Citation

Fielding NG, Fielding J. Br. J. Criminol. 1991; 31(1): 39-53.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Police attitudes concerning crime and punishment are conventionally seen as harsh and conservative. However, social representation theory argues that ostensibly unified belief systems contain contrary themes and that these dilemmatic' aspects are vital to the application of attitudes to action. We examine this argument in relation to data from a longitudinal study of police socialization, and discuss implications for police training.