Social identity, procedural justice, and legitimacy in policing: a meta-analysis

• In Event: Procedural Justice Policing: Applying new insights to improve police-citizen relations

Abstract

Social identity has been a key component in the theorization of procedural justice theory. It is suggested that procedural justice from police treatment conveys identity-relevant information, such that those being policed tend to see the police as legitimate when they feel they are treated with procedural justice. While criminologists primarily focus on the association between procedural justice and legitimacy, social identity is gaining more attention in the field recently. By synthesizing 124 studies with 160 samples (N = 201,766), this meta-analysis shows that the correlation between procedural justice, social identity, and legitimacy are strong in policing. Moreover, social identity is found to be a significant mediator explaining the psychological mechanism by which procedural justice enhances legitimacy. It also tends to negatively moderate the effect of procedural justice on police legitimacy.

Authors

• Angus Chan, University College London

• Ben Bradford, University College London

• Clifford Stott, Keele University