Tom R. Tyler and Rick Trinkner (eds): Why Children Follow Rules: Legal Socialization and the Development of Legitimacy

The question of why adults obey laws has been widely studied. Law-related attitudes and values develop during the process of legal socialization and are considered crucial in motivating adults’ law-related behavior. Although law-related attitudes and values are already formed by adulthood, the process of childhood and adolescent legal socialization has not been given enough attention. Tyler and Trinkner’s book, Why Children Follow Rules: Legal Socialization and the Development of Legitimacy fills this gap. This book reviews prior literature and research on legal socialization. Tyler and Trinkner bring attention to the importance of studying legal socialization among children and adolescents, and how these values develop and evolve through a lifetime. They present broad perspectives on legal development with a focus on family, school, and the juvenile justice system as the key spheres in which children experience authority. Tyler and Trinkner suggest that orientation toward law learned in early years shapes behavior later in life. Throughout their book, they highlight the contrast between the consensual and coercive model of legal authority. Tyler and Trinkner effectively demonstrate their argument of desirability and the possibility for children to develop a consensual relationship with legal authority that leads to intrinsically motivated law-abiding behavior. …