Does procedural justice influence general satisfaction with police? A study from a hard-to-reach population of immigrants in the United States

Abstract

This study is the first to examine the impact of procedural justice on general satisfaction with the police in a sample of Ghanaian immigrants in the United States. After refining the legitimacy variable used in prior research, trust was found to load disparately from obligation to obey. Obligation to obey was thus employed as an independent variable in the regression analyses. Procedural justice was found to be the strongest predictor of satisfaction with police, although effectiveness and personal experiences also significantly predicted satisfaction. These results establish the importance of procedural justice in gaining satisfaction with the police, and show that obligation may be a discrete variable from legitimacy. Overall, this study's findings show that the police should weave together normative and instrumental models of policing for increased satisfaction with the police in the Ghanaian immigrant community.

Procedural Justice, Obligation to Obey, and Cooperation with Police in a Sample of Ghanaian Immigrants

“…Research on the experiences of those who have immigrated to the United States from Ghana highlights the many complexities of their relationship with U.S. culture and structures of authority (e.g., Pryce, 2016a, 2016b). First, as noted by Ackah (2000), respect for authority is an important cultural value in Ghana.…”

Is dissatisfaction with police inevitable? Testing an integrated model of motivational postures and procedural justice in police-citizen contacts

“…Public satisfaction with police is increasingly on the agenda of policing agencies, governments and academics (e.g. Pryce, 2016;Weitzer & Tuch, 2005). Without the support of the public, police cannot be fully effective in their fight against crime.…”

Police Procedural Justice, Lawyer Procedural Justice, Judge Procedural Justice, and Satisfaction With the Criminal Justice System: Findings From a Neglected Region of the World

“…In answering our first research question, we note that police procedural justice was statistically significantly related to satisfaction with the criminal justice system. This result is not surprising, as the effect of police procedural justice on satisfaction, compliance, and cooperation with police is clearly established in the criminological literature (Mazerolle et al, 2013;Murphy et al, 2008;Pryce, 2018;Pryce et al, 2017;Sunshine & Tyler, 2003;Tyler et al, 2010;Wolfe et al, 2016). Kenyan students who believe that the country's police officers act in a procedurally just manner are more satisfied with and confident in the country's criminal justice system.…”

“…This stream of comparative research is essential because it allows researchers and practitioners to "expand knowledge about the applicability of findings in other jurisdictions, and also to expand U.S.-based knowledge by confirming existing findings, or modifying existing knowledge and suggesting new or modified areas for research" (Hinds & Murphy, 2007, p. 30). Pryce (2018), in his study of Ghanaian immigrants' satisfaction with the U.S. police, noted that assessing "public satisfaction with the police is important because, on the one hand, police services are not really subject to the principles of a market economy" (p. 32). Because community members in need of police services are unable to choose between competing agencies-the services the police provide must be accepted for what they are, even if deemed unsatisfactory (Cheurprakobkit & Bartsch, 2001)-there is the need to continually understand what factors would improve police-community relations, as well as increase citizen satisfaction with the police.…”