Fostering a culture of lawfulness: Examining the relationship between perceptions of law enforcement legitimacy, legal reasoning, and behavior.

摘要

The problems of crime and corruption worldwide have been studies from many different angles and methodologies. This study provides an integrative perspective on the legal socialization of youth conceptualizing legal reasoning (how youth reason about the importance of rules and laws) as a resiliency variable that can mediate the negative influences of selected risk factors drawn from the criminological literature (i.e. negative peer influences, external locus of control, low self-esteem, and perceptions of unsafety in the neighborhood) on self-reported delinquency. The study also examines the effects of legal culture on socialization through youth perceptions of the legitimacy of law enforcement. The casual structure across all of these variables is tested through the use of structural equation modeling. The study sample of over 10,000 Mexican youths participating in a state-wide program designed to positively influence perceptions related to rules and laws in unprecedented in the legal socialization literature.