Rethinking police procedural justice

Abstract

While procedural justice theory has become the dominant paradigm in thinking about police legitimacy, it has several important weaknesses. First, procedural justice's conceptually essential distinction between ‘process’ and ‘outcome’ is blurred in reality, which is visible both in empirical operationalizations and in researchers’ understanding of police work. Second, procedural justice theory views society through an implicit consensus lens, making it poorly equipped to address police–citizen conflicts and structural societal inequalities. This is evident in the theory's inability to unpack the dynamics of police–citizen interactions and its reluctance to problematize the police role in contemporary plural societies. To advance our understanding of police legitimacy and police–citizen relations, particularly among marginalized groups, we strongly recommend working toward theoretical renewal and empirical diversification.

Gefährliche Abstraktionen - Regieren mittels Kriminalisierung und Raum

“…Dieses Modell wird zahlreichen quantitativen und qualitativen Studien zugrunde gelegt, inzwischen auch hierzulande (vgl. mit weiteren Hinweisen: Hecker 2018, Saarikkomäki et al 2021, Schaap & Saarikkomäki 2022. Zugleich wird an Procedural Justice fundierte Kritik geübt.…”

‘Robocops’ in the Making: Reframing Police–Citizen Interactions Through the Lens of Body-Worn Cameras

“…They respond to both criminal and non-criminal matters, and often spend the majority of their day communicating verbally, not once applying physical use-of-force or their powers of arrest. 'Ordinary' encounters too are subject to body-camera surveillance and, according to studies on procedural justice and police legitimacy (Schaap and Saarikkomäki 2022), equally important to public perceptions of police. An orientation towards 'action' limits interest in the mundane and routine activities of policing, while the latter are the site at which contested understandings of occupational culture, identity and understanding of the job are manifested and negotiated (Souhami 2020).…”

Perceptions of police use of surveillance cameras in Ghana; does procedural justice matter?

“…The underlining principle of PJT is that citizens' perceptions of fair treatment meted out by a legal authority are the basis of legitimacy and trustworthiness. Hence, community members are likely to accept even unfavorable police strategies or tactics provided these decisions are perceived as fair (Schaap and Saarikkoma ¨ki, 2022;Tyler, 1990). A number of reasons could be ascribed to the growing relevance of PJT in policing research in the last few decades.…”

“…Third, procedural justice is evidential in the discharge of police duties and responsibilities, especially with regard to offenders and victims of crime (Wolfe et al, 2016). Finally, though PJT was initially thought-out as a microlevel strategy (individual), contemporary issues such as an increase in proximity policing strategies have led to a shift toward its assessment at the macro level since the 1990s (Schaap and Saarikkoma ¨ki, 2022).…”

“…Notwithstanding the relevance of PJT in policing context, there are some criticisms of the theory. Schaap and Saarikkoma ¨ki (2022) argue that it is difficult to distinguish between empirical and theoretical perspectives of PJT; hence, policing researchers and practitioners overemphasize the relevance of the theory. Nevertheless, PJT is a useful cognitive tool in explaining community well-being with regard to POP-S and POP-L.…”