RT Article
T1 Receiving an on the spot penalty: a tale of morality, common sense and law-abidance
JF Criminology & criminal justice
VO 19
IS 2
SP 141
OP 159
A1 Snow, Adam
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1741509645
AB This article examines citizens’ reactions to being issued with an on the spot penalty and the consequences this has for holding a law-abiding identity. Using mundane examples of statutory requirements regulating everyday life (motoring), it is found that people use common-sense purposive reasoning in their interpretation of law which does not match the actual black-letter law application of the specific statutes. The lack of congruence between the purposive understandings of legal requirements and the black-letter application of enforcement agencies allows citizens to maintain a moral position that is aligned with the aims of the law but not its actual requirements. This process reaffirms a belief in law-abidance even where the citizen has been found to break the law.
K1 Common sense
K1 Law-abidance
K1 Motoring
K1 On the spot penalties
K1 Parking
DO 10.1177/1748895817738556