Building Trust and Cooperation with Police using Procedural Justice: The Importance of Police Legitimacy and Law Legitimacy

• In Event: Police Legitimacy and Procedural Justice (1): New Perspectives on Police-Citizen Relations

Abstract

Procedural justice can foster public trust in police and can promote the public’s willingness to work collaboratively with police. Theorizing suggests that procedural justice is effective because it enhances the perceived legitimacy of authorities, which motivates people’s intrinsic obligation to support authorities. In the current paper we examine an under-explored aspect of legitimacy; we examine how people also view the legitimacy of laws they are governed by (i.e., law legitimacy). We argue that while police legitimacy is important, perceptions of the law’s legitimacy might also influence how procedural justice promotes trust and cooperation, particularly in situations where the law might be contested. Drawing on survey data from 800 Muslims living in Australia we explore Muslims’ views of counter-terrorism policing and laws. We find that procedural justice, and perceptions of both police and law legitimacy are related to Muslims’ trust in police and their willingness to collaborate with police in crime control and counter-terrorism policing. However, police legitimacy is more important for predicting trust and cooperation in general crime control, while law legitimacy is more important in the counter terrorism context. Importantly, we reveal that legitimacy moderates the effect of procedural justice on trust and cooperation.

Authors

• Kristina Murphy, Griffith University

• Natasha Madon, Griffith University