Procedural Justice and Aggression in Serious Juvenile Offenders: The Moderating Role of Callous–Unemotional Traits

• In Event: Causal methods in Developmental and Life-Course Criminology: Strategies to improve causal inference

Abstract

Procedural justice theory posits that fair treatment by legal authorities promotes compliance by strengthening perceptions of legitimacy. However, these processes may not operate uniformly across justice-involved youth, particularly among individuals with elevated callous–unemotional (CU) traits who may respond differently to social and moral cues. This study examines whether CU traits condition the relationship between procedural justice, legal legitimacy, and aggressive offending among serious adolescent offenders. Using longitudinal data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, we assess both the direct association between perceptions of procedural fairness and aggression and the indirect pathway operating through legal legitimacy. We further test whether these relationships vary across levels of CU traits. By integrating procedural justice and developmental risk perspectives, this study evaluates whether perceptions of fair treatment operate similarly across dispositional profiles or whether their influence depends on individual characteristics. The findings aim to clarify how fairness perceptions and personality traits jointly shape aggressive behavior among justice-involved youth.

Authors

• Peyton Stephenson, University of Mississippi

• Joshua Rosenbaum, University of Mississippi

• Abigail Dempsey, University of Mississippi