Perceptions of Procedural Justice: Convergent and Divergent Perspectives of Police, Disadvantaged Youth and their Families

• In Event: Police Legitimacy and Procedural Justice (2): New Perspectives on Police-Citizen Relations

Abstract

Community perceptions of police procedural justice have been widely studied. Much less attention has been paid to the perspectives of the multiple actors involved in police-citizen interactions. In this paper, we explore perceptions of procedural justice across a sample of disadvantaged youth, their families, teachers, police officers, and independent observers within the context of a police-led intervention for reducing truancy (the ABILITY Truancy Trial). The intervention was conceptualized as a third party policing partnerships for dealing with truancy utilizing restorative practices within a family conference setting. We measured student and parent perceptions of the procedural justice of the authority figures (including police and teachers) and police and teacher self-reports on procedural justness of the other authority figures within the interaction. We find some convergence, yet some divergence in these perceptions.

Authors

• Emma Antrobus, University of Queensland

• Sarah Bennett, University of Queensland

• Emina Prguda, University of Queensland

• Lorraine Mazerolle, University of Queensland