Procedural Justice and Narrow Instrumentalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-67
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Watson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Proper Place ◽  
Intrinsic Values

One persistent aspect of accounts of procedural justice relates to the role and value of ‘respect’ in citizens’ encounters with the police. In privileging procedures over outcomes, procedural justice—as standardly conceived—provides an optimistic view of the capacity of the police to bridge differences, interests, and values through respectful practices and decision-making. This chapter reflects on that familiar narrative and proposes that respectful relations have become—however unintentionally—a subsidiary concern of policing scholars and practitioners alike. Crime control outcomes increasingly occupy a central place on the intellectual agenda and, in practice, there is evidence of procedural justice being pursued on largely pragmatic ‘law and order’ grounds. When these instrumental concerns are not held in their proper place, we risk the erosion not only of respect but also of a range of other intrinsic values—transparency, neutrality, fairness, recognition, voice—that, taken together, comprise the very idea of procedural justice itself.

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

2021 ◽  
pp. 002242782110309
Author(s):  
Bo L. Terpstra ◽  
Peter W. van Wijck
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Police Behavior ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Social Observation ◽  
Perceived Procedural Justice ◽  
Dutch Cities

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.

The Link between Communicative Intelligence and Procedural Justice

2016 ◽  
pp. 456-478
Author(s):  
Renée J. Mitchell ◽  
Kendall Von Zoller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Social Arrangement ◽  
Police Contact ◽  
Psychological Property ◽  
Perception Of Police

The public's perception of police legitimacy is viewed through the lens of procedural justice (Tyler, 2003). Legitimacy it is a perception held by an audience (Tankebe & Liebling, 2013). Tyler (2006, p. 375) defines legitimacy as “a psychological property of an authority, institution, or social arrangement that leads those connected to it to believe that it is appropriate, proper, and just.” Four aspects of the police contact that affects a citizen's view: active participation in the decision-making, the decision-making is neutral and objective, trustworthy motives, and being treated with dignity and respect (Tyler, 2004). Accordingly an officer should act in a way that supports citizen's active participation, conveys an air of neutrality, and enhances dignity and respect. One way an officer can transmit his intent is through communicative intelligence. Communicative intelligence is a communication theory based on five capabilities (Zoller, 2015). These authors intend to link communicative intelligence to behaviors officers should engage in to enhance PJ and improve PL.

Justice Beyond the Courts

E-Justice ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 65-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Adler ◽  
Paul Henman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Social Security Systems ◽  
Security Systems ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Competing Models ◽  
Normative Models ◽  
Administrative Justice

This chapter considers the implications of computerisation for procedural justice in social security. It outlines an approach to the analysis of administrative justice—defined as the justice inherent in routine administrative decision making—that is derived from Jerry Mashaw’s pioneering study Bureaucratic Justice. This approach explains the prevailing system of procedural justice in terms of the ‘trade-offs’ between six normative models of adminstrative decision making. The six models are associated with bureaucratic, professional, legal, managerial, consumerist, and market forms of decision making, and the ‘trade-offs’ reflect the outcomes of power struggle between different groups of social actors who champion the various models. This chapter attempts to determine whether, and if so how, computerisation affects the balance of power between the competing models of procedural justice and the groups of social actors who seek to promote them. It is based on an expert-informant study carried out by the authors. Two indicators for each of these six models were formulated and expert informants in 13 OECD countries were asked first to rate their importance on a 1–5 scale and second to assess, using another 1–5 scale, whether computerisation had made them more or less important. The main findings reported in the chapter suggest first that bureaucracy, followed by managerialism and legality are the most important determinants of administrative justice in social security, while the market followed by professionalism and consumerism are the least important, and second that the effect of computerisation has been to further entrench the bureaucratic and managerial models and undermine the professional model. The chapter relates these findings to data on to the aims of computerisation, the extent to which social security systems had embraced computerisation, and the emphasis that social security systems placed on data protection. In addition to generalising about the experiences of the 13 countries in the study, the chapter also describes the experiences of individual countries. It concludes that computerisation has altered the characteristics of service delivery by promoting some forms of administrative justice over others in particular by strengthening ‘top-down’ and managerialist forms of accountability at the expense of ‘bottom-up’ and rights-based approaches, and ends with a plea for a greater research focus on the administration of welfare and its justice implications.

scholarly journals Young, Accused and Detained; Awful, But Lawful? Pre-Trial Detention and Children’s Rights Protection in Contemporary Western Societies

Youth Justice ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-261
Author(s):  
Yannick van den Brink
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Youth Crime ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Research Findings

This article explores the underlying explanations of the high reliance on pre-trial detention of children across contemporary Western societies, with a particular focus on the Netherlands. Empirical research findings are used to identify patterns and functions of pre-trial detention in the administration of youth justice. In addition, two driving forces behind pre-trial detention decision-making are explored after scrutinizing the penological underpinnings of youth justice and youth crime control in Western societies. Ultimately, the article addresses to what extent and how international children’s rights standards can effectively protect child suspects and accused from excessive, unlawful and arbitrary pre-trial detention.

How Do the Components of Procedural Justice and Driver Race Influence Encounter-Specific Perceptions of Police Legitimacy During Traffic Stops?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1200-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Starr J. Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Procedural justice is often recognized as the key antecedent of police legitimacy. However, less is known about how the components of procedural justice, treatment and decision-making quality, influence perceptions of police legitimacy. This study utilizes a 2 × 2 × 2 survey experiment to explore the direct effects of the components of procedural justice, and the moderating effects of driver race, on perceptions of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy. Results indicate that treatment quality is a more salient predictor of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy than decision-making quality. In addition, simple effects analyses reveal that driver race moderates perceptions of encounter-specific fairness but not encounter-specific perceptions of legitimacy. The findings imply that police officers should emphasize respectful treatment during encounters with the public.

Influence of Emotions on the Acceptance of an Oil Drilling Project

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Ruiz ◽  
Rosario Marrero ◽  
Bernardo Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Oil Drilling ◽  
Drilling Project

In 2014, the Canary Islands were exposed to a decision-making process for an oil drilling project 80 kilometers offshore. Whereas the national government was in favor of oil drilling, the local government was against it because of the environmental impact, and the effect on tourism and the coastal ecosystem. In this study, we analyze the reactions of the local community to this project by connecting beliefs, perceived benefits, perceived risk, procedural justice, negative emotions, and acceptance through a tested structural equation model. The results showed that acceptance was essentially explained by perceived benefits and negative emotions, whereas perceived benefits and procedural justice predicted negative emotions. Several differences between males and females were found. These results are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the effects and emotional reactions of this type of project on the population before the final decision making.

Policing and procedural justice: a state-of-the-art review

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chirstopher Donner ◽  
Jon Maskaly ◽  
Lorie Fridell ◽  
Wesley G. Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The Body ◽  
Organizational Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Meta Review ◽  
Police Personnel ◽  
Ebsco Host ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically and comprehensively review the literature on procedural justice in policing, in the context of both police-citizen encounters and organizational decision making. Design/methodology/approach – The current study reflects a narrative meta-review of procedural justice within policing generated through a systematic and exhaustive search of several academic databases (e.g. Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminology: A SAGE Full Text Collection, EBSCO Host, PsychInfo, etc.). Findings – The current meta-review identified 46 studies that matched the selection criteria. In this body of research, 28 studies analyzed procedural justices within the context of police-citizen encounters and 18 studies examined procedural justice within the context of police organization decision making. In general, the body of research yields two main findings. First, citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice during interactions with the police positively affect their views of police legitimacy, satisfaction with police services, satisfaction with interaction disposition, trust in the police, and confidence in the police. Second, the perception of police personnel of procedural justice in organizational decision making positively influences their views of decision outcomes, trust in the administration, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, desire to stay with the agency, and overall views of the agency. Practical implications – The practical implications derived from this meta-review are twofold. First, police personnel engaged in police-citizen encounters reap many benefits when they treat citizens with fairness and maintain an encounter process that is marked by objectivity and equity. Second, police supervisors and administrators reap benefits when their subordinates perceive that there is procedural justice within the organization. Originality/value – The state-of-the-art meta-review on procedural justice in policing is the first of its kind. This study comprehensively reviews the literature on two important bodies of policing research. This study will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore procedural justice issues in policing, and for police managers/administrators who wish to strengthen citizens’ perceptions of the police and their employees’ perceptions of the organization.

Paternalism and the Birth of Professional Police Organization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Mitrani
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Daily Activity ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Police Organization ◽  
Chicago Police Department ◽  
Chicago Police

This chapter examines how the Chicago Police Department evolved into a professional police organization based on the ideology of paternalism. The election of Thomas Dyer as mayor in 1856 started a five-year period of contestation over the basic shape of the new police force. On the surface, this fight pitted law-and-order Republicans against Democratic supporters of immigrants and looser law enforcement. But party politics tells only a fraction of the story. The underlying dispute was between two conflicting visions of the police, each of which had supporters particularly within the Republican Party. Some members of both parties, most notably Dyer, a Democratic, and Republican Mayor John Wentworth, sought to fit the police into the older paternalistic method of keeping order. This chapter considers how the Chicago police came to occupy a central place in city machine politics and discusses Wentworth's organizational police policies that were consistent with his broader paternalistic vision of the institution. It also describes the police's daily activity between 1855 and 1862, including dealing with the problems arising from the Civil War.

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