Predicting Support for Procedurally Just Treatment: The Case of the Israel National Police

Abstract

The importance of police treating citizens with procedural justice is well recognized. Recently, scholars have begun exploring officers’ views and beliefs that are associated with support for procedurally fair policing, but have not relied on a consistent conceptual framework. In the present study, we propose such a framework, focusing on three core realms of the policing environment: officers’ affiliation with their supervisors, officers’ perceptions of their authority and powers, and officers’ relationship with the public. We then use this framework to predict Israeli police officers’ endorsement of procedurally just policing. We find positive, direct effects for perceived public support, self-legitimacy, years of experience, and being a minority officer. In contrast to previous findings, internal procedural and distributive justice did not show significant effects. We discuss these findings and their implications, and stress that the relationship between attitudes toward procedural justice and actual behavior continues to be explored.