Police Contact and Delinquency - A Relevant Evaluation

• NCJ Number: 79255
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 110-118
• Author(s): C F Wellford; M G Aultman
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Modified version of a paper presented at the 1977 meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, Georgia.

Annotation

Using data on 1,500 students obtained from a 1975 Florida survey, the path model tested in this paper addressed the relationship between police contacts and delinquent behavior and included 4 variables: contact with police, perception of police, self-esteem, and delinquency.

Abstract

Labeling theory has provided a rationalization for the view that police contact might lead to delinquency by asserting that such contacts lower self-esteem, that low self-esteem produces deviant behavior, and that an individual comes to accept a delinquent identity as a result of negative labeling. This paper proposes that the causal process between police contact and delinquency has been only superficially explored and tests a path model of delinquency that contains self-esteem and perception of the police as potential intervening variables. A stratified cluster sample of 1,500 students from grades 6 through 12 was selected from a survey conducted in Tallahassee, Florida. Self-report techniques were used to obtain responses to questions concerning exposure to police, attitudes toward the police, self-esteem, and self-reported delinquency. The model assumed that contact with police precedes delinquent behavior, because studies have indicated that delinquency occurs more often later in the age cycle than does police contact. The variable most highly correlated with delinquency was police contact. Perception of police was also correlated with delinquency, while the correlation between self-esteem and delinquency was rather small. For both black and white groups, the perception of police was more important than the self-esteem emphasized by labeling theorists. These findings suggest that previous research supporting labeling concepts should be reassessed and that a more sophisticated methodological tool such as path analysis should be used to examine the causes of delinquency. Tables, path diagrams, and eight references are included.