Examining the Effects of Perceptions of Police Effectiveness, Procedural Justice, and Legitimacy on Racial Differences in Anticipated Cooperation With Law Enforcement in Pennsylvania

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/08874034231199922
• Author: Nathan E. Kruis,Richard H. Donohue,Nicholas Glunt,Nicholas J. Rowland,Jaeyong Choi
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/08874034231199922

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2023, Vol. 34(6) 511 –533

© The Author(s) 2023

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/08874034231199922

journals.sagepub.com/home/cjp

Article

Examining the Effects

of Perceptions of Police

Effectiveness, Procedural

Justice, and Legitimacy

on Racial Differences in

Anticipated Cooperation

With Law Enforcement in

Pennsylvania

Nathan E. Kruis1, Richard H. Donohue2,

Nicholas Glunt1, Nicholas J. Rowland1,

and Jaeyong Choi3

Abstract

Perceptions of law enforcement ineffectiveness, injustice, and illegitimacy are

prevalent among individuals living in Black communities in the United States. Prior

research links these attitudes with differential orientations toward cooperation with

police. The current study used data collected from a representative sample of 522

Pennsylvania residents to measure public perceptions of police. Analyses examined

racial differences in perceptions of police and determined whether normative (i.e.,

perceptions of procedural justice) and/or instrumental (i.e., perceptions of police

effectiveness) assessments of police could explain racial differences in anticipated

cooperation with law enforcement through perceptions of legitimacy. Findings

revealed the presence of a significant indirect relationship between race and

perceptions of legitimacy through perceptions of police effectiveness and procedural

justice, as well as a significant indirect relationship between race and cooperation

1Penn State Altoona, PA, USA

2RAND Corporation, Boston, MA, USA

3West Chester University, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Nathan E. Kruis, Department of Criminal Justice, Penn State Altoona, 3000 Ivyside Park, Altoona, PA

16601, USA.

Email: nek132@psu.edu

1199922CJPXXX10.1177/08874034231199922Criminal Justice Policy ReviewKruis et al.

research-article2023

512 Criminal Justice Policy Review 34(6)

through police effectiveness, procedural justice, and legitimacy. Theoretical and

practical implications stemming from these findings are discussed within.

Keywords

race and policing, police legitimacy, perceptions of police, instrumental assessments,

normative assessments

Introduction

In the United States, the legitimacy of policing tactics, police officers, and police

departments have been called into question as part of a nationwide discourse on polic-

ing. This comes in response to injustices individuals have experienced, directly and

vicariously, at the hands of police and the criminal justice system writ large—particu-

larly injustices experienced by persons of color (Chandek, 1999; Engel, 2005; Peck,

2015; Spencer & Kochel, 2021). Such injustices dampen perceptions of policing,

causing many, especially those in racial minority communities, to question the utilitar-

ian value, role, and legitimacy of American police departments, leading to what

Johnson et al. (2017) termed a “growing legitimacy crisis in policing” (p. 1185).

Perceptions of police, specifically legitimacy assessments, are “intrinsically impor-

tant” to study because scholars have found that they lead to other valuable justice-rele-

vant outcomes, including adherence to law and cooperation with police (Worden &

McLean, 2017, p. 42). Negative perceptions of police hinder their effectiveness as insti-

tutions of social control and social service. Researchers have shown that policing needs

both support and cooperation from the public to be effective (Murphy et al., 2008;

Police Executive Research Forum, 2014). Police, themselves, cannot police—or pro-

vide a myriad of other services—without cooperation and input from the public who act

as “co-producers” of these services (Bayley & Nixon, 2010). Public trust and coopera-

tion are significant contributors to effective community policing (National Criminal

Justice Training Center, 2021; Pearson et al., 2021; President’s Task Force on 21st

Century Policing, 2015), furthering investigations and solving crimes (Fagan & Tyler,

2004). Public mistrust and perceptions of illegitimacy, unsurprisingly, lead to a lack of

cooperation with police, which can be problematic for both law enforcement and mem-

bers of the public. For example, Braga et al. (2019) found lack of public cooperation

with police hindered investigations into gang and drug-related homicides, when com-

pared with other homicide cases, and, ultimately, affected case clearance rates. Other

researchers reported similar findings (e.g., Brunson & Wade, 2019). Thus, understand-

ing factors associated with perceptions of police, especially attitudes toward legitimacy

and cooperation, is a key step in improving policing outcomes.

Legitimacy is also considered by some scholars to be an outcome variable itself

(Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). For instance, in his process-based model of regulation,

Tyler argued that perceptions of legitimacy were influenced by process-based, norma-

tive assessments that individuals make about policing, in particular, perceptions of