Why are young adults willing to cooperate with the police and comply with traffic laws? Examining the role of attitudes toward the police and law, perceived deterrence and personal morality

The question why people are willing to comply with the law and to cooperate with the police has received more attention the past several years. According to the procedural justice model this is caused by the fact that when civilians trust the police to treat them honestly and fairly, they will perceive the police as a legitimate institution that deserves respect and obedience. The perception that the police is legitimate is necessary so the police can enforce authority and civilians will be willing to comply with the law and to cooperate with the police. This study attempts to test an expanded version of the procedural justice model. The added value of this study is, firstly, that it takes into account several intermediary mechanisms that might influence the relations between perceptions about the procedural justice and effectiveness of the police, and the compliance with the law and the willingness to cooperate with the police. More specifically, the perceived legitimacy of the law and legal cynicism are added as intermediary variables to the model. Secondly the model is adapted for compliance with traffic laws. Two alternative paths are examined more closely as well, this way we verify what role perceived deterrence and personal morality play in the explanation of the willingness of young adults to comply with traffic laws and cooperate with the police. The test was executed according to path models with the aid of a large-scale student survey (N = 1659). On the one hand, the results show that procedural justice has an effect on the result variables through several pathways, i.e. through the perceived legitimacy of the police, the perceived legitimacy of the law and legal cynicism. On the other hand, the explanatory power of the model is limited. We wish to nuance the results by formulating several critical remarks.