Legal Socialisation in a Youth Sample: Assessing Perceived Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Popular Discontent in Nigeria

• In Event: Investigations Into Police-Community Relations Across Landscapes

Abstract

Extensive research has shown that young people’s interactions with the police, courts, and other legal authorities, both at personal and vicarious level, often serve as the foundation on which judgement about the law and legal authorities are formed later in adulthood. The mechanism upon which judgements about legal authorities are formed and in which people come to understand the law is referred to as legal socialisation. Legal socialisation is also the process through which people, irrespective of their demographic differences, develop a conscious relationship with the law by acquiring law-related values and attitudes. Using a cross-sectional survey data collected from a sample of young people in Southern Nigeria, this study established that when police are perceived as abusing their power, procedurally unfair, and corrupt, young people tend to report lower ratings of police legitimacy and greater cynicism about the law. The study also established that the relationship between youth and police can be strengthened by many factors, especially how police treat young people during encounters. This indicates that, while police cannot control crime rates or the resources available to them, they can control how they treat young people in their community. The implications of these current findings are discussed.

Author

• Oluwagbenga Michael Akinlabi, Northumbria University UK