The Role Of Legitimacy In The Criminal Justice System

Legitimacy refers to whether or not people perceive the criminal justice system and the police as fair and just (Walker, 2015). It holds that people will be more likely to obey the laws if they respect and trust the criminal justice system. If people believe that the system is fair and just then they will have more respect for the system, so they then will cooperate and view it as legitimate resulting in obeying the law (Walker, 2015). This concept began with the rounding of the field of sociology and the work of Max Weber (Walker, 2015). He argued that the social dynamics of authority in society involve not only the coercive power of social institutions to force people to do things, but also the voluntary obligation that people feel to do those things, like complying with the law (Walker, 2015). …show more content…
I do believe that when people are not only informed, but also have an understanding about what is going on, the reasons why, and giving them the chance to participate as much as possible; aids in their thinking of the system (Walker, 2015). This has been explained regarding grading procedures in school. If I were to receive a grade of less than I expect and I did not have the opportunity to grasp the reasoning why then I may not be willing to except that grade as legitimate. The same goes with tickets and the police. If I do something wrong that deserves some sort of sanction then I may be willing to see the said sanction as legitimate if I am respected by police and have an explanation of what I did wrong (Walker,