Juvenile Offenders' Satisfaction with Their Case Outcome: Legal Socialization and Legal Actors

Background and Purpose:

A growing area of research is focused on how individuals interpret their experiences with the legal system and how this relates to behavior. Legal socialization is the process through which one develops beliefs in the law and legal system and procedural justice refers to whether one views legal procedures as fair. Both have received support in research on adolescents. Yet, few studies consider both a youth’s views on the process (e.g., evaluations of interactions with specific legal actors such as a judge) as well as the outcome of one’s juvenile court case. Achieving equal treatment and justice are central to social work’s mission and current Grand Challenges. One way to achieve this is through understanding youths’ perceptions of the law as related to delinquency. Thus, the two study objectives were to examine: 1) predictors of case outcome satisfaction considering overall procedural justice and an individual’s perceptions of experiences with legal actors and 2) the relationship between case satisfaction and delinquency, considering legal socialization and its individual components of legal cynicism, legitimacy, and moral disengagement.

Methods:

Study participants were from a non-probability sample of 14–19 year old youth (N = 253) in two (one all-male, one all-female), private, non-profit long-term residential placement facilities for juvenile offenders in Pennsylvania. Due to the smaller size of the all-female facility, all youths were included in the sample. Trained graduate students and professors conducted data collection through structured one-on-one interviews using Computer-Assisted Survey Interview (CASI) techniques. Measures included items covering demographics, legal socialization, procedural justice, delinquent behavior, case outcome satisfaction, and contextual and peer influences (e.g., Childhood Trauma Questionnaire [CTQ], Youth Psychopathy traits Inventory [YPI]). The main statistical analyses employed were regression analyses to examine predictors of case satisfaction and delinquent behavior, respectively, when considering procedural justice and legal socialization variables.

Results:

In regression models with case satisfaction as the outcome variable, overall procedural justice was significant (p < .001). Regarding legal actors, a youth’s perceptions of experiences with a judge is significant (p < .001) and one’s lawyer is significant (p < .01), but police was not. Case satisfaction and overall legal socialization were significant predictors of delinquent behavior, but in considering the specific components of legal socialization, case satisfaction was no longer significant, but legitimacy (p < .01) and moral disengagement (p < .01) were.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings support that legitimacy and moral disengagement are essential variables related to delinquency when compared to case satisfaction. Thus, how one views, and whether one accepts, legal authorities as well as general beliefs about what is right or wrong seem to be more meaningful than satisfaction with the outcome of one’s case. Additionally, differences exist between youths’ perceptions of interactions with legal actors, with results supporting lawyers and judges were significant, but police were not. Social workers in the legal system are advocates, and this knowledge can inform practices with youth to ensure fairer treatment. Future studies could examine the specific contexts in which youths perceptions of various legal actors matter.