Police Self-Legitimacy and Moral Commitments

• In Event: Self-legitimacy in Criminal Justice: A Comparative Approach

Abstract

Legitimacy shadows every aspect of police work. Police legitimacy concerns an identity formation and attribution in a multiplicity of continuous dialogues between police officers and their audiences. Yet, prior criminological analysis focused almost exclusively on the attributions of legitimacy by power-audiences. Recent studies have drawn attention to police self-recognition of their right to power and potential role of an identity of legitimate power-holder in shaping officers’ decision choices and orientations to work. Drawing on survey data from Slovenian police officers, this paper explores the factors that influence self-legitimacy. It also examines the role of self-legitimacy in understanding police normative commitments to citizens.

Authors

• Justice Tankebe, University of Cambridge

• Gorazd Mesko, University of Maribor