Teenagers’ perceptions of legitimacy and preparedness to break the law: The impact of migrant and ethnic minority status

Abstract

This chapter takes as its main conceptual frameworks the version of procedural justice (PJ) theory developed by Jackson and colleagues (e.g. Hough, Jackson, & Bradford, 2013; Jackson et al., 2011)1 and the group position thesis (Blumer, 1958; Bobo, 1999; Weitzer & Tuch, 2006). It draws on the third International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3) to examine how teenagers with a migrant background differ from those who are native-born in levels of trust in the police, the legitimacy they confer on the police and their self-reported involvement in violent crime. We examine the interrelationships between migrant status, ethnicity and social integration and their relative impact on orientations to the police and involvement in violence. The analysis is restricted to six countries which form a sub-project of ISRD3, ‘Understanding and Preventing Youth Crime (UPYC)’, supported by the national funding councils of the countries involved.2 These were France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK (treating England and Scotland separately) and the USA. All six countries have industrialized, developed economies, and majorities of the population in all six are white.