Legitimacy Crisis? The Nexus Between constituent-defined Police Legitimacy and Attitudes Toward Police

• In Event: Contemplating the Meaning and Basis of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy

Abstract

Legitimacy is a debated term, with scholars defining legitimacy as voluntary acceptance of government authority without protest, trust, confidence and more. Despite little consensus on how to define legitimacy, most agree it is important because legitimacy leads to many desired outcomes, including compliance with the law, cooperation with authorities, support for empowering authorities and less support for crime.

Given recent police-public tensions, media commentators, academics, politicians and citizens have been discussing police legitimacy – rather, the loss of police legitimacy. But, how do citizens understand this discussion? What do people mean when they use the term “legitimacy”? And, how do citizens’ definitions of legitimacy connect to their attitudes toward their police?

To answer this question, in the spring of 2015, a random sample of 600 residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was asked how they define police legitimacy and whether, based on this definition, they considered their local police to be legitimate. Participants were also surveyed on their contact with the police and their confidence in their local police. The results of this survey will be discussed.

Author

• Jennifer Gibbs, Penn State Harrisburg