OBJECTIVE Perceptions of the legitimacy of a society's legal system help explain individual responses to courts and legal actors. Normative considerations such as fair and respectful treatment as well as social identification have demonstrated the ability to enhance perceived legal legitimacy and future cooperation. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are a rapidly disseminating and understudied intervention. Their targeting of a socially esteemed group presents an interesting venue to explore normative theories of justice. The present study tested a modified version of Tyler's theory of procedural justice in this setting. HYPOTHESES We hypothesized that procedural justice, social bonds, and receipt of gratitude for military service would be positively associated with veteran identity and legal legitimacy. We further hypothesized that participants' identification as veterans would mediate the relationships between the three independent variables and legitimacy. METHOD A cross-sectional survey design was used with a convenience sample (N = 191) of participants in two VTCs. Analyses controlled for race, ethnicity, recidivism risk, and combat exposure. RESULTS Perceptions of procedural justice, social bonds, and receipt of gratitude were positively associated with veteran identity and perceptions of legal legitimacy. Further, veteran identity was found to be a significant mediator between the first three constructs and legal legitimacy. CONCLUSIONS The results support the importance of procedural justice in explaining perceptions of legal legitimacy in a novel context that is rapidly proliferating and understudied and has unique social identity considerations. The addition of gratitude and veteran identity to Tyler's model raises implications for VTC practice and further inquiry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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退伍军人待遇法院对法律合法性的看法：对程序正义理论修改版的检验。

目的 对社会法律体系合法性的认知有助于解释个人对法院和法律行为者的反应。公平和尊重对待以及社会认同等规范性考虑已经证明了增强感知的法律合法性和未来合作的能力。退伍军人治疗法庭 (VTC) 是一种传播迅速且研究不足的干预措施。他们以受社会尊重的群体为目标，为探索规范的正义理论提供了一个有趣的场所。本研究在这种情况下测试了泰勒程序正义理论的修改版本。假设我们假设程序正义、社会纽带和对服兵役的感激与退伍军人身份和法律合法性呈正相关。我们进一步假设参与者对退伍军人的认同会调节三个自变量与合法性之间的关系。方法 横断面调查设计用于两个 VTC 参与者的便利样本 (N = 191)。对种族、民族、再犯风险和战斗暴露进行控制的分析。结果 对程序正义、社会纽带和感激之情的看法与退伍军人身份和对法律合法性的看法呈正相关。此外，退伍军人身份被发现是前三个结构和法律合法性之间的重要中介。结论 结果支持了程序正义在解释对法律合法性的看法方面的重要性，该背景正在迅速扩散和研究不足，并具有独特的社会身份考虑因素。Tyler 模型中增加的感激之情和退伍军人身份对 VTC 的实践和进一步调查产生了影响。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，保留所有权利）。