Fair Process, Trust, and Cooperation: Moving Toward an Integrated Framework of Police Legitimacy

J. A. Hamm, Rick Trinkner, J. D. Carr

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    129 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Positive public perceptions are a critical pillar of the criminal justice system, but the literature addressing them often fails to offer clear advice regarding the important constructs or the relationships among them. The research reported here sought to take an important step toward this clarity by recruiting a national convenience sample to complete an online survey about the police in the respondent’s community, which included measures of the process-based model of legitimacy and the classic model of trust. Our results suggest that although both are predictive, the models can be integrated in a way that allows the strengths of each model to address the weaknesses of the other. We therefore present this model as a first step toward an Integrated Framework of Police Legitimacy that can meaningfully incorporate much of the existing scholarship and provide clearer guidance for those who seek to address these constructs in research and practice.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)1183-1212
    Number of pages30
    JournalCriminal Justice and Behavior
    Volume44
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Sep 1 2017

    Keywords

    • legitimacy
    • policing
    • procedural fairness
    • trust
    • trustworthiness

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
    • General Psychology
    • Law

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