in different disciplines, employ different methodologies, and pursue different questions involving people's relationship with the law. Much like in 1971, today many people are questioning the role of law in society, its purpose, its function, its history, and its efficacy.It is more important than ever to understand how people develop their orientation toward this social institution and the influence of that orientation on legal behavior. This issue features an eclectic group of scholars and a broad array of legal socialization research. This body of scholarship is intended to push the boundaries of the field both theoretically and in scope. This introduction situates each article within the rich historical tradition of legal socialization.

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Legal socialization: Understanding the obligation to obey the law

Cited by 26 publications

References 70 publications

Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers

Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers

Social distancing in America: Understanding long-term adherence to COVID-19 mitigation recommendations

Celebrating 50 years of legal socialization

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