Exploring procedural justice and police legitimacy in South Africa

Abstract

Perceptions of legitimacy are at the foundation of public mandates underlying criminal justice institutions, their legal authority, and public cooperation. This study explored perceptions of South African policing by members of a historically disadvantaged community, in terms of the procedural justice and their perceptions of police legitimacy. Participants comprised of a convenience sample of 399 young and adult black Africans from low socio-economic urban and rural communities (females = 28%; mean age = 23.4 years, SD = 6.03 years). They completed a self-report survey on procedural justice from a policing point of view. Descriptive analysis of the data suggested that community members perceive the police to be higher in distributive justice and lower in police legitimacy. Overall, the community members were marginally satisfied with the police services.

Keywords:

• distributive justice
• police legitimacy
• police performance
• procedural justice
• public cooperation
• satisfaction with police services