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

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 Impact of Police Behavior During Death Notifications on Mental Health of the Bereaved: A Cross-Sectional Study

The delivery of death notifications may affect the mental health of bereaved individuals. Police officers are often the first people with whom the bereaved have contact in this exceptional situation. Therefore, it is essential to assess the behavior of police officers and the impact on the bereaved. We examined the experiences of 86 individuals who received the notification through the police and assessed symptoms of prolonged grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The interaction with police was associated with posttraumatic avoidance behavior and the presence of another supporting person was associated with higher scores of depression. Handing out information material and staying with the bereaved was related to a positive evaluation of police behavior. It appears important to identify helpful and problematic behavior for a better understanding and for an adaptation of existing guidelines.

Beyond the quantitative and qualitative divide: The salience of discourse in procedural justice policing research

The dominant methods of studying police have involved quantitative analyses of surveys and systematic social observations of police behavior or qualitative methods such as ethnographies and interviews. The same trend applies to procedural justice research in policing. In prior works, the question of how police officers and citizens interact in situ is absent. We argue that procedural justice police research should move beyond the quantitative/qualitative distinction and consider other ways to collect and analyze data. We begin by providing a methodological critique of procedural justice research, and demonstrate the assumptions of discourse in extant works before we provide a blueprint for how to incorporate discourse analytic methods in the study of procedural justice and policing.

Risky Situations: Sources of Racial Disparity in Police Behavior

Swencionis & Goff identified five situations that tend to increase the likelihood that an individual police officer may behave in a racially disparate way: discretion, inexperience, salience of crime, cognitive demand, and identity threat. This article applies their framework to the realities of police work, identifying situations and assignments in which these factors are likely to influence officers’ behavior. These insights may identify opportunities for further empirical research into racial disparities in such contexts and may highlight institutional reforms and policy changes that could reduce officers’ vulnerability to risks that can result in racially unjust actions.