NCJ Number
221016
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 27-51
Date Published
2007
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article presents the results of national study on American youth investigating factors that influence the formation of juvenile attitudes toward police.
Abstract
Acceptance and use of drugs exerted the strongest and most consistent direct and indirect effects on juveniles’ attitudes toward the police. In addition, race, family structure, experiences of personal victimization, and negative contact with the police exerted significant influences on attitudes. These findings suggest that youths’ attitudes are the result of a complex set of personal characteristics, social environment, and experiences. The results are consistent with and extend previous research suggesting that subcultural theories of delinquency may be useful in understanding the development of juveniles’ attitudes toward police. The importance of public attitudes toward police is illustrated by its growing coverage in the academic literature. However, while a fair amount is known about adults’ perception of the police, much less is known about how juveniles perceive them. Using data from a 1999 nationwide survey of high school seniors, Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth, this research examines factors theorized to be related to the development of juveniles’ global attitudes toward the police, focusing on factors stemming from an acceptance of the negative aspects of youth culture that may help to shape these attitudes. The survey’s strength lies in the theoretical focus and the much broader generalizability that accompanies a large nationally representative survey. Tables, notes, references