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Legal socialization

Necessity knows no law but makes law. ~ Gratian
Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius (1965), trans. Allan Gilbert, book 1, chapter 18, p. 241.

Legal socialization is the process through which, individuals acquire attitudes and beliefs about the law, legal authorities, and legal institutions. This occurs through individuals' interactions, both personal and vicarious, with police, courts, and other legal actors. To date, most of what is known about legal socialization comes from studies of individual differences among adults in their perceived legitimacy of law and legal institutions, and in their cynicism about the law and its underlying norms. Adults' attitudes about the legitimacy of law are directly tied to individuals' compliance with the law and cooperation with legal authorities.[1]

Legal socialization consists of an individual's attitudes toward the legal system (referred to as legitimacy), the law (legal cynicism), and moral codes that guide behaviour (moral disengagement)

  1. ^ Piquero, AR; Fagan, J; Mulvey, EP; Steinberg, L; Odgers, C (2005). "Developmental Trajectories of Legal Socialization Among Serious Adolescent Offenders". J Crim Law Criminol. 96 (1): 267–298. PMC 2776646. PMID 19915683.

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