The impact of past criminal behavior on police attitudes.

Abstract

In this study we attempted to give a further understanding on how past criminal activities have an impact on attitudes towards the police. We also looked at the impact of having delinquent peers on police attitudes. For this research we used the dataset from the Pathways to Desistance study. This data included serious adolescent offenders between the age of 14 and 18 years old. The main interest was in trying to find and understand how criminal activities from the past influenced views of police legitimacy. Also, we were looking if the effect from criminal activities on police attitudes will differ between people with and without delinquent peers. We investigated these objectives by running two multiple regression analysis. Based on multiple regression analyses, the findings support that there is a negative impact of past criminal activities on police legitimacy, that having delinquent peers leads to more negative attitudes towards the police. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.