Can a Roughneck be a Saint?

This master thesis focuses on the role of cultural capital in interactions between juveniles and police officers and how this affects inequality in formal punishment. Previous research has focused predominantly on ethnic minority juveniles in interactions and formal punishment. The present study explores the theoretical proliferation of the role of cultural capital in interactions between police officers and juveniles who do not necessarily correspond to the assumed perception of deviance as assessed in previous literature. In order to investigate in what ways cultural capital plays a role in police-juvenile interactions, the notion of cultural capital has been expanded, as well as the role of stereotypes in interactions between juveniles and the police. The findings from semi-structured interviews with 18 juveniles and 6 police officers suggest that cultural capital plays a role in the willingness and ability of juveniles to apply strategies in interactions and is often implicitly acknowledged and recognized by police officers in the way juveniles receive punishment. Future research could be focused on the emphasis of the plurality of cultural capital in interactions.