Citation

Luo F, Ren L, Zhang H. Int. J. Comp. Appl. Crim. Justice 2019; 43(2): 159-172.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society of Criminology's Division of International Criminology, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis)

DOI

10.1080/01924036.2018.1509013

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Juvenile confidence in the police (JCP) has become an important research topic in policing. In spite of an increasing amount of research literature on JCP, the influence of educational tracking especially vocational tracking on juveniles' confidence in the police has received limited scholarly attention. Extant literature suggests a noticeable difference in family backgrounds, attitudinal perceptions, and problematic behaviours between vocational school students and regular high school students. Using the survey data of 3628 students collected from these 2 distinctive segments of educational tracking in a southwestern Chinese city, this study examines if and how youths in vocational schools perceive the local police differently from their regular high school counterparts. The findings indicate that vocational school students had more confidence in the police than their regular high school peers. In addition, school contexts played a significant role in shaping their respective attitudes toward the police. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

contacts with the police; educational tracking; Juvenile confidence in the police; neighbourhood/family attachment; school contexts