Abstract
Police require voluntary cooperation from the general public to be effective in controlling crime and maintaining order. Research shows that citizens are more likely to comply and cooperate with police and obey the law when they view the police as legitimate. The most common pathway that the police use to increase citizen perceptions of legitimacy is through the use of procedural justice. Procedural justice, as described in the literature, comprises four essential components. These components are citizen participation in the proceedings prior to an authority reaching a decision (or voice), perceived neutrality of the authority in making the decision, whether or not the authority showed dignity and respect toward citizens throughout the interaction, and whether or not the authority conveyed trustworthy motives. Police departments throughout the world are implicitly and explicitly weaving the dialogue of these four principles of procedural justice (treating people with dignity and respect, giving citizens “voice” during encounters, being neutral in decision making, and conveying trustworthy motives) into their operational policing programs and interventions
Highlights
Police require voluntary cooperation from the general public to be effective in controlling crime and maintaining order
Notwithstanding the variability in the mode in which legitimacy policing is delivered and the complexities around measurement of legitimacy outcomes, our review shows that the dialogue component of front-line police-led interventions is important for promoting citizen satisfaction, confidence, compliance and cooperation with the police, and for enhancing perceptions of procedural justice
In Appendix 1, we provide a narrative of the studies that included an evaluation of a police-led legitimacy intervention designed to increase police legitimacy with or without a design or data that enabled further statistical synthesis
Summary
Police require voluntary cooperation from the general public to be effective in controlling crime and maintaining order. Research shows that citizens are more likely to comply and cooperate with police and obey the law when they view the police as legitimate. Police require voluntary cooperation from the general public to be effective in controlling crime They need citizens to comply with their directives and they need people to demonstrate a tacit willingness to obey the law in general. The key defining feature of a legitimate authority is that people feel obliged to voluntarily comply with that authority’s directives. This voluntary compliance is distinct from compliance out of fear of punishment or expectations of reward (Tyler, 2006). Evidence shows that it is a person’s belief in the legitimacy of the authority or institution issuing a command that “leads people to feel that the authority or institution is entitled to be deferred to and obeyed” (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003, p. 514)
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