Although the influence of procedural justice on citizens’ satisfaction and cooperation with police has been tested in several geopolitical contexts, this is the first study to examine the relationship between procedural justice and satisfaction with Kenya’s police and Kenya’s criminal justice system on a Kenyan college campus. Using a sample of 523 students from a prominent Kenyan university, we found that procedural justice and officer integrity predicted satisfaction with both Kenya’s police and criminal justice system. Also, more highly educated students (sophomores, juniors, and seniors, compared to freshmen) were more satisfied with both the Kenyan police and criminal justice system. Conversely, victims of crime in the community were less satisfied with Kenyan police, and students who had a negative personal experience with police were less satisfied with the country’s criminal justice system. Although instrumental factors of policing (e.g., police effectiveness) were not tested in this study, thus precluding a comparative assessment of normative and instrumental models of policing, this study contributes to the extant literature by pointing out the salience of procedural justice and officer integrity for improving the relationship between the police and the communities they are sworn to serve. The study’s implications for policy are discussed.
The current study examined the influence of race on juvenile court outcomes across various offense types. This study builds on previous research in the field by utilizing the symbolic threat perspective as a foundation for understanding differences in juvenile disposition. It is hypothesized that the influence of race varies across offense types (misdemeanors and felonies) for the pre‐detention and disposition outcomes. Data from a sample of juvenile court referrals from two Midwestern juvenile courts were utilized and partitioned by race. Results were mixed and not always in the hypothesized direction. However, the results indicated that race did have an influence on both pre and post adjudication juvenile court outcomes, an effect which varied by type of offense and race. This study illustrates the importance of examining juvenile court outcomes from a multi‐stage approach that includes legal and extra‐legal factors.
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