University Student Perceptions of Police Legitimacy and Procedural Justice

• In Event: Campus Policing and Perceptions of Police By University Students

Abstract

For the past decade,police legitimacy and procedural justice have been major areas of interest for criminal justice and police scholars. However within the past few years, news outlets and social media users have forcefully joined the conversation, largely driven by social movements and incidents occurring on University campuses. Despite these co-occurring interests, very few scholars have examined student perceptions of police legitimacy. Using a sample of students from a mid-sized rural university located in the Pacific Northwest, we examine the unique relationship between college students and perceptions of police legitimacy and procedural justice. We compare the legitimacy of students’ hometown police perceptions with those of university-police perceptions, while refining components surrounding procedural justice. We seek to forward discussion of policing in universities as well as procedural justice as we move into a new era in policing.

Authors

• Jillian Shafer, University of Cincinnati

• Cody J. Stoddard, Central Washington University

• Michael Harrod, Central Washington University