Legal Cynicism as a Mechanism Linking Childhood Risk to Young Adult Arrest

Abstract

Prior research shows that adolescents with higher levels of legal cynicism are more likely to experience arrest in young adulthood, yet less is known about how different forms of childhood disadvantage shape legal cynicism and later criminal legal system involvement. This study examines whether childhood risks operate through distinct developmental pathways linking early adversity to arrest in young adulthood. Using longitudinal, nationally representative data, we employed path analysis to examine associations between childhood parental incarceration, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and race with arrest in young adulthood as mediated through adolescent police stops and legal cynicism. Parental incarceration and identifying as Black/African American directly predicted arrest in young adulthood. Cumulative ACEs and identifying as Black/African American indirectly predicted young adult arrest through increased adolescent police stops and subsequent legal cynicism. Parental incarceration operated through a distinct pathway, directly predicting young adult arrest and shaping adolescent legal cynicism independently of police contact.

Keywords

legal cynicism legal socialization police stops parental incarceration adverse childhood experiences race

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander

(2020). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press.

Anderson

A. J.

Henrich

C. C.

(2025). Paternal incarceration and pathways to criminal justice involvement: Roles of adolescent legal cynicism and negative police interactions. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 11, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-025-00279-4

Bandura

Walters

R. H.

(1977). Social learning theory (Vol. 1). Prentice hall Englewood Cliffs.

Baron

R. M.

Kenny

D. A.

(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173

Brennan

Stavas

Scribano

(2020). Effective prevention of ACEs. In Adverse childhood experiences (pp. 233–264). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-816065-7.00012-4

Brunson

R. K.

Weitzer

(2008). Police relations with Black and White youths in different urban neighborhoods. Urban Affairs Review, 44(6), 858–885. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087408326973

Clark

Watts

McCuddy

McLeod

(2023). Antecedents of legal cynicism unpacked: The impact of parental incarceration, race, and ACEs on its development. Journal of Criminal Justice, 88, Article 102116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2023.102116

Courtin

Allchin

Ding

A. J.

Layte

(2019). The role of socioeconomic interventions in reducing exposure to adverse childhood experiences: A systematic review. Current Epidemiology Reports, 6(4), 423–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40471-019-00216-2

Doherty

E. E.

Green

K. M.

Ensminger

M. E.

(2021). Long-term consequences of criminal justice system intervention: The impact of young adult arrest on midlife health behaviors. Prevention Science, 23(2), 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01236-5

10.

Eddy

J. M.

Martinez

C. R.

Burraston

(2013). A randomized controlled trial of a parent management training program for incarcerated parents: Proximal impacts. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78(3), 75–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/mono.12022

11.

Eddy

J. M.

Martinez

C. R.

Burraston

B. O.

Herrera

Newton

R. M.

(2022). A randomized controlled trial of a parent management training program for incarcerated parents: Post-release outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4605. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084605

12.

Felitti

V. J.

Anda

R. F.

Nordenberg

Williamson

D. F.

Spitz

A. M.

Edwards

Koss

M. P.

Marks

J. S.

(2019). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 56(6), 774–786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.001

13.

FFCWS. (2025). Future of families and child wellbeing study. Retrieved December 16, 2025, from https://ffcws.princeton.edu/

14.

Foster

Hagan

(2013). Maternal and paternal imprisonment in the stress process. Social Science Research, 42(3), 650–669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.01.008

15.

Foster

Jones

M. S.

Pierce

(2022). Race and ethnicity differences in police contact and perceptions of and attitudes toward the police among youth. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 49(5), 660–680. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221078296

16.

Geller

(2021). Youth–police contact: Burdens and inequities in an adverse childhood experience, 2014–2017. American Journal of Public Health, 111(7), 1300–1308. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306259

17.

Geller Fagan . (2019). Police contact and the legal socialization of urban teens. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 5(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2019.5.1.02

18.

Gottfredson

M. R.

Hirschi

(2022). A general theory of crime. Stanford University Press.

19.

Graf

G. H.-J.

Chihuri

Blow

(2021). Adverse childhood experiences and justice system contact: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 147(1), Article e2020021030. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-021030

20.

Hagan

McCarthy

Herda

(2020). What the study of legal cynicism and crime can tell us about reliability, validity, and versatility in law and social science research. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 16(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-031620-093358

21.

Hofer

M. S.

Womack

S. R.

Wilson

M. N.

(2019). An examination of the influence of procedurally just strategies on legal cynicism among urban youth experiencing police contact. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(1), 104–123. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22242

22.

Hoffmann

J. P.

(2010). A life-course perspective on stress, delinquency, and young adult crime. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(3), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-010-9072-4

23.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

24.

Hunt

T. K. A.

Slack

K. S.

Berger

L. M.

(2017). Adverse childhood experiences and behavioral problems in middle childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 67, 391–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.005

25.

Jackson

D. B.

Jindal

Testa

Ganson

K. T.

Fix

R. L.

Nagata

J. M.

(2022). Adverse Childhood experiences and adolescent police contact in the United Kingdom. Pediatrics, 150(4), Article e2021055889. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-055889

26.

Jackson

D. B.

Testa

Vaughn

M. G.

(2020). Low self-control and the adolescent police stop: Intrusiveness, emotional response, and psychological well-being. Journal of Criminal Justice, 66, Article 101635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2019.101635

27.

Jones

M. S.

Pierce

(2020). Early exposure to adverse childhood experiences and youth delinquent behavior in fragile families. Youth & Society, 53(5), 841–867. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118x20908759

28.

Jordan

K. L.

Freiburger

T. L.

(2015). The effect of race/ethnicity on sentencing: Examining sentence type, jail length, and prison length. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 13(3), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2014.984045

29.

Kessler

R. C.

Andrews

Mroczek

Ustun

Wittchen

(1998). The world health organization composite international diagnostic interview short-form (CIDI-SF). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 7(4), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.47

30.

Kirk

D. S.

Matsuda

(2011). Legal cynicism, collective efficacy, and the ecology of arrest. Criminology, 49(2), 443–472. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00226.x

31.

Kirk

D. S.

Papachristos

A. V.

(2011). Cultural mechanisms and the persistence of neighborhood violence. American Journal of Sociology, 116(4), 1190–1233. https://doi.org/10.1086/655754

32.

Kjellstrand

Eddy

J. M.

Martinez

C. R.

Jr (2018). Children of incarcerated parents: Developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior across adolescence. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(11), 1742–1761.

33.

Laurencin

C. T.

Walker

J. M.

(2020). Racial profiling is a public health and health disparities issue. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 7(3), 393–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00738-2

34.

Loper

A. B.

Clarke

C. N.

Dallaire

D. H.

(2019). Parenting programs for incarcerated fathers and mothers: Current research and new directions. In Handbook on children with incarcerated parents (pp. 183–203). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16707-3_13

35.

Lorenc

Lester

Sutcliffe

Stansfield

Thomas

(2020). Interventions to support people exposed to adverse childhood experiences: Systematic review of systematic reviews. BMC Public Health, 20(1), Article 657. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08789-0

36.

McGlynn-Wright

Crutchfield

R. D.

Skinner

M. L.

Haggerty

K. P.

(2022). The usual, racialized, suspects: The consequence of police contacts with black and white youth on adult arrest. Social Problems, 69(2), 299–315.

37.

Murray

(2010). Parental incarceration, attachment and child psychopathology. Attachment & Human Development, 12(4), 289–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/14751790903416889

38.

OJJDP. (2021). Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Arrests by offense, age, and gender. US Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/statistical-briefing-book/crime/faqs/ucr

39.

Patterson

G. R.

Reid

J. B.

Eddy

J. M.

(2002). A brief history of the Oregon model. In Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and model for intervention. (pp. 3–20). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10468-001

40.

Purnell

(2022). Becoming abolitionists: Police, protests, and the pursuit of freedom. Astra Publishing House.

41.

Reavis

J. A.

Looman

Franco

K. A.

Rojas

(2013). Adverse childhood experiences and adult criminality: How long must we live before we possess our own lives? The Permanente Journal, 17(2), 44–48. https://doi.org/10.7812/tpp/12-072

42.

Reichman

N. E.

Teitler

J. O.

Garfinkel

McLanahan

S. S.

(2001). Fragile families: sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4–5), 303–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0190-7409(01)00141-4

43.

Rosenbaum

D. P.

Schuck

A. M.

Costello

S. K.

Hawkins

D. F.

Ring

M. K.

(2005). Attitudes toward the police: The effects of direct and vicarious experience. Police Quarterly, 8(3), 343–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611104271085

44.

Sampson

R. J.

Bartusch

D. J.

(1998). Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of racial differences. Law & Society Review, 32(4), 777–804. https://doi.org/10.2307/827739

45.

Sampson

R. J.

Laub

J. H.

(2017). A life-course view of the development of crime. In Developmental and life-course criminological theories (pp. 329–362). Routledge.

46.

Shedd

(2015). Unequal city: Race, schools, and perceptions of injustice. Russell Sage Foundation.

47.

Slocum

L. A.

Wiley

S. A.

(2018). “Experience of the Expected?” Race and ethnicity differences in the effects of police contact on youth. Criminology, 56(2), 402–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12174

48.

Strohacker

Watts

S. J.

Wright

L. E.

(2022). Socioeconomic strain, bullying perpetration, and negative emotions: A re-specification of GST. Crime & Delinquency, 70(4), 1091–1115. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221093326

49.

Tankebe

(2012). Viewing things differently: The dimensions of public perceptions of police legitimacy. Criminology, 51(1), 103–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00291.x

50.

Testa

Jackson

D. B.

(2022). Adverse childhood experiences and perceived unfair police treatment: Differences by race and ethnicity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 70(5), 804–809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.030

51.

Tyler

T. R.

(2006). Why people obey the law. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400828609

52.

Warr

(2002). Companions in crime: The social aspects of criminal conduct. Cambridge University Press.

53.

Weisburd

Jonathan-Zamir

White

Wilson

D. B.

Kuen

(2022). Are the police primarily responsible for influencing place-level perceptions of procedural justice and effectiveness? A longitudinal study of street segments. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 61(1), 76–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278221120225

54.

Wolfe

S. E.

McLean

Pratt

T. C.

(2017). I learned it by watching you: Legal socialization and the intergenerational transmission of legitimacy attitudes. British Journal of Criminology, 57(5), 1123–1143. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw038