Is dissatisfaction with police inevitable? Testing an integrated model of motivational postures and procedural justice in police-citizen contacts

Abstract

In this paper we consider whether pre-existing defiant postures shape citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice and satisfaction in police-citizen encounters. Utilizing longitudinal survey data we examine 440 people who reported having personal contact with police in the 12-month period preceding the second survey. We find defiance at Time 1 results in lower perceptions of procedural justice and satisfaction with police-citizen encounters at Time 2. Importantly, procedural justice fully mediates the relationship between defiance and satisfaction with police. These findings suggest that how citizens view police coming into a police-citizen encounter can impact their perceptions of procedural justice and, in turn, their satisfaction with the encounter. Testing a model of citizen defiance during police-citizen contacts is important because it helps us to better understand the way in which preconceived understandings of the police contribute to citizen interpretations of police-citizen encounters.