Self-legitimacy in Criminal Justice: A Comparative Approach

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel presents a comparative analysis of self-legitimacy. Legitimacy has two dimensions: audience and power-holders. Growing evidence on audience legitimacy – that is, legitimacy as perceived by those subject to power – shows its potential role in understanding social order. We know relatively little about legitimacy from the standpoint of power-holders, whether they are police officers, judges, or prison officials. How do the conditions that shape legitimate self-identities of these power-holders manifest themselves across different contexts? How important are contexts to our understanding of the explanatory value of self-legitimacy? Answers to both questions are central to future theorising and research on self-legitimacy in criminology. The panel papers address these questions through a comparative analysis of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from police and prison officers in Ghana, Slovenia and the United States.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII. Policing / 44. Police, Communities, and Legitimacy

Individual Presentations

• Police Self-Legitimacy and Moral Commitments - Justice Tankebe, University of Cambridge; Gorazd Mesko, University of Maribor

• The (In)variance of Police Self-Legitimacy - Justin Nix, University of Nebraska Omaha; Scott E Wolfe, Michigan State University; Bradley A Campbell, University of Louisville

• Police Legitimacy: Experiences and Perspectives - Mathew Lankenau, Fielding Graduate University

• Self-Legitimacy of Prison Officers in Ghana - Thomas Akoensi, University of Kent

Chair

• Thomas Akoensi, University of Kent

Discussant

• Wesley G Skogan, Northwestern University