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Understanding Cooperation with Police in a Diverse Society

NCJ Number
239435
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2012 Pages: 181-201
Author(s)
Kristina Murphy; Adrian Cherney
Date Published
January 2012
Length
21 pages
Annotation

This paper explores how procedural justice and both institutional and legal legitimacy impact on people's willingness to cooperate with police.

Abstract

Past research has shown that procedural justice enhances an authority's legitimacy and encourages people to cooperate with them. However, this past research has examined legitimacy by focusing solely on the perceived legitimacy of authorities and has ignored how people may perceive the legitimacy of the laws and rules authorities enforce. This distinction has relevance to the policing of ethnic minority groups who may come from different cultures or countries where distrust in the law and legal institutions is prevalent. Using survey data collected from a random sample of 1,203 Australians, this paper explores how procedural justice and both institutional and legal legitimacy impact on people's willingness to cooperate with police. The findings will be explained using Braithwaite's (2003; 2010) social distancing framework. (Published Abstract)