An Examination of Incarcerated Gang Members’ Procedural Justice Perceptions and Their Obligation to Obey Institutional Rules

• In Event: Prison Gangs

Abstract

In recent decades, procedural justice research has emerged as a dominant paradigm for understanding how individuals respond to legal authorities and criminal justice processes. Yet, despite a considerable body of research examining procedural justice antecedents in police-citizen encounters and legal court procedures, a dearth of literature exists concerning inmates’ perceived procedural justice antecedents in a correctional context and even less examining the perceptions of incarcerated gang members. Using cross-sectional data collected from a Mid-Atlantic state, this study examines incarcerated gang members’ (n = 403) perceived procedural justice perceptions and their likelihood to engage in institutional misconduct. This study extends procedural justice literature in a correctional context and fills a void concerning the lack of research focused on incarcerated gang inmates’ procedural justice antecedents. Findings expect to inform policy implications on correctional training practices and the treatment of incarcerated gang members.

Authors

• Lucas Alward, University of Central Florida

• Thomas Baker, University of Central Florida

• Jill A. Gordon, Virginia Commonwealth University