The role of rearrests in juvenile offenders’ and their mothers’ attitudes toward police.

Abstract

Both personal experience and parental attitudes shape youths’ attitudes toward the justice system. The present study tested the influence of (a) youth rearrests and (b) parents’ attitudes toward police on trajectories of youthful offenders’ attitudes toward police over 3 years. Among a sample of 317 first-time male juvenile offenders and their mothers, group-based trajectory modeling identified 4 trajectories of youths’ attitudes toward police over the 3 years since the youths’ first arrests. Mothers with more positive initial attitudes toward the police were more likely to have sons who were part of 1 of the 2 positive attitude trajectory groups than the 2 negative attitude trajectory groups. In contrast, youth rearrests were rarely associated with trajectory group membership, suggesting that a mother’s attitude toward the police may outweigh a youth’s own experience (via arrests) with the justice system in determining trajectories of his attitudes toward the police. Additionally, the present study tests whether parents’ own attitudes toward police are predicted by their children’s rearrests. We found that mothers whose sons were rearrested during the study period had more negative attitudes toward the police. The results add a novel component to our understanding of family attitude dynamics as related to perceptions of law enforcement and juvenile arrests. Overall, a family level perspective is necessary when considering the effects of rearrests on youths’—and their parents’—attitudes toward the police.

Predicting early adolescent offending with criminal victimization and delinquent peer associations by way of negative attitudes toward the police.

“…There may be a difference, however, between being a victim of crime (Kochel, 2018) and being a victim of violent crime (Posick & Policastro, 2013), an issue examined further in the current study. Social learning influences may also shape attitudes toward the police, in that negative parental attitudes toward the police have been found to correspond with negative offspring attitudes toward the police (Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2019;Wolfe, McLean, & Pratt, 2017). With respect to peer influ-This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

“…There may be a difference, however, between being a victim of crime (Kochel, 2018) and being a victim of violent crime (Posick & Policastro, 2013), an issue examined further in the current study. Social learning influences may also shape attitudes toward the police, in that negative parental attitudes toward the police have been found to correspond with negative offspring attitudes toward the police (Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2019; Wolfe, McLean, & Pratt, 2017). With respect to peer influence, Fine et al (2016) report that peer delinquent behavior predicts a more negative attitude toward the justice system, whereas Ferdik, Gist, and Evans (2019) note that crime-supporting attitudes in friends correlate with more negative attitudes toward the police, even though participants with more crime-involved friends feel greater obligation to obey the police.…”

Youth Perceptions of Law Enforcement and Worry About Crime from 1976 to 2016

“…Jackson & Gau, 2016; Moule, Burruss, et al, 2019; Peyton et al, 2019; Walters, 2018; Walters & Bolger, 2018). In particular, researchers are also increasingly focusing on youth because perceptions developed during childhood and adolescence may set the tone for how youth view and interact with law enforcement into adulthood (Augustyn, 2016; Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2019; Granot & Tyler, 2019; D. B. Jackson et al, 2019; McLean et al, 2019; Nivette et al, 2020; Tyler & Trinkner, 2018).…”

Attitudes toward legal actors among dual system youth

“…Legal socialization, the process by which individuals develop attitudes toward the justice system and its actors, is a normative part of adolescence (Fagan & Tyler, 2005;Tyler & Trinkner, 2018). It is well understood that youth become socialized toward the justice system via personal and vicarious experiences (Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2015a;Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2019;Fine et al, 2016;Granot & Tyler, 2019;Woolard et al, 2008). Much of this research has focused on Black/African American communities, often to the exclusion of Latinx communities-individuals who may be particularly at risk for developing negative justice system attitudes due to immigration policies tying criminality to Latinx identity (Welch et al, 2011).…”