Procedural Justice: An Organizational Approach
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Date
2018
Authors
Zanolini, Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT)
Abstract
Description
Highly-publicized encounters with law enforcement have shone a spotlight on police-community relations. These interactions have contributed to an atmosphere of mistrust between citizens and police departments. The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015) was established under President Barak Obama’s administration in 2014 to directly address the divide between law enforcement agencies and the communities served by them. The first pillar of the report generated by the task force includes building public and legitimacy as the first pillar. This pillar serves as a foundation for the entire report.
Procedural justice is suggested as a cultural shift law enforcement must make to address lack of public trust and perceived legitimacy. Accomplishing this requires more than establishing policy implementing the practice of procedural justice. Officers must embrace these principles to deliver them effectively. While directives and procedural guidelines might serve to guide officers’ behavior and actions, the concepts of procedural justice must be internalized.
Bureaucracy, rigidity, strict adherence to policy and lack of consideration for employees in police agencies are similar to the ingredients which have eroded public trust in law enforcement. There exists a divide between the leaders of police agencies and the officers within. To address this divide, police administrators should establish procedural justice as an internal cultural framework. This will help administrators establish trust and legitimacy between officers and their agencies. It will also model the attitudes and behaviors officers are expected to demonstrate in their contacts with the community.
Keywords
Police-community relations, Police ethics