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The Impact of Police Prevention Program on At-Risk Juveniles: Examining Pathways to Reduce Risky and Criminal Behaviour through Police Legitimacy, Procedural Justice and Social Resistance
Thu, September 4, 4:00 to 5:15pm, Communications Building (CN), CN 2103Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a police prevention program in Israeli youth villages and its impact on at-risk juveniles' self-reported engagement in risky and criminal behaviours.
Method: A case-control matching technique was used to create a quasi-experimental, cross-sectional design, and a serial mediation analysis PROCESS Model 6 was utilised to explore the roles of police procedural justice, police legitimacy, sense of belonging to Israel, and social resistance in explaining law obeying behavioural differences between an experimental group of 120 juveniles in the police studies program and a control group of 120 juveniles in other prevention programs.
Results: Three significant pathways were identified to explain why the experimental group reported less involvement in criminal and risky behaviours than the control group. The first pathway demonstrated that the prevention program was linked to police legitimacy, which in turn was connected to risky and criminal behaviours. The second pathway revealed that the prevention program was associated with social resistance, and this social resistance was related to a decrease in risky and criminal behaviours. The third pathway indicated that the prevention program was tied to police procedural justice, which was related to police legitimacy, ultimately impacting risky and criminal behaviours.
Conclusion: Prevention programs that improve police-juvenile relationships can reduce risky and criminal activities. Aligning program activities with fair policing principles enhances perceptions of police legitimacy, which is critical for successful prevention efforts. Future research should explore additional potential personal, environmental, and cognitive mediators to understand the program's impact further.