Much is now known about public trust and confidence in the police, especially regarding the important role of procedural justice in police–citizen engagements. However, less is known about perceptions of the police amongst young people and how their views are formed. We use survey data from more than 1500 young people aged 10–15 years whose parents were also interviewed in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (2010–12) to explore the extent that children’s views of the police correspond with those of their parents. We find a strong and consistent link between the views of children and their parents – a relationship moderated by perceptions of police visibility, experience of victimization and the age of the child.
BengtsonVL (1975) Generation and family effects in value socialization. American Sociological Review40(3): 358–371.
2.
BowlingBPhillipsC (2007) Disproportionate and discriminatory: Reviewing the evidence on police stop and search. The Modern Law Review70(6): 936–961.
3.
BradfordB (2014) Policing and social identity: Procedural justice, inclusion and cooperation between police and public. Policing and Society24(1): 22–43.
4.
BrickBTTaylorTJEsbensenFA (2009) Juvenile attitudes towards the police: The importance of subcultural involvement and community ties. Journal of Criminal Justice37(5): 488–495.
5.
BrinthauptTMLipkaRP (eds) (2012) Understanding Early Adolescent Self and Identity: Applications and Interventions. Albany, NY: Suny Press.
6.
CaoLFrankJCullenFT (1996) Race, community context and confidence in the police. American Journal of Police15(1): 3–22.
7.
CarrPJNapolitanoLKeatingJ (2007) We never call the cops and here is why: A qualitative examination of legal cynicism in three Philadelphia neighborhoods. Criminology45(2): 445–480.
8.
CrutchfieldRDSkinnerMLHaggertyKPMcGlynnACatalanoRF (2012) Racial disparity in police contacts. Race and Justice2(3): 179–202.
9.
De MolJBuysseA (2008) Understandings of children’s influence in parent–child relationships: A Q-methodological study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships25(2), 359–379.
10.
DirikxAGeldersDParmentierS (2012) Police–youth relationships: A qualitative analysis of Flemish adolescents’ attitudes toward the police. European Journal of Criminology9(2): 191–205.
11.
EmsleyC (2005) Crime and Society in England, 1750–1900. Cambridge: Pearson Education.
12.
FaganJPiqueroAR (2005) Rational choice and developmental influences on recidivism among adolescent felony offenders. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies4(4): 715–48.
13.
FaganJTylerTR (2005) Legal socialization of children and adolescents. Social Justice Research18(3): 217–241.
14.
FitzpatrickAGrantC (2011) The 2010/11 British Crime Survey (England and Wales) Technical Report Volume 1. London: Home Office.
15.
FlexonJLLurigioAJGreenleafRG (2009) Exploring the dimensions of trust in the police among Chicago juveniles. Journal of Criminal Justice37(2): 180–189.
16.
GarciaVCaoL (2005) Race and satisfaction with the police in a small city. Journal of Criminal Justice33(2): 191–199.
17.
GlassJBengtsonVLDunhamCC (1986) Attitude similarity in three-generation families: Socialization, status inheritance, or reciprocal influence?American Sociological Review51(5): 685–698.
18.
GrahamJBowlingB (1995) Young People and Crime. Home Office Research Study No. 145. London: HMSO
19.
GrayEJacksonJFarrallS (2008) Reassessing the fear of crime. European Journal of Criminology5(3): 363–380.
20.
HindsL (2007) Building police–youth relationships: The importance of procedural justice. Youth Justice7(3): 195–209.
21.
Home Office (2011) British Crime Survey Dataset User Guide: Children Aged 10 to 15 – 2009/10 and 2010/11. London: Home Office.
22.
HurstYGFrankJ (2000) How kids view cops: The nature of juvenile attitudes toward the police. Journal of Criminal Justice28(3): 189–202.
23.
HurstYGFrankJLee-BrowningS (2000) The attitudes of juveniles toward the police: A comparison of black and white youth. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management23(1): 37–53.
24.
JacksonJBradfordB (2009) Crime, policing and social order: On the expressive nature of public confidence in policing. British Journal of Sociology60(3): 493–521.
25.
JacksonJBradfordBHohlKFarrallS (2009) Does the fear of crime erode public confidence in policing?Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice3(1): 100–111.
26.
JacksonJBradfordBStankoBHohlK (2012) Just Authority? Trust in the Police in England and Wales. London: Routledge.
27.
JenningsMKNiemiRG (1968) The transmission of political values from parent to child. American Political Science Review62(1): 169–184.
28.
JenningsMKStokerLBowersJ (2009) Politics across generations: Family transmission reexamined. Journal of Politics71(3): 782–799.
29.
KirkDSPapachristosAV (2011) Cultural mechanisms and the persistence of neighborhood violence. American Journal of Sociology116(4): 1190–1233.
30.
KohlbergL (1969) Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In: GoslinDA (ed.) Handbook of Socialisation Theory and Research. Chicago: Rand McNally, 347–480.
31.
LoaderI (1996) Youth, Policing, and Democracy. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
32.
LouryGCModoodTTelesSM (eds) (2005) Ethnicity, Social Mobility, and Public Policy: Comparing the USA and UK. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
McAraLMcVieS (2005) The usual suspects? Street-life, young people and the police. Criminal Justice5(1): 5–36.
34.
McAraLMcVieS (2007) Youth justice? The impact of system contact on patterns of desistance from offending. European Journal of Criminology4(3): 315–345.
35.
McAraLMcVieS (2010).Youth crime and justice: Key messages from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime. Criminology and Criminal Justice10(2): 179–209.
36.
McCarthyD (2014) ‘Soft’ Policing: The Collaborative Control of Anti-Social Behaviour. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
37.
MaccobyEE (1992) The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology28(6): 1006–1017.
38.
MillieA (2009) Securing Respect: Behavioural Expectations and Anti-Social Behaviour in the UK. Bristol: Policy Press.
39.
MoenPEricksonMADempster-McClainD (1997) Their mother’s daughters? The intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes in a world of changing roles. Journal of Marriage and the Family59(2): 281–293.
40.
MoffittTE (2001) Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41.
MoretzW (1980) Kids to cops: We think you’re important, but we’re not sure we understand you. Journal of Police Science and Administration8(2): 220–224.
42.
MurphyK (2015) Does procedural justice matter to youth? Comparing adults’ and youths’ willingness to collaborate with police. Policing and Society25(1): 53–76.
43.
NivetteAEEisnerMMaltiTRibeaudD (2015) The social and developmental antecedents of legal cynicism. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency52(2): 270–298.
44.
PayneBKGaineyRR (2007) Attitudes about the police and neighborhood safety in disadvantaged neighborhoods: The influence of criminal victimization and perceptions of a drug problem. Criminal Justice Review32(2): 142–155.
45.
PiqueroARFaganJMulveyEPSteinbergLOdgersC (2005) Developmental trajectories of legal socialization among serious adolescent offenders. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology96(1): 267–298.
46.
RoeSAsheJ (2008) Young People and Crime: Findings from the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey. London: Ministry of Justice.
47.
RosenbaumDPSchuckAMCostelloSKHawkinsDFRingMK (2005) Attitudes toward the police: The effects of direct and vicarious experience. Police Quarterly8(3): 343–365.
48.
SampsonRJBartuschDJ (1998) Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of racial differences. Law and Society Review32(4): 777–804.
49.
SargeantEBondCE (2015) Keeping it in the family: Parental influences on young people’s attitudes to police. Journal of Sociology51(4): 917–932.
50.
SchuckAM (2013) A life-course perspective on adolescents’ attitudes to police: DARE, delinquency, and residential segregation. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency50(4): 579–607.
51.
SharpDAthertonS (2007) To serve and protect? The experiences of policing in the community of young people from Black and other ethnic minority groups. British Journal of Criminology47(5): 746–763.
52.
SindallKSturgisP (2013) Austerity policing: Is visibility more important than numbers in determining public confidence in the police?European Journal of Criminology10(2): 137–153.
53.
SkoganW (2006) Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with the police. Policing and Society16(2): 99–126.
54.
SolomonBSBradshawCPWrightJChengTL (2008) Youth and parental attitudes toward fighting. Journal of Interpersonal Violence23(4): 544–560.
55.
StankoEBradfordB (2009) Beyond measuring ‘how good a job’ police are doing: The MPS model of confidence in policing. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice3(4): 322–330.
56.
TajfelH (1982) Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology33: 1–39.
57.
TNS-BMRB (2012) The 2011/12 Crime Survey for England and Wales: Technical Report Volume 1. London: Home Office.
58.
TylerTRBladerS (2000) Cooperation in Groups: Procedural Justice, Social Identity, and Behavioral Engagement. New York: Psychology Press.
59.
UK Parliament (2014) ‘It’s All About Trust’: Building Good Relationships Between Children and the Police: Report of the Inquiry Held by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children 2013–2014. London: HM Parliament.
60.
VolleberghWAIedemaJRaaijmakersQA (2001) Intergenerational transmission and the formation of cultural orientations in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family63(4): 1185–1198.
61.
WeitzerRTuchSA (1999) Race, class, and perceptions of discrimination by the police. Crime & Delinquency45(4): 494–507.
62.
WuYLakeRCaoL (2015) Race, social bonds, and juvenile attitudes toward the police. Justice Quarterly32(3): 445–470.
