Building a Culture of Lawfulness: Law Enforcement, Legal Reasoning, And Deliquency Among Mexican Youth

212 Pages·2006·1.02 MB·English

by  Heath B. Grant

Criminal Justice
Recent Scholarship

Edited by
Marilyn McShane and Frank P. Williams III

A Series from LFB Scholarly
This page intentionally left blank
Building a Culture of Lawfulness
Law Enforcement, Legal Reasoning, and
Delinquency among Mexican Youth

Heath B. Grant

LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC
New York 2006
Copyright © 2006 by LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grant, Heath B.
Building a culture of lawfulness : law enforcement, legal reasoning,
and delinquency among Mexican youth / Heath B. Grant.
p. cm. -- (Criminal justice recent scholarship)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59332-138-4 (alk. paper)
1. Juvenile delinquency--Prevention. 2. Juvenile delinquency--
Mexico. 3. Youth--Mexico--Attitudes. 4. Criminal justice,
Administration of--Mexico--Public opinion. 5. Law enforcement--
Mexico--Public opinion. I. Title. II. Series: Criminal justice (LFB
Scholarly Publishing LLC)
HV9076.5.G69 2006
364.360972--dc22

2006014609

ISBN 1-59332-138-4

Printed on acid-free 250-year-life paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America.
Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................VII
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................IX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................XI
CHAPTER ONE
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM..................................................................1
CHAPTER TWO
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES-I: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LEGAL REASONING AND A LEGITIMATE LEGAL CONTEXT...............17
CHAPTER THREE
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES-II: LEGAL REASONING AS A
RESILIENCY FACTOR........................................................................41
CHAPTER FOUR
STUDY CONTEXT.............................................................................51
CHAPTER FIVE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................79
CHAPTER SIX
RESULTS........................................................................................103
CHAPTER SEVEN
DISCUSSION...................................................................................127

APPENDIX A...............................................................................145
APPENDIX B...............................................................................163
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................181
v
This page intentionally left blank
List of Figures
FIGURE 1 RAWLS CAUSAL CHAIN...........................................................4

FIGURE 2 CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF STUDY HYPOTHESES.....................81

FIGURE 3 MAJOR OPTIONS AND PATHS IN MEXICAN SCHOOLING.........87

FIGURE 4 DISTRIBUTION OF LEGAL REASONING SCORES....................106

FIGURE 5 HYPOTHESIZED 42-ITEM MODEL OF THE FACTORIAL
STRUCTURE FOR THE MEXICAN CULTURE OF LAWFULNESS
INVENTORY...............................................................................109

FIGURE 6 REVISED HYPOTHESIZED MODEL OF THE EFFECTS OF SUPPORT
FOR THE POLICE, RISK FACTORS AND LEGAL REASONING ON
DELINQUENCY..........................................................................113

FIGURE 7 FINAL STUDY MODEL - PARTIAL MEDIATION EFFECT OF
LEGAL REASONING ON DELINQUENCY......................................122

vii
This page intentionally left blank
List of Tables
TABLE 1 SUMMARY OF RISK FACTOR DOMAINS...................................44

TABLE 2 A CROSS-CURRICULUM APPROACH TO MORAL EDUCATION..63

TABLE 3 STRUCTURE AND THEORETICAL PROGRESSION OF THE
CULTURE OF LAWFULNESS CURRICULUM...................................67

TABLE 4 SCALES COMPRISING THE MEXICAN CULTURE OF LAWFULNESS
INVENTORY AND THEIR SOURCES..................................................89

TABLE 5 SUMMARY TABLE OF REMAINING SCALE ITMES AND INTERNAL
CONSISTENCY..............................................................................96

TABLE 6 WITHIN AND ACROSS SCALE INTER-ITEM CORRELATIONS.....98

TABLE 7 REGRESSION WEIGHTS FOR THE NINE LATENT VARIABLES...110

TABLE 8 CHI-SQUARE DIFFERENCE TESTS FOR THE INCLUSION OF
DIRECT EFFECTS FROM EACH EXOGENOUS VARIABLE..............117

TABLE 9 CHI-SQUARE DIFFERENCE TESTS FOR THE INCLUSION OF
DIRECT EFFECTS FROM EACH EXOGENOUS VARIABLE
(ELIMINATING MEDIATION THROUGH LEGAL REASONING).........119

ix