POLICE STUDIES PROGRAM FOR YOUTH AT RISK: THE ROLE OF POLICE DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE AND PERSONAL MORALITY IN EXPLAINING POLICE LEGITIMACY

  • Ameen Azmy Bar Ilan University

Abstract

This study examined a unique police studies intervention program by comparing two groups of youth-at-risk in two types of residential youth schools. The experimental group included 129 youths who had attended a police studies program, while the control group included 167 youths who had attended a different intervention program, without police studies. We hypothesized that the experimental group would have more positive perceptions of police legitimacy and distributive justice and higher levels of personal morality than the control group would. Moreover, we hypothesized that the relationship between the type of the intervention program and perceptions of police legitimacy would be explained by youths’ personal morality and perceptions of police distributive justice. The study showed that the experimental group had more positive perceptions of police legitimacy and higher personal morality than did the control group, but there were no differences in perceived police distributive justice between the two groups. In addition, while personal morality partly mediated the link between the type of intervention program and perceptions of police legitimacy, perceived police distributive justice did not. Empirical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Author Biography

Ameen Azmy, Bar Ilan University

PhD Candidate, Department of Criminology

Published
2020-12-30
Issue
Vol 11 No 4.2 (2020): Second of Two Special Issues Based on the 2019 FICE Congress in Tel Aviv: “Better Future Opportunities for Children and Young People in Multicultural Societies”
Section
Articles

Authors contributing to the International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.

Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.