Perception of police unfairness amongst stigmatized groups: The impact of ethnicity, islamic affiliation and neighbourhood

Abstract

This chapter deals with perceived police unfairness amongst young members of stigmatized groups in four Western European countries (France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands).1 Following several studies (see Roché & Roux, 2017), perceived police unfairness (also called procedural injustice) is seen as a specific dimension of attitudes towards the police (ATP) rather than an explanatory factor for ATP.2 In line with an emerging field of ATP studies focusing on the way group belonging (and more specifically identification) affects ATP, we deal with the relationship between perceived police unfairness and three sources of group belonging: ethnicity (belonging to those ethnic minorities who are generally profiled by the police), Islamic affiliation (being a Muslim) and neighbourhood, i.e. coming from deprived and disrupted urban neighbourhoods which are largely stigmatized in Western European countries.