Do interactions with the police correlate with identity formation? Examining the relationship between police legitimacy, procedural justice, and self-identification over time

The main goal of this study is to explore the temporal relationship between procedural justice, legitimacy, and self-identification. More specifically, we anticipated that changes in procedural justice and legitimacy perceptions may be linked to changes in various aspects of self-identification and criminal cognition over time, including moral disengagement, perceived personal rewards of crime, prosocial aspirations, and self-esteem. A consideration of this interrelationship is relevant given that changes in the cognition and self-identification of offenders often accompany desistance from crime. Relying on data from the Pathways to Desistance study, the current project adopted a longitudinal approach to investigate how within-individual changes in police legitimacy and procedural justice are tied to changes in self-identification among a sample of serious offenders. Results showed that positive changes in legitimacy attitudes and procedural justice were related to prosocial changes in self-identification and cognition These results matter for better understanding the role that legal attitudes and police-citizen interactions play in how offenders think about themselves and the law. • Examined links between procedural justice, police legitimacy, and self-identification. • Used longitudinal panel data on serious adolescent offenders (2000−2010). • Self-identification was measured as moral disengagement, prosocial aspirations, personal rewards of crime, and self-esteem. • Analyses captured within-individual changes over time. • Changes in legitimacy and procedural justice were linked to changes in self-identification.