People obey the law if they believe it’s legitimate, not because they fear punishment – this is the opening gambit of Tom Tyler’s foray into the depths of law making and the legal system.
If nothing else, that theory goes a considerable way to explaining why many people are perfectly happy to smoke large marijuana spliffs in public – often in blatant view of seemingly uninterested police officers – or screech down motorways 10 or 15 miles an hour faster than official speed limits. The specific laws concerned strike them as silly and lacking in any social benefit, so they flout them despite potential penalties.
This book is a classic study refreshed with a new afterword, bringing in updated research – as well as reflection from the author. Mr Tyler argues lawmakers would be better off spending the time creating legislation that can be admired, rather than dreaming up punishments to instil fear.
Mr Tyler finds that the primary reason that people obey law is because they respect its authority, rather than fear the repercussions of acting against it.
Legal academic Andrew Goldsmith said of the original edition: ‘Tyler’s book posits an alternative model of legal compliance – one that focuses upon ways of obtaining public consent for and co-operation with particular regulatory regimes.... Though written from the perspective of the discipline of social psychology, there are lessons here for everybody involved or interested in legal regulation, governance or, indeed, community relations.’