Police Studies Program for At-Risk Youth in Youth Villages: Program Evaluation and Understanding the Psychological Mechanism behind Youths Perceptions towards Police Legitimacy

Out-of-home care programs differ in terms of the youth`s emotional, mental and educational condition, their specific intervention goals, ideology, structure, and design. The study examined a unique prevention program in a youth village boarding school as part of police studies with at-risk youth. The study used a cross-sectional design and a self-report survey to draw comparisons between two groups of at-risk youth, from two different types of youth villages. The first, experimental group was comprised of 129 youths who had attended a police studies program, while the second, control group was comprised of 167 youths who had attended a different intervention program without police studies. We hypothesized that the experimental group’s perceptions of police legitimacy would be more positive and that they would evaluate police effectiveness and procedural justice more positively than the control group. We also hypothesized that positive evaluations of police effectiveness and procedural justice among at-risk youth in the police studies program would mediate their perceptions of police legitimacy. The results of the study supported the two hypothesis. The study findings suggest that there is a need for developing intervention programs that bring together at-risk-youth and police in schools, community and in out-of-home care.

Keywords: At-risk youth-police programs; Police legitimacy; Juvenile attitudes toward the police; Out-of-home care.