This paper extends Tyler's procedural justice model of public compliance with the law. Analysing data from a national probability sample of adults in England and Wales, we present a new conceptualisation of legitimacy based not just on the recognition of power but also the justification of power. We find that people accept the police's right to dictate appropriate behaviour, not only when they feel a duty to obey officers, but also when they believe that the institution acts according to a shared moral purpose with citizens. Highlighting a number of different routes by which institutions can influence citizen behaviour, our broader normative model provides a better framework for explaining why people are willing to comply with the law.Key words: Public confidence; public contact with the police; trust; legitimacy; compliance; policing by consent Word count: 9,874 with references and appendix; 9,992 with abstract, references and appendix. Reiner (2000: 55) has called the mystical sense of an identification between the police and the British people. It depends on the myth that police and people share a single set of coherent and consistent norms and values, and that the police have a unique function in using force if necessary to impose them. ' (Smith, 2007a: 280) Legitimacy is the right to rule and the recognition by the ruled of that right (Sternberger, 1968; Beetham, 1991; Coicaud, 2002;Tyler, 2006a; Bottoms and Tankebe, in press). Social institutions need legitimacy if they are to develop, operate, and reproduce themselves effectively (Easton, 1965). This is as true for the police as it is for other institutions of government. But peculiar to the police function is the statesponsored use of violence and force, the resolution of conflict, and the enforcement of legally-prescribed conduct and rule-following (Banton, 1964; Bittner, 1970;Reiner, 2010). Police legitimacy and public consent are necessary conditions of the justifiable use of state power: those who are subject to policing must see the police as right and proper (Tyler, 2006b(Tyler, , 2011a Schulolfer et al., in press). People's motivations to comply with the law lie at the heart of crime-control policy. Many criminal policies are premised on the idea that compliance is secured by the presence of formal policing and severe sanctions for wrong-doers (Tyler, 2007;Nagin, 1998;Kahan, 1999). Social control mechanisms and credible risks of sanction hope to persuade rational-choice individuals that -while otherwise desirable -a criminal act is not worth the risk (Tyler et al., in press). If offenders are responsive primarily to the risk of punishment, then agents of criminal justice must send out signals of strength, effectiveness, force, detection and justice (Hough et al., 2010). 'Legitimacy depends on whatBut people's compliance may stem at least as much, if not more, from personal commitment to law-abiding behaviour (Tyler, 2006b;Robinson and Darley, 2004). Based upon the idea that people comply with the law because they believe it is the rig...

No abstract

This paper extends Tyler's procedural justice model of public compliance with the law. Analysing data from a national probability sample of adults in England and Wales, we present a new conceptualisation of legitimacy based not just on the recognition of power but also the justification of power. We find that people accept the police's right to dictate appropriate behaviour, not only when they feel a duty to obey officers, but also when they believe that the institution acts according to a shared moral purpose with citizens. Highlighting a number of different routes by which institutions can influence citizen behaviour, our broader normative model provides a better framework for explaining why people are willing to comply with the law.Key words: Public confidence; public contact with the police; trust; legitimacy; compliance; policing by consent Word count: 9,874 with references and appendix; 9,992 with abstract, references and appendix. Reiner (2000: 55) has called the mystical sense of an identification between the police and the British people. It depends on the myth that police and people share a single set of coherent and consistent norms and values, and that the police have a unique function in using force if necessary to impose them. ' (Smith, 2007a: 280) Legitimacy is the right to rule and the recognition by the ruled of that right (Sternberger, 1968; Beetham, 1991; Coicaud, 2002;Tyler, 2006a; Bottoms and Tankebe, in press). Social institutions need legitimacy if they are to develop, operate, and reproduce themselves effectively (Easton, 1965). This is as true for the police as it is for other institutions of government. But peculiar to the police function is the statesponsored use of violence and force, the resolution of conflict, and the enforcement of legally-prescribed conduct and rule-following (Banton, 1964; Bittner, 1970;Reiner, 2010). Police legitimacy and public consent are necessary conditions of the justifiable use of state power: those who are subject to policing must see the police as right and proper (Tyler, 2006b(Tyler, , 2011a Schulolfer et al., in press). People's motivations to comply with the law lie at the heart of crime-control policy. Many criminal policies are premised on the idea that compliance is secured by the presence of formal policing and severe sanctions for wrong-doers (Tyler, 2007;Nagin, 1998;Kahan, 1999). Social control mechanisms and credible risks of sanction hope to persuade rational-choice individuals that -while otherwise desirable -a criminal act is not worth the risk (Tyler et al., in press). If offenders are responsive primarily to the risk of punishment, then agents of criminal justice must send out signals of strength, effectiveness, force, detection and justice (Hough et al., 2010). 'Legitimacy depends on whatBut people's compliance may stem at least as much, if not more, from personal commitment to law-abiding behaviour (Tyler, 2006b;Robinson and Darley, 2004). Based upon the idea that people comply with the law because they believe it is the rig...

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to test theories of organizational justice in the context of a police agency. Design/methodology/approach -Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyze data from a survey of officers in a police force in England. Findings -The SEM showed that organizational justice was associated with positive attitudes towards serving members of the public. This relationship was mediated by commitment to elements of community policing and, for community police officers, by general satisfaction with the organization. Practical implications -The findings suggest that police managers committed to implementing process-based policing policies may need to ensure their organizations also implement internal policies and practices that are procedurally fair. Originality/value -This study is one of the first to apply the well established literature on organizational justice to the context of policing, and the first to examine the impact of organizational justice on alignment with community policing and the service model.

How can police officers be encouraged to commit to changing organizational and personal practice? In this paper we test organizational justice theories that suggest that fair processes and procedures enhance rule compliance and commitment to the organization and its goals. We pay particular attention to (a) tensions between the role of group identity in organizational justice models and classic concerns about 'cop culture'; and (b) the danger of over-identification with the organization and the counterproductive types of compliance this may engender. Results suggest that organizational justice enhances identification with the police organization, encourages officers to take on new roles, increases positive views of community policing, and is associated with greater self-reported compliance. Identification with the organization has generally positive implications; however, there is some danger that process fairness may encourage unthinking compliance with orders and instructions.