NCJ Number
242005
Journal
Victims & Offenders Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: October - December 2012 Pages: 385-406
Date Published
October 2012
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study attempted to replicate a part of Cohn et al.'s (2010) integrated legal socialization model and test an extended model with perceptions of police and parental legitimacy.
Abstract
Legal socialization is the process by which individuals acquire beliefs about rules and rule-violation by internalizing codified, normative rules within society. In the integrated legal socialization model, legal attitudes are mediators between legal/moral reasoning and rule-violating behavior (RVB; Cohn, Bucolo, Rebellon, & Van Gundy, 2010). In the alternative legal socialization model, legitimacy of authority is a predictor of RVB (Piquero, Fagan, Mulvey, Steinberg, & Odgers, 2005). In the current study, the authors attempted to replicate Cohn et al.'s (2010) integrated model. A path model revealed that legal attitudes (normative status) mediated the relationship between legal reasoning and RVB in partial support of the integrated model. The authors then expanded the theoretical model by arguing that police and parental legitimacy mediated between moral/legal reasoning and normative status (approval of RVB). The study used longitudinal data from middle school and high school students to test our expanded theoretical model. The final path analysis revealed partial support for the authors expanded model by demonstrating that legal (but not moral) reasoning was associated with both parental and police legitimacywhich were associated with RVB via the mediating influence of legal reasoning (normative status). The study concludes by discussing the policy implications of the expanded legal socialization model as well as suggestions for future research. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.