Legal Socialization in Brazil: Examining the Generalizability of the Procedural Justice Model

International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Forthcoming

33 Pages Posted: 18 Jul 2019

See all articles by Rick Trinkner

Rick Trinkner

Arizona State University

Herbert Rodrigues

Missouri State University

Debora Piccirillo

University of São Paulo (USP)

Faith Gifford

Arizona State University (ASU) - School of Criminology & Criminal Justice

Aline Morais Mizutani Gomes

University of São Paulo (USP)

Date Written: July 17, 2019

Abstract

Research examining the legal socialization process continues to be almost exclusively focused on US adolescents, calling into question the generalizability of this body of work. The purpose of this study was to test a popular model of legal socialization — the procedural justice model — amongst a representative sample of young adolescents in São Paulo, Brazil. Approximately 750 12 year-olds completed a survey assessing their direct and vicarious contact with police, judgments of police procedural justice, crime perceptions, police legitimacy, legal cynicism, and criminal offending. Both direct and indirect experience with the police was associated with lower procedural justice. Police legitimacy was associated with both procedural justice and crime perceptions; however, legal cynicism was only associated with perceptions of crime. Finally, higher perceptions of police legitimacy, but not legal cynicism, was associated with lower levels of self-reported offending. Overall, this study showed mixed support for the generalizability of the procedural justice model of legal socialization. While the links among police contact, procedural justice, police legitimacy, and offending were substantively identical to findings from the US, no support was found for the argument of legal cynicism as an additional mechanism linking police contact to criminal offending in youth.

Keywords: legal socialization, procedural justice, police legitimacy, legal cynicism, delinquency

Suggested Citation

Trinkner, Rick and Rodrigues, Herbert and Piccirillo, Debora and Gifford, Faith and Gomes, Aline Morais Mizutani, Legal Socialization in Brazil: Examining the Generalizability of the Procedural Justice Model (July 17, 2019). International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3421617 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3421617

Rick Trinkner (Contact Author)

Arizona State University ( email )

411 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004
United States

Herbert Rodrigues

Missouri State University ( email )

901 South National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65897
United States

Debora Piccirillo

University of São Paulo (USP) ( email )

Rua Luciano Gualberto, 315
São Paulo, São Paulo 14800-901
Brazil

Faith Gifford

Arizona State University (ASU) - School of Criminology & Criminal Justice ( email )

411 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004
United States

Aline Morais Mizutani Gomes

University of São Paulo (USP) ( email )

Rua Luciano Gualberto, 315
São Paulo, São Paulo 14800-901
Brazil

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