Police, courts, and corrections: Experiences of procedural injustice among Black adults

Abstract

Racial disparities and a corresponding lack of trust have been documented within the criminal legal system. In response, criminal legal system actors have sought to strengthen the legitimacy of their agencies. However, legitimizing these agencies can be problematic. Some argue that the current criminal legal system continues the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow as Blacks are disproportionately policed and incarcerated. As a framework, procedural injustice can offer a unique backdrop and interrogate ways in which the criminal legal system engages in delegitimizing actions that provoke noncompliance and enable social control. Using a procedural injustice lens, this study examines how justice‐involved Black adults experience mistreatment by justice system actors. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 84 Black adults in Newark and Cleveland. Study findings offer a comprehensive account of how participants experience procedural injustice as arrestees, defendants, and incarcerated persons. More specifically, participant narratives describe deliberately antagonistic, abusive, and dehumanizing treatment by justice‐system agents—often depicted as racially motivated. Participant accounts also describe this mistreatment as occurring in a context of coercion and powerlessness and as being institutionally sanctioned. Implications for the preservation of racial hierarchies, research, practice, and community psychology are discussed.

How school policies, strategies, and relational factors contribute to teacher victimization and school safety

“…As one example, teachers can be trained in procedural justice approaches to school discipline. Procedural justice has been often used to train criminal justice actors (e.g., law enforcement, courts) and holds that people are less likely to offend when they are treated fairly and with respect and have an opportunity to tell their side of the story (Martinez et al, 2022). Future research should focus on positive discipline practices in schools that have low reports of victimization and high reports of safety among teachers.…”

Addressing violence against educators: What do teachers say works?

“…Given that students often believe that they are unfairly suspended (Quin & Hemphill, 2014), future work can examine if such disciplinary practices are implemented in a procedurally just fashion. Procedural justice, which typically consists of four dimensions (i.e., respect, voice, understanding, and neutrality), is theorized to promote compliance (e.g., Martinez, Swaner, et al, 2022). It may be possible that the “effective” use of exclusionary discipline practices contains some of these characteristics.…”

Racial reckoning, resistance, and the revolution: A call to community psychology to move forward

“…Lastly, Martinez et al (2022) “Police, courts, and corrections: Experiences of procedural injustice among Black adults,” examined the lived experiences of Black adults and their mistreatment by actors in the justice system. Eighty‐four semistructured interviews were conducted in Newark and Cleveland.…”