Do Perceptions of Legitimacy and Fairness Matter in Prison? Examining How Procedural and Distributive Justice Relate to Misconduct

Published date01 December 2020
DOI10.1177/0093854820916901
AuthorRyan M. Labrecque,Roger L. Schaefer,Kayla Labranche,Leah Reddy,Karma Rose Zavita,Christopher M. Campbell,Molly Harvis
Date01 December 2020
Subject MatterArticles
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2020, Vol. 47, No. 12, December 2020, 1630 –1653.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820916901
Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions
© 2020 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
1630
DO PERCEPTIONS OF LEGITIMACY AND
FAIRNESS MATTER IN PRISON?
Examining How Procedural and Distributive Justice
Relate to Misconduct
CHRISTOPHER M. CAMPBELL
Portland State University
RYAN M. LABRECQUE
University of Central Florida
ROGER L. SCHAEFER
Central Washington University
MOLLY HARVIS
KARMA ROSE ZAVITA
LEAH REDDY
KAYLA LABRANCHE
Portland State University
Recent scholarship suggests disciplinary protocols and incarcerated individuals’ perceptions of procedural justice toward
correctional officers may be important in influencing one’s behavior and prison order. This study provides an examination of
procedural and distributive justice in prison. We surveyed a stratified random sample of 144 respondents incarcerated in
Maine state prisons about their perceptions toward the disciplinary process and corrections officers to assess the relationship
between such views and patterns of institutional misconduct. Findings provide partial support for the procedural justice
perspective in prison. Normative perceptions (e.g., legitimacy) are positively associated with voluntary deference measures
AUTHORS’ NOTE: This project is the product of the efforts and collaboration of many individuals. The
authors would like to thank everyone involved in the project for their time and cooperation. Specifically, we
would like to express our sincere gratitude to the following individuals from the Maine Department of
Corrections: Ryan Thornell, Gary LaPlante, Ryan Andersen, Joel Gilbert, Scott Landry, Randall Liberty,
Norene Hopkins, Michael Tausek, and the correctional officers, support staff, and respondents from the Maine
Correctional Center and Maine State Prison for their assistance in making this project possible. This project
was supported by a 2016 Public Service Grant from the Portland State University, College of Urban and Public
Affairs, Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations
expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hatfield School
of Government or the Maine Department of Corrections. Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to Christopher M. Campbell, Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, College of Urban &
Public Affairs, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751, USA; e-mail: ccampbell@
pdx.edu.
916901CJBXXX10.1177/0093854820916901Criminal Justice and BehaviorCampbell et al. / Procedural and Distributive Justice in Prison
research-article2020
Campbell et al. / PROCEDURAL AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE IN PRISON 1631
while instrumental perceptions of officer effectiveness in controlling behavior are positively associated with respondent
perceived risk. These results supply insight into theory development related to voluntary deference. Similarly, these findings
can inform which relationships between officers and respondents may hold the potential to promote rule compliance and
prison order.
Keywords: legitimacy; corrections; perceptions; prison misconduct; procedural justice; correctional officers
Limiting misconduct is key to maintaining prison order and influencing post-release
recidivism (Benefiel, 2019). Misconduct, or institutional rule violations, include actions
ranging from possessing contraband to violent altercations. With such a wide range of
behaviors, identifying the causes and effective means of controlling these transgressions is
difficult giving rise to compliance theories related to importation or deprivation (Jiang &
Fisher-Giorlando, 2002), facility transfers (Kigerl & Hamilton, 2016), and availability of
rehabilitation programs (Randol & Campbell, 2017). However, few have investigated how
perceptions of incarcerated people might help gain voluntary deference. Perceptions of an
organization’s disciplinary process and outcomes are often contextualized as procedural
and distributive justice (Tyler, 1988), which are often comprised of normative and instru-
mental perceptions, respectively. Normative perceptions include abstract feelings (e.g., per-
ceptions of fairness) and have been shown to predict voluntary deference. That is, when
people identify a process of punishment to be fair, trustworthy, legitimate, and affording of
the opportunity to present their side of the story, they are more likely to accept decisions as
fair, regardless of outcome favorability (Greenberg, 1993).
In addition, if one views a process to be procedurally just, the person is more likely to
comply with other expectations of that organization and its actors (Crawford & Hucklesby,
2013). In contrast, instrumental perceptions include more functional or manifest observa-
tions that relate to the willingness to cooperate with justice system agents and accept their
control. Instrumental perceptions have been associated with credible sanction threats and
associated perceived risk of being caught, agent performance in controlling behavior, and
perceptions of distributive fairness (see also Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). According to Tyler
(1988), instrumental perceptions are less influential than normative perceptions in predict-
ing voluntary deference; however, there exists inconclusive empirical evidence regarding
this position.
Although empirical research largely suggests favorable perceptions of procedural and
distributive justice reduce the likelihood of criminal behavior in the community (e.g.,
police and courts), there remain few investigations of these concepts in custodial settings
(Bottoms, 1999; Tyler, 2010). Furthermore, available correctional studies often involve
proxy (or indirect) measures of theoretical constructs, and focus on normative rather than
instrumental elements (e.g., Beijersbergen et al., 2015). We argue it is important to include
both normative and instrumental perceptions considering the possibility that addressing
related perceptions in correctional institutions may help increase voluntary deference, and
thereby increase safety and order. To address this gap, this study provides an empirical test
of normative and instrumental perceptions in prison. Specifically, we surveyed a stratified
random sample of people incarcerated in Maine to assess whether such perceptions toward
the disciplinary process and correctional officers (COs) are associated with patterns of
misconduct.

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