Outcomes of PJ Policing

Abstract

In the previous chapter we explored the range of different ways police can get a little more procedural justice (PJ) into their various modes of service delivery. The studies presented provide many ideas for policing with more PJ across a wide range of interventions. Yet the body of literature is limited in two significant ways: First, we do not know whether one element of PJ—voice, dignity and respect, trustworthy motives, or neutrality—is more important than another. And second, we have limited evidence about the relative differences across interventions in terms of building or influencing legitimacy-related outcomes. In this chapter, we compare and contrast the different outcomes for the studies that claimed (either explicitly or implicitly) that they used PJ and/or that aimed to improve police legitimacy. All of these studies measured the impact of the intervention on citizen perceptions of police. Using the results of the systematic review, we can stretch (perhaps) to say that there are some interesting, albeit subtle, variations in the way citizens perceive the police depending on the type of intervention used. Like the previous chapter, we use the heuristic of Weisburd and Eck’s typology to assess the relative differences in reported outcomes.