Public attitude on compliance to law in Kerala: an analysis

Abstract

The process of political modernization in India commenced with the adoption of the constitution of India on January 26th 1950. Many successful principles of governance were adopted from different countries around the world as a part of modernisation efforts. Rule of law is one of such principles of modern governance and subsequently many associated structures and institutions were adopted to implement it. The adopted structures and institutions become successful only if they have a supporting political culture and behavior. But Unfortunately in India the imported new structures and institutions had to work with traditional culture and behaviors. This incongruity led to the development of Riggs' prismatic-sala model.In this background this research aims to investigate the attitude of people of Kerala towards compliance to law. The study is intended to address questions like why people obey or disobey laws in Kerala society, the factors influencing compliance with law, public attitude towards law and punishment. It was identified that there are four basic factors which shape compliance to law, like personal moral values, social pressure, deterrence and legitimacy. In traditional societies people basically obeyed laws because of personal moral values and social pressure. With the establishment of the state, the factor influencing public compliance to law became deterrence. State makes laws and forces the people to obey those laws with certainty, severity and harshness of punishment mechanisms. Subject-ruler difference is very prominent in such a society. Rulers force the people to obey the laws with the help of deterrence mechanisms.Deterrence based governance is not very effective, it needs a lot of resources and it's very expensive. With the establishment of modern national states with democracy and republicanism, the difference between the rulers and subjects drastically reduced. The ideal democratic republicanism visualizes a commonwealth,where everyone is a ruler and a subject. Rational legal authority became the base of governance and voluntary compliance with law is accepted by all. So it is a journey from personal moral values to voluntary compliance based on the acceptance of rational legal authority. Law enforcement will be effective only if it is based upon the factors shaping compliance to law. Blindly adopting reforms from highly developed countries without considering the local factors shaping compliance to law will lead to lawlessness and anarchism. Additionally, the research considers the role of the primary law enforcement agency, the police department, as a secondary objective of this research. It explores the public perception of the police and viceversa. Examining why policing remains a challenge despite numerous reformatory efforts. Furthermore, the researcher analyzes various police reforms in the light of the survey results on public attitude towards laws and the factors shaping compliance to law.