Content area
Full text
Am J Crim Just (2014) 39:471492
DOI 10.1007/s12103-013-9230-6
Frank V. Ferdik & Scott E. Wolfe & Nick Blasco
Received: 14 October 2013 /Accepted: 25 November 2013 /
Published online: 12 December 2013# Southern Criminal Justice Association 2013
Abstract Although procedural justice has been a key predictor of police legitimacy, recent findings illustrate that other factors influence this outcome (i.e., low self-control and ethnic identity). However, no research to date has evaluated whether individual-level informal social controls impact police legitimacy evaluations. Survey data are used to examine the influence of parental attachment, school commitment and procedural justice on perceived police legitimacy. While procedural justice significantly predicted legitimacy evaluations, no significant relationships were observed between parental attachment, school commitment and police legitimacy. The effects of procedural justice on legitimacy assessments, however, were modestly significantly moderated by parental attachment and school commitment. To maintain legitimacy, police officers should interact with citizens in procedurally fair manners. These results should also be of value concerning how parents and schools legally socialize adolescents.
Keywords Procedural justice . Legitimacy. Informal social control . Social bond . Process-based model of regulation
Introduction
Public willingness to voluntarily comply with the law and cooperate with justice system officials has been a topic of considerable research attention and is of interest to criminal justice practitioners. Although police officers can gain citizen compliance through the threat of or application of coercive measures, a growing body of literature contends that the
We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments, which have subsequently been reviewed and incorporated into the manuscript.
F. V. Ferdik (*) : S. E. Wolfe : N. Blasco
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, 1305 Greene St, Columbia, SC 29208, USAe-mail: [email protected]
S. E. Wolfee-mail: [email protected]
N. Blascoe-mail: [email protected]
Informal Social Controls, Procedural Justiceand Perceived Police Legitimacy: Do Social Bonds Influence Evaluations of Police Legitimacy?
472 Am J Crim Just (2014) 39:471492
process-based model of policing is a more effective (or at least safer) means for achieving such ends (Thibault & Walker, 1975; Tyler, 1990, 2006; Tyler & Huo, 2002). Process-based policing is grounded in the principles of procedural justice theory which asserts that when law enforcement officials interact with the public in fair, unbiased, and trustworthy manners,...