The Influence of Police Treatment and Decision-making on Perceptions of Procedural Justice: A Field Study

Abstract

Objectives: This study examines whether police behavior that signals higher quality of treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Methods: Analyses are based on data collected during police traffic controls of moped drivers in two Dutch cities over a period of six months. Police behavior was measured through systematic social observation (SSO), and data on perceived procedural justice were collected through face-to-face interviews immediately after the encounters. Linear regression analysis with bootstrap estimates was used (n = 218), with an overall perceived procedural justice scale as the dependent variable in all regressions. Independent variables included an overall observed procedural justice index and four separate scales of police treatment and decision-making. Results: We find no evidence that police behavior that signals fairer treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Conclusions: Our findings add to the currently very limited empirical evidence on an important question, and raise questions about a central idea, that more procedurally just treatment and decision making by authorities leads to an increase in perceived procedural justice and enhanced compliance. The first of these requires more research.

Reforming the police through procedural justice training: A multicity randomized trial at crime hot spots

“…When comparing post- to preintervention surveys, the PJ and SC conditions differed little in regard to community perceptions of PJ or police legitimacy (on the block or citywide, see Table 2 ; for full models see SI Appendix , Table S31 ; for similar findings from an observational data study, see ref. 35 ). At the same time, people living in SC hot spots were significantly more likely to see police officers as harassing people on their block ( P < 0.01) and using more force than necessary ( P < 0.05).…”

“…We do not find significant impacts of the intervention on police legitimacy measured either in terms of the hot spots themselves or the city overall. Another recent observational study of policing has produced similar outcomes regarding this relationship ( 35 ), suggesting that scholars need to reconsider issues of theory and measurement in understanding how procedurally just behavior impacts perceptions of legitimacy ( 36 ).…”

Procedural justice, legal orientations, and gang membership: Testing an alternative explanation to understand the gang–misconduct link

“…Much of the theoretical and empirical attention afforded to procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance has been aimed at policing, and for good reason (e.g., Nagin & Telep, 2017;Sunshine & Tyler, 2003;Terpstra & van Wijck, 2021;Thompson & Pickett, 2021;Tyler, 1990Tyler, , 2011White et al, 2016). Still, these concepts are perhaps even more salient in a different context of criminal justice: incarceration.…”

Toward Measuring Objective Procedural Justice: Commentary on Terpstra and van Wijck (2022)

“…As a result, PJT is hindered in its ability to explain how an individual transforms their interaction with an officer into a subjective judgment of procedural justice. This presents a problem when interpreting the findings of Terpstra and van Wijck (2022). 1 While it could be the case their results reflect that officers' behavior has no influence on judgments of procedural justice, it could also be the case that their results stem from misconceptions about the relation between objective behavior and subjective judgments embedded within their methods.…”

“…I commend Terpstra and van Wijck (2022) for heeding repeated calls (Nagin and Telep 2017;Tyler 2017) for more field work testing procedural justice theory (PJT). Their general conclusion-that behavior signaling fairer treatment and decision-making is unassociated with the procedural justice judgments of those interacting with police officers-represents a challenging finding to PJT, at least on the surface.…”