What predicts university students’ compliance with the law: Perceived legitimacy or dull compulsion?

Abstract

Studies on police legitimacy, particularly from the developed western societies have shown that compliance with the law is primarily shaped by feelings that laws and legal authorities are legitimate and should be obeyed. However, we are unsure whether such findings would be consistent if tested among university students in a transitional society like South Africa where police-students relationship is driven by conflict, and where police misconduct is relatively high. That is, do university students comply with the law in South Africa because they perceived the police as legitimate or due to feelings of pervasive helplessness or what scholars refer to as ‘dull compulsion”. This article explores the exact factor that shapes compliance with the law among South African university students. Findings indicate that police effectiveness, predatory policing and experience of police abuse predicted voluntary compliance with the law among university students. Additionally, neither perceived legitimacy nor dull compulsion shaped compliance. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

• perceived legitimacy
• university students
• police
• south africa