NCJ Number
150270
Journal
Social Justice Research Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1994) Pages: 107-127
Date Published
1994
Length
21 pages
Annotation
In 1983, the mayor of Minneapolis created an Internal Affairs Unit Review Panel, empowered to review all case files after the police department had completed its investigations and to issue periodic public reports that evaluated the department's handling of citizen complaints.
Abstract
This study evaluates the influence of these innovative procedural justice principles on public confidence in the review of allegations of police misconduct by analyzing data collected in five public opinion surveys conducted between 1983 and 1987. The survey focused on respondents' awareness of the program and three determinants of awareness (perceptions of procedural justice, perceptions of distributive justice, and reactions of minority respondents) and their influence on public attitudes associated with the program. The results show that the program had a positive impact on some respondents' procedural justice perceptions, particularly for minority group members. While skepticism on the part of minority respondents may undermine the procedural justice effect, the results also show that, for minority respondents, improved attitudes with regard to procedural justice were extended to distributive justice judgments. 7 tables and 33 references