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The impact of police uniforms in changing views of police legitimacy and driving intentions among young people an experimental trial906.93 kB
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Journal article
The impact of police uniforms in changing views of police legitimacy and driving intentions among young people: an experimental trial
Journal of Experimental Criminology, Vol.21, pp.23-43
2025
Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to determine if young people’s views of police legitimacy and intentions to offend are affected by the delivery of a road safety program by uniformed police officers (control) compared with plain clothes police officers (experimental). The study further explores the direct correlation between views of police legitimacy and intentions to offend as well as the impact of uniforms, mediated by views of police legitimacy, on intentions to offend.
Methods: Participants in this study were grade 12 students (n = 380) from private (fee-paying) high schools located in Queensland, Australia. Participants were surveyed following their involvement in a police road safety program. t-Tests, correlation, and mediation analyses were conducted to determine the impact of police uniforms and views of police legitimacy on intentions to offend.
Results: Results of this study demonstrate that delivery of the program by uniformed police officers had a significantly greater positive impact on the views of police legitimacy and intentions to offend compared with delivery by plain-clothed officers. The study also demonstrates a significant correlation between views of police legitimacy and intentions to offend, as well as a mediated model including views of police legitimacy that explains more variance in intentions to offend when mediated by views of police legitimacy.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that views of police legitimacy, as well as intentions to offend, are more positively impacted when an educational course is facilitated by uniformed police officers. The mediation analysis demonstrates that uniforms impact views of police legitimacy and these views significantly affect intentions to offend. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the complex relationship between police uniforms, views of police legitimacy, and offending and may inform future research and policy decisions in the area of policing.
Details
- Title
- The impact of police uniforms in changing views of police legitimacy and driving intentions among young people: an experimental trial
- Authors
- Levi Anderson (Corresponding Author) - Griffith UniversityLyndel Bates (Author) - Griffith UniversityLacey Schaefer (Author) - Griffith University
- Publication details
- Journal of Experimental Criminology, Vol.21, pp.23-43
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11292-023-09586-6
- ISSN
- 1572-8315; 1573-3750
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- Road Safety Research Collaboration; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99971189902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Criminology & Penology
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