Procedurally just cooperation: Explaining support for due process reforms in policing

- We examine the effects of CJW's perceptions of how citizens treat police officers
- CJW's support for due process is higher when citizens are fair and respectful
- This relationship emerges regardless of CJW's gender, race, or career length

PurposeWe explore criminal justice workers' (CJW) support for due process reforms in policing. We build on and integrate four related literatures-scholarship analyzing 1) process-based regulation, 2) the generality of procedural justice, 3) the bilateral and dialogical nature of legitimacy, and 4) the tensions between the due process versus crime control models of criminal justice. We hypothesize that when citizens exercise procedural justice in their decisions about how to respond to legal authorities' inquiries and directives it enhances “rights legitimacy” and increases CJW's support for the due process model of criminal justice.MethodsWe analyze data from a nationwide sample (N = 579) of CJW. We examine whether CJW's perceptions that citizens are fair and respectful toward police are associated with their support for due process reforms.ResultsProcedurally just cooperation predicts support for due process reforms among police officers and other CJW, both before and after a highly publicized negative police-citizen encounter (the police killing of Michael Brown), and regardless of respondents' race, gender or career length.ConclusionsThe findings support the generality of the process-based model and the bilateral and dialogical nature of legitimacy.