Inside Outside Procedural Justice: An Exploration of the Croatian Police Officer Views of Internal and External Procedural Justice

• In Event: Procedural Justice in Policing

Abstract

Tyler’s procedural justice theory has been used extensively to explore police-community interactions. Extant research, primarily from developed countries, suggests that citizens expect the police to use fair procedures when dealing with citizens. Police behavior in line with procedural justice generates trust in the police and enhances police legitimacy. While external procedural justice focuses on the relationship between the police and the public, that is, the quality of communication between police officers and the public, internal procedural justice focuses on the relationship within the police agency. This paper explores the connection between internal procedural justice (fair treatment of subordinates by police administrators) with external procedural justice (fair treatment of citizens by police officers). In particular, using a 2017 survey of 500 Croatian police officers, the paper studies whether police officers’ satisfaction with way they are perceived to be treated by their police supervisors is related to the way they think that citizens should be treated.

Authors

• Robert Patrick Peacock, Florida International University

• Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich, Michigan State University

• Irena Cajner Mraovic, University of Zagreb