Explaining juveniles' attitudes toward the police

Past studies of juveniles' attitudes toward the police suggest a single-cause model that implicates personal interactions with the police. We propose that attitudes toward authority and agents of social control develop in a larger, sociocultural context. Specifically we hypothesize that juveniles' attitudes develop as a function of socialization in their communities' social environment, of their deviant subcultural “preferences,” and of the prior effect of these sociocultural factors on juveniles' contacts with the police. We conducted analyses addressing these hypotheses with a population of males sampled within stratified populations of known delinquents. We found that social background variables, particularly minority status, and subcultural preferences, particularly commitment to delinquent norms, affected juveniles' attitudes toward the police both directly and indirectly (through police-juvenile interactions). We consider directions for improving police relations with juveniles in the context of apparent sociocultural and experiential contingencies to attitude development.

The authors would like to thank Thomas Winfree, B. Keith Crew, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. Funding for the research came in part from the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Statistical Planning, Des Moines, and the Graduate College at the University of Northern Iowa. The points of view expressed here are those of the authors.

The authors would like to thank Thomas Winfree, B. Keith Crew, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. Funding for the research came in part from the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Statistical Planning, Des Moines, and the Graduate College at the University of Northern Iowa. The points of view expressed here are those of the authors.

Notes

The authors would like to thank Thomas Winfree, B. Keith Crew, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. Funding for the research came in part from the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Statistical Planning, Des Moines, and the Graduate College at the University of Northern Iowa. The points of view expressed here are those of the authors.

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Notes on contributors

Michael J. Leiber

Michael J. Leiber, Ph.D. in criminal justice from SUNY-Albany, is an associate professor and coordinator of the graduate program in sociology at the University of Northern Iowa. He conducts research and publishes in the areas of delinquency theory and juvenile justice, with a particular interest in race and social control.

Mahesh K. Nalla

Mahesh K. Nalla is an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. His research and publications pertain to policing and private security. He is co-author (with Graeme Newman) of Primer in Private Security.