Police officers' punitiveness in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of fear, attribution and self-legitimacy

Abstract

PurposeThe focus of this study is to examine Indian police officers' punitiveness toward violators of criminal sanctions attached to COVID-19 mitigation laws enacted by the Indian Penal Code. The authors draw from the conceptual frameworks and correlates typically employed in traditional crime and justice research and adapt them to the context of the pandemic. Additionally, the authors examine whether officers' punitive attitudes are related to their belief in self-legitimacy and their job assignment (civilian vs. armed personnel) in a country with inherited colonial policing legacies.Design/methodology/approachData for the study came from 1,323 police officers in a northern state of India.FindingsFindings suggest that officers with vicarious fear of COVID-19 infections (e.g. infection of family members) find the sanctions associated with the new laws harsh. Additionally, officers who subscribe to the classical attributions of offenders feel that the laws are not punitive enough. In contrast, those with deterministic views perceive the sanctions as excessively harsh. Findings also suggest that officers' self-legitimacy, and belief in the authority and responsibility vested in them, is a key predictor of their punitive attitudes. Finally, officers assigned to police lines are more punitive than those designated to patrol/traffic work.Research limitations/implicationsData or prior research on officers' punitive attitudes toward other violations (non-COVID-19 violations) is unavailable for comparison with this study’s findings.Originality/valueNo prior research has examined the relationship between police officers' perceptions of self-legitimacy, their belief in the authority vested in them by the state, their belief in their role as police officers and their relationship to their punitive attitudes.

Guest editorial: Reexamining the police culture

“…Finally, Nalla et al (2023) focus on the COVID-19 pandemic in India, a country in which Human Rights Watch (2020) documented numerous instances of COVID-19 related governmental violence and arbitrary arrests. Nalla et al (2023) report that officers’ self-legitimacy—police officers’ confidence in their own authority—is positively associated with a greater severity of COVID-19 punishments. Like Cochran and Worden (2023), Nalla et al (2023) find that the police officers’ attitudes, in this case about punishment severity, varied by their assignment type.…”

“…Nalla et al (2023) report that officers’ self-legitimacy—police officers’ confidence in their own authority—is positively associated with a greater severity of COVID-19 punishments. Like Cochran and Worden (2023), Nalla et al (2023) find that the police officers’ attitudes, in this case about punishment severity, varied by their assignment type. In sync with the COVID-19 extant literature (Kutnjak Ivković et al ., 2022), the analyses in the paper by Nalla et al (2023) reveal that the concern for family members’ health has a stronger influence on their attitudes than the concern for their own health.…”

“…They teach us that recent events could have an effect on police officers (e.g. Frantz et al ., 2023; Nalla et al ., 2023), that socialization into police culture starts very early (e.g. Donner and Maskály, 2023), that the internal environment matters (e.g.…”