Is updating racialized? Differential effects of (dis)respectful police contact on perceptions of police legitimacy

Abstract

Understanding the updating process of police legitimacy in adolescence is crucial, as it is a formative period where early encounters with law enforcement form the foundation of legal orientations, particularly in a racially stratified society where such interactions can confirm or defy expectations of respect by ethnoracial group membership. The current study explores how (dis)respectful police contacts during adolescence and early adulthood update perceptions of police legitimacy, and whether this process is racialized. We utilize 11 waves of the Pathways to Desistance study, applying fixed effects modeling to capture how police respect updates posterior legitimacy perceptions. Additionally, we examine how ethnoracial identity, a largely time-invariant factor, contours the dynamic and time-varying process of legal socialization. Our findings suggest that although disrespectful police encounters uniformly hinder legitimacy evaluations, respectful treatment has varied effects: It improves legitimacy for Hispanic respondents but is not statistically influential among Black and White respondents. These findings are consistent with loss aversion, where negative experiences disproportionately impact legal orientations, but also highlight the racialized nature of the police legitimacy updating process. Our findings highlight the importance of minimizing disrespectful treatment by police and suggest that building trust among Black Americans through procedural justice is inhibited by accumulated experiences.