Publication Date
2012
Publication Title
Public Law & Legal Theory
Abstract
Why do people believe that violence is acceptable? In this paper we study people’s normative beliefs about the acceptability of violence to achieve social control (as a substitute for the police, for self-protection and the resolution of disputes) and social change (through violent protests and acts to achieve political goals). Addressing attitudes towards violence among young men from various ethnic minority communities in London, we find that procedural justice is strongly correlated with police legitimacy, and that positive judgments about police legitimacy predicts more negative views about the use of violence. We conclude with the idea that police legitimacy has an additional, hitherto unrecognized, empirical property – by constituting the belief that the police monopolise rightful force in society, legitimacy can create a 'crowding out' effect on positive views of private violence.
Number
372
Recommended Citation
Tom R. Tyler, Jonathan Jackson, Aziz Huq & Ben Bradford, "Going Outside the Law: The Role of the State in Shaping Attitudes to Private Acts of Violence" (University of Chicago Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper No. 372, 2012) available at http://www.
Additional Information
Chicago Unbound includes both works in progress and final versions of articles. Please be aware that a more recent version of this article may be available on Chicago Unbound, SSRN or elsewhere.