Evaluating the relative impact of positive and negative encounters with police: a randomized experiment

Procedural injustice, police legitimacy, and officer gender: A vignette‐based test of the invariance thesis

“…Procedural justice judgements among the general public concerning how legal officials exercise their authority have been linked to a number of desirable outcomes – police legitimacy, cooperating with the police, and obeying laws – that can help to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system (see Donner, Maskaly, Fridell, & Jennings, ; Tankebe, ; Walters & Bolger, ). Consistent with classic policing scholarship (Reiss, ), contemporary research demonstrates that police actions that embody the principles of procedural justice (e.g., participation, neutrality, and trustworthy motives) are beneficial during police–citizen encounters (Maguire, Lowrey, & Johnson, ; McCluskey, Mastrofski, & Parks, ; Tyler & Huo, ). This same line of research has also revealed that police behavior that is incongruous with the concept of procedural justice elevates the likelihood of negative outcomes (Reisig, Mays, & Telep, ).…”

“…The results of this study add to the mounting evidence that the failure among legal authorities to treat individuals fairly contributes to unsupportive attitudes and beliefs. Prior research has shown this to be the case, especially when it comes to traffic stops (see Maguire et al, ; Reisig et al, ). This study observed that negative treatment also has consequences when police respond to citizens' calls for service, which is an important part of the police mandate.…”

“…A good portion of such studies focus on traffic stops because it is one of the most common reasons why people come into contact with the police. Using video vignettes of traffic stops, Maguire et al (2017) found that participants who were assigned the procedural injustice stimulus reported significantly lower levels 1 There has been some controversy surrounding the conceptualization and measurement of legitimacy. Bottoms and Tankebe (2012) and Tankebe (2013) raise issues regarding the traditional conceptualization of legitimacy, suggesting that a dialogic approach (emphasizing the variable role that dimensions of legitimacy can have across societies) is the best strategy for measuring legitimacy in a criminal justice setting (see Tankebe, Reisig, & Wang, 2016).…”

“…A good portion of such studies focus on traffic stops because it is one of the most common reasons why people come into contact with the police. Using video vignettes of traffic stops, Maguire et al () found that participants who were assigned the procedural injustice stimulus reported significantly lower levels of trust in the police and a reduced sense of obligation to obey (also see Barkworth & Murphy, ; Johnson, Wilson, Maguire, & Lowrey‐Kinberg, ; Lowrey, Maguire, & Bennett, ). Reisig et al's () vignette study tested the effect of procedural injustice during two types of police‐initiated encounters – noise complaints and traffic stops.…”

Evaluating the shared and unique predictors of legal cynicism and police legitimacy from adolescence into early adulthood

“…The term “police legitimacy,” however, is often used to capture broader perceptions of police performance, including procedural justice, lawfulness, trust, effectiveness, distributive justice, and obligation to obey the police (Bolger & Walters, ; Mazerolle, Bennett, Davis, Sargeant, & Manning, ; Tankebe, ; Tyler, ). Notably, there is some debate over the definition and measurement of police legitimacy regarding whether the construct obligation to obey should be included as a dimension of legitimacy or an outcome (Maguire, Lowrey, & Johnson, ; Tankebe, ). According to Tankebe (), the concept of obligation is a much broader concept than legitimacy, which can be influenced in part by normative judgments, instrumental concerns (e.g., fear), as well as more fatalistic or pragmatic acquiescence.…”