How Do the Components of Procedural Justice and Driver Race Influence Encounter-Specific Perceptions of Police Legitimacy During Traffic Stops?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1200-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Starr J. Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Procedural justice is often recognized as the key antecedent of police legitimacy. However, less is known about how the components of procedural justice, treatment and decision-making quality, influence perceptions of police legitimacy. This study utilizes a 2 × 2 × 2 survey experiment to explore the direct effects of the components of procedural justice, and the moderating effects of driver race, on perceptions of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy. Results indicate that treatment quality is a more salient predictor of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy than decision-making quality. In addition, simple effects analyses reveal that driver race moderates perceptions of encounter-specific fairness but not encounter-specific perceptions of legitimacy. The findings imply that police officers should emphasize respectful treatment during encounters with the public.

Moral motives, police legitimacy and acceptance of force

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 799-815
Author(s):  
Jasmine R. Silver
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Moral Motive

PurposeThis study extends legitimacy theory by examining individualizing and binding moral motives and perceptions of police.Design/methodology/approachData are drawn from an online survey of the public (N = 961). OLS regression is used to predict global perceptions of legitimacy, as well as department legitimacy and acceptance of force in an experimental vignette that manipulates procedural justice.FindingsThe binding moral motive is associated with greater global and department legitimacy and acceptance of force. The individualizing moral motive is associated with reduced global legitimacy and acceptance of force, and with department legitimacy when procedural justice is low. Perceptions of legitimacy mediate the effects of the binding moral motive on acceptance of force and of the individualizing moral motive when procedural justice is low.Research limitations/implicationsThis study identifies novel antecedents of police legitimacy and acceptance of force (i.e. binding and individualizing moral motives).Social implicationsThis study provides insight into public attitudes regarding use of force.Originality/valueThis study is the first to propose and test a link between binding and individualizing moral motives and perceptions of police.

Do the Means Matter? Defense Attorneys’ Perceptions of Procedural Transgressions by Police and Their Implication on Police Legitimacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 088740342091525
Author(s):  
Siyu Liu ◽  
Esther Nir
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Path Model ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Defense Attorneys ◽  
Northeastern State ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Influence Perceptions ◽  
Police Effectiveness

Through interviews ( n = 40) and surveys ( n = 140) with separate samples of U.S. defense attorneys practicing criminal law in a Northeastern state, we utilize a mixed-methods approach to explore police procedural transgressions (e.g., pretextual stops, overreaching searches) during stops, searches, and seizures. With a structural equation path model, we examine whether and how procedural justice (an assessment of “the means” to control crime) and police effectiveness (an assessment of police performance or “the ends”) affect each other and influence perceptions of police legitimacy. Our findings indicate that procedural justice enhances perceptions of police legitimacy, whereas police effectiveness does not have an effect. Policy implications for developing mechanisms that discourage procedural transgressions by police are discussed.

Do the Police Believe That Legitimacy Promotes Cooperation From the Public?

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 951-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Nix
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Executives ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Using Data

Tyler’s process-based model of regulation suggests that when citizens perceive the police as a legitimate authority, they are more likely to cooperate in the form of reporting crimes and providing information to the police. Yet most studies have considered citizens’ perceptions of police legitimacy—few studies have asked the police what they feel makes them legitimate in the eyes of the public. Likewise, no studies have considered whether the police believe legitimacy is associated with cooperation from the public. The present study addresses this gap using data from a stratified sample of U.S. police executives. Findings suggest police believe performance, rather than procedural justice, is the key to generating cooperation from the public.

Good Policing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Hough
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Justice Theory ◽  
Police Recruits ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Contacts ◽  
The Law

This book conveys the ideas behind procedural justice theory as they apply to policing. It sets out important but complex ideas in jargon-free language to non-specialist readers with an interest in policing – including serving police officers and police recruits as they embark on a degree-level entry programme into the police service. The book’s main message is that public trust in the police builds police legitimacy, and people comply with the law and cooperate with the police when they see the police as legitimate. It argues that public trust in the police serves as the bedrock of police legitimacy. Procedural justice theory provides an account of the reasons why people obey the law that stresses the importance of fair and respectful treatment of the public, and an alignment between policing practice and people’s moral standards. It provides a narrative about crime control that questions the tough ‘no-nonsense’ solutions that politicians often reach for when crime problems emerge. The book’s main policy recommendations are that policing strategies and tactics should always be assessed against criteria of legitimacy, and that the quality of treatment in police contacts with the public is one of the keys to good policing.

Achieving Fairness in Policing

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten Van Craen ◽  
Wesley G. Skogan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
The Public ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Relationship

Decades of research on public support for the police has documented the prominent role of procedural justice in shaping popular views of police legitimacy and the predisposition of citizens to comply and cooperate with them. However, much less attention has been given to the issue of how to get police officers to actually act in accord with its principles when they interact with the public. Reminders of the importance and the difficulty of fostering police legitimacy are not hard to come by, as witnessed in events in the United States during 2014 to 2015. This article addresses the hard, multifaceted issue of fostering procedural justice in the ranks. It theorizes and assesses the relationship between fair supervision and fair policing. The results of our study indicate that perceived internal procedural justice is directly related to support for external procedural justice (modeling thesis), and also indirectly, via trust in citizens.

scholarly journals On the identity dynamics of police legitimacy and public cooperation among a general population and a London street population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arabella Kyprianides ◽  
Ben Bradford ◽  
Jonathan Jackson ◽  
Julia Yesberg ◽  
Clifford Stott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Justice Theory ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relational Identification ◽  
Police Activity

Social identity is a core aspect of procedural justice theory, which predicts that fair treatment at the hands of power holders such as police expresses, communicates and generates feelings of inclusion, status and belonging within salient social categories. In turn, a sense of shared group membership with power-holders, with police officers as powerful symbolic representatives of “law-abiding society”, engenders trust, legitimacy and cooperation. Yet, this aspect of the theory is rarely explicitly considered in empirical research. Moreover, the theory rests on the under-examined assumption that the police represent one fixed and stable superordinate group, including the often marginalised people with whom they interact, and that it is only superordinate identification that is important to legitimacy and cooperation. In this paper we present results from two UK-based studies that explore the identity dynamics of procedural justice theory. We reason that the police represent not only that the ‘law-abiding, national citizen’ superordinate group, but also a symbol of order/conflict and a range of connected social categories that can generate relational identification. First, we use a general population sample to show that relational identification with police, as well as identification as a ‘law-abiding citizen’, mediate some of association between procedural justice and legitimacy and are both stronger predictors of cooperation than legitimacy. Second, a sample of people living on the streets of London is used to explore these same relationships among a highly marginalised group for whom the police might represent a salient outgroup. We find that relational and superordinate identification are both strong positive predictors of cooperation, while legitimacy is not. These results have important implications for our understanding of both police legitimacy and public cooperation, as well as the extent to which police activity can serve to include—or exclude—members of the public.

The Link between Communicative Intelligence and Procedural Justice

2016 ◽  
pp. 456-478
Author(s):  
Renée J. Mitchell ◽  
Kendall Von Zoller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Social Arrangement ◽  
Police Contact ◽  
Psychological Property ◽  
Perception Of Police

The public's perception of police legitimacy is viewed through the lens of procedural justice (Tyler, 2003). Legitimacy it is a perception held by an audience (Tankebe & Liebling, 2013). Tyler (2006, p. 375) defines legitimacy as “a psychological property of an authority, institution, or social arrangement that leads those connected to it to believe that it is appropriate, proper, and just.” Four aspects of the police contact that affects a citizen's view: active participation in the decision-making, the decision-making is neutral and objective, trustworthy motives, and being treated with dignity and respect (Tyler, 2004). Accordingly an officer should act in a way that supports citizen's active participation, conveys an air of neutrality, and enhances dignity and respect. One way an officer can transmit his intent is through communicative intelligence. Communicative intelligence is a communication theory based on five capabilities (Zoller, 2015). These authors intend to link communicative intelligence to behaviors officers should engage in to enhance PJ and improve PL.

scholarly journals A Source Like Any Other? Field and Survey Experiment Evidence on How Interest Groups Shape Public Opinion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Jungherr ◽  
Alexander Wuttke ◽  
Matthias Mader ◽  
Harald Schoen
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Group Communication ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Interest groups increasingly communicate with the public, yet we know little about how effective they are in shaping opinions. Since interest groups differ from other public communicators, we propose a theory of interest group persuasion. Interest groups typically have a low public profile, and so most people are unlikely to have strong attitudes regarding them. Source-related predispositions, such as credibility assessments, are therefore less relevant in moderating effects of persuasive appeals by interest groups than those of high-profile communicators. We test this argument in multiple large-scale studies. A parallel survey and field experiment (N = 4,659) establishes the persuasive potential of low-profile interest groups in both controlled and realistic settings. An observational study (N = 700) shows that substantial portions of the public are unable to assess interest group credibility. A survey experiment (N = 8,245) demonstrates that credibility assessments moderate the impact of party but not interest group communication.

scholarly journals Monumental Decisions: How Direct Democracy Shapes Attitudes in the Conflict over Confederate Memorials

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 620-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Johnson ◽  
Kathleen Tipler ◽  
Tyler Camarillo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
City Council ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
The Public ◽  
Appointed Officials

ABSTRACTAmericans are engaged in a heated, sometimes violent, debate over the fate of Confederate monuments. As communities decide whether to remove these monuments, elected and appointed officials typically have had the final say. What if instead of allowing elected officials to make such decisions, voters had the power? Would this affect how the public feels about the outcome, win or lose? We used a survey experiment to examine whether the mode of decision making affects public attitudes, testing the effects of a decision made by public referendum versus by a city council. We found that respondents view decisions made by referendum to be fairer and more legitimate and allow multiple perspectives to be heard. These results hold even for respondents who oppose the referendum’s outcome. Our results speak to the potential of direct democracy to enhance public acceptance of decisions, particularly when the public is divided.

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