Sarah MacQueen

Obeying the rules of the road: Procedural justice, social identity and normative compliance

Why do people comply with traffic laws and regulations? Road traffic policing tends to be premised on the idea that people comply when they are presented with a credible risk of sanction in the event of non-compliance. Such an instrumental model of compliance contrasts with the normative account offered by procedural justice theory, in which compliance is encouraged by legitimate legal authorities. Comparing these two accounts, we find evidence that both instrumental and normative factors explain variance in motorists’ self-reported propensity to offend. Extending the standard procedural justice account, we also find that it is social identity—not legitimacy—that forms the “bridge” linking procedural fairness and compliance, at least according to a definition of legitimacy that combines felt obligation and moral endorsement. Fair treatment at the hands of police officers seems to enhance identification with the social group the police represent, and in turn, identification seems to motivate adherence to rules (laws) governing social behavior. These findings have implications not only for understandings of legal compliance but also for our understanding of why procedural justice motivates compliance and the role of procedural justice in promoting social cohesion.

Children who display harmful sexual behaviour: Assessing the risks of boys abusing at home, in the community or across both settings

Abstract There has been no published research to date specifically on young people who sexually abuse in both family and community settings. This exploratory study looked at 34 young people displaying harmful sexual behaviour, and found that abusive sexual behaviour progressed from the family into the community, rather than the other way around. Boys whose abuse took place within both the family and the community were more likely to have a younger age of onset of abusive behaviour and to have experienced more abuse themselves. Boys whose abuse of their siblings was motivated substantially by jealous anger were less likely to go on to abuse outside their family. This may suggest a different dynamic and pathway for boys who abuse only siblings, and that sibling sexual abuse is a useful concept to describe a particular subset of young people who display harmful sexual behaviours.

Domestic abuse, crime surveys and the fallacy of risk: Exploring partner and domestic abuse using the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) consistently suggests similar prevalence of domestic abuse among men and women, a finding used variously to indicate men and women’s equal risk of abuse and to dismiss the survey as a means to explore such experiences. However, assertions of equal risk are based on limited analyses of data reduced to ‘key’ figures for public dissemination, and subsequent criticisms fail to meaningfully engage with the broader data offered by the survey. Theoretically informed multivariate analyses demonstrate that risk of abuse is inadequately captured by such figures, supporting that women and men are not at equal risk, and that gender is but one of a number of influential risk factors. This article proposes the SCJS data could be put to greater use, offering rich information for developing theory and responses to violence, and that critical engagement with the survey is necessary to facilitate methodological improvement.