Embedding procedural justice in policing

This chapter considers approaches to embedding principles of procedural justice in policing. Leadership, with strong support from middle managers is clearly essential. One dimension to this is to convey to the workforce the practical benefits that flow from the approach: cooperation and compliance from the public, greater officer safety, fewer complaints from the public. Another important dimension to for leaders to ensure that the ethos within the force is consistent with principles of organisational justice. There must be organisational fairness within police organisations. Organisational fairness is also closely correlated with officers’ sense of self-legitimacy, or their confidence in wielding authority – and self-legitimacy is another precondition for getting the workforce to adopt principles of procedural justice. Training is another strand in the change strategy, and the results of evaluations are positive. Finally the trend towards police professionalisation may prove complementary to, and supportive of, procedural justice approaches to policing.

Ethics, justice and policing

This chapter explores ethical issues that are raised by procedural justice approaches to policing. Both in individual contacts between police and public and at a societal level, problems can result from the use of low-visibility techniques for securing compliance. There is a risk that people’s choices about compliance with the law are being reshaped by stealth: their autonomy as citizens may be eroded when police officers manage them into compliance through a display of civility and respect. At a societal level, the appearance of the police as an even-handed and fair institution can serve as an ‘ideological cloak’ that hides from public view structural inequality and unfairness. The chapter argues that these risks can be mitigated if police commit to the normative foundation of procedural justice, and do not simply focus on the instrumental benefits of the approach. They need to recognise their duty to treat citizens fairly and with respect.

The policing of minority groups

This chapter examines trust in the police and perceptions of police legitimacy among minority groups, focussing on those from migrant and ethnic minorities. These groups are disproportionately ensnared in the justice system in most ethnically diverse Western countries, and they are over-represented in their prison populations. The chapter offers an explanation for these patterns that focusses on the progressive social and economic marginalisation of migrants from visible minority groups over time, resulting from discriminatory treatment in systems of education, employment and justice. Migrants have generally arrived in their new countries with optimism and positive attitudes towards the police and other institutions of their chosen country. Over time and over generations, this positive outlook is overshadowed by negative experiences of the police, by falling trust in the police, and by reductions in levels of legitimacy conferred on the police. The chapter discusses ways of recovering relations between police and minority groups.

Closing thoughts

This chapter discusses some question raised, but not fully answered, in earlier chapters. The first is whether we require police to behave morally, or ethically. It argues that the distinction between ethical and moral behaviour is a significant one, and that police officers should be assesses against ethical standards of behaviour rather than their moral reasoning. Secondly there are questions relating to the risks of coupling policing and the law too closely to public morality. The chapter argues that there are boundaries between criminal law and public morality that the police should be very cautious about crossing. Finally the chapter stresses the importance of foregrounding the normative foundations upon which procedural justice theory is built, which are best analysed within frameworks of human rights, social rights and democratic values. This will mitigate the risk that the procedural justice approach will be seen simply as a series of behavioural tricks and shortcuts for securing compliance.