Street Stops and Police Legitimacy: Teachable Moments in Young Urban Men's Legal Socialization

Abstract

An examination of the influence of street stops on the legal socialization of young men showed an association between the number of police stops they see or experience and a diminished sense of police legitimacy. This association was not primarily a consequence of the number of stops or of the degree of police intrusion during those stops. Rather, the impact of involuntary contact with the police was mediated by evaluations of the fairness of police actions and judgments about whether the police were acting lawfully. Whether the police were viewed as exercising their authority fairly and lawfully shaped the impact of stops on respondents' general judgments about police legitimacy. Fairness and lawfulness judgments, in turn, were influenced by the number of stops and the degree of police intrusion during those stops. Similarly, judgments of justice and lawfulness shaped the estimated influence of judgments of the general character of police behavior in the community on general perceptions of police legitimacy. These results suggest that the widespread use of street stops undermined legitimacy. Lowered legitimacy had an influence on both law abidingness and the willingness to cooperate with legal authorities. The findings show that people were influenced by perceptions of police injustice/illegality.

“It Depends on the Outcome”: Prisoners, Grievances, and Perceptions of Justice

“…They argue instead that for African-American motorists, "official politeness could not convert an otherwise offensive police stop into a fair and legitimate one" (Epp et al 2014: 5;cf. Geller et al 2014;Tyler et al 2014). Epp et al's study once again illustrates the power of social context in evaluations of fairness and justice and in attributions of legitimacy.…”

“…Numerous scholars have found that some version of this concept of procedural justice is positively related to people's satisfaction-regardless of outcomes-in a variety of venues, including the workplace (Tyler and Blader 2000;Tyler et al 2007), criminal courts (Casper et al 1988;Landis and Goodstein 1986;, traffic and misdemeanor court (Tyler 1984), police encounters (Tankebe 2009;Tyler 1990;Tyler et al 2014), contract disputes (Hollander-Blumoff and Tyler 2008), tort claims (Lind et al 1990), airport screening (Hasisi and Weisburd 2011), and attitudes toward government (Carman 2010;Tyler 1994). Over the last few years, researchers have argued that this positive relationship between perceptions of procedural justice and satisfaction with outcomes is not unique to the United States (Carman 2010;Hasisi and Weisburd 2011;Jackson et al 2012;Tankebe 2009).…”

“…This formulation of the dominant importance of procedural justice is often coupled with a concern for legitimacy. Specifically, it is argued that people's perceptions of procedural justice are important contributors to their satisfaction with outcomes-independent of the substance of those outcomes-and in turn are a key component in the legitimacy accorded the relevant authorities and institutions (Carman 2010;Hollander-Blumoff and Tyler 2011;Lind and Tyler 1988;Reisig and Mesko 2009;Tankebe 2009;Tyler 1990;Tyler and Blader 2000;Tyler et al 2007Tyler et al , 2014Vidmar 1990). In their study of people's attitudes about police stops and police legitimacy, Tyler et al (2014: 775; emphasis added) report that "perceived procedural justice" was "the most important observed element that respondents reacted to .…”

“…Many scholars have examined the psychological, social, cultural, and political dimensions of fairness and perceptions of justice. A plethora of empirical findings in the sociolegal field documents the relationship between people's perceptions of fair legal processes and their satisfaction with legal outcomes (Carman 2010;Casper et al 1988;Hasisi and Weisburd 2011;Hollander-Blumoff andTyler 2008, 2011;Jackson et al 2012;Johnson et al 2014;Lind and Tyler 1988;Thibaut and Walker 1975;Tyler 1984Tyler , 1990Tyler , 1994Tyler , 2003Tyler et al 2014;Vidmar 1990). According to this scholarship, when people perceive a decision-making process to be procedurally fair, they are likely to be satisfied with the outcome even when it does not favor them.…”

Trust and Discipline: Adolescents’ Institutional and Teacher Trust Predict Classroom Behavioral Engagement following Teacher Discipline

“…Legal socialization describes the processes by which children and adolescents develop trust in rule-setting and rule-enforcing authority figures, their perceptions of laws and rules as fair and legitimate, and their obligation to follow those rules (Fagan & Tyler, 2005;Tyler, Fagan, & Geller, 2014). Procedural justice, which plays a critical role in legal socialization, posits how perceptions of trust influence behavioral cooperation (Lind & Tyler, 1988;Tyler & Huo, 2002).…”