Procedural justice and Muslims' willingness to cooperate with police: Advancing theory by accounting for multiple group identities

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

Abstract

Studies show that police can encourage people’s cooperation when police are perceived as procedurally just. This occurs because procedural justice conveys important symbolic messages about a person’s identity and social inclusion. However, we argue that procedural justice policing studies that explore identity have remained largely undertheorised because they fail to acknowledge that citizens can hold multiple group identities. We also propose that some group identities are more relevant than others depending on what type of cooperation is investigated. Using survey data from 504 Muslim-Australians, we show that procedural justice enhances national identity, identification with police, and cooperation intentions in both counter-terrorism and crime/victimisation prevention. However, identification with police is more important in the procedural justice-crime/victimisation cooperation relationship, while national identity is more important for counter-terrorism cooperation. The implications of these findings for police practice and for advancing theory in the field are discussed.

Authors

• Kristina Murphy, Griffith University

• Mohammed Ali, Griffith University

• Harley Williamson, Utrecht University