Do Actual Instances of Police Misconduct Relate to Citizens' Perceptions of Legitimacy?

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

This study examines the concept of legitimacy, specifically the notion that misconduct erodes the legitimacy of the police as a moral authority. We test this assertion using data from the National Police Research Platform, which measures actual allegations of police misconduct in a sample of police organizations. Perceptions of police legitimacy are assessed using data from the Police-Community Interaction Survey, which collected data from people with a recent interaction with the police—from the same sample of police organizations. After we partial out the effects of other individual-level variables (i.e., sociodemographics and procedural justice), we examine the effect of actual instances of police misconduct on perceptions of legitimacy. Policy and theoretical implications are discussed.

Authors

• Tiffany Chen, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Jon Maskaly, University of Texas as Dallas