Procedural Justice and the Unintended Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes
Author | Ofek Edri-Peer,Nissim Cohen |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740221148192 |
Published date | 01 February 2023 |
Date | 01 February 2023 |
Subject Matter | Articles |
Procedural Justice and the Unintended
Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in
Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes
Ofek Edri-Peer and Nissim Cohen
Abstract
What role do the perceptions of clients about the procedural justice that street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) use when implement-
ing policy play in prompting citizens to engage in vigilante actions? Using qualitative methods, we examine the unintended
effects of SLBs’implementation of policy on citizens’vigilantism. We contribute to the literature by showing that procedural
justice on the street level is in fact an important factor in citizens’decisions to act as vigilantes. Our findings identified three
significant factors in these decisions: the citizens’ability to voice their complaint, the sense that they were treated respectfully
and their trust that the police officers would do what they could to deal with the ir complaint. Furthermore, we also dem-
onstrated that citizens and SLBs do not share the same perceptions of the role of the police as service providers, and that
this gap increases citizens’motivations to act independently.
Keywords
street-level bureaucrats, procedural justice, vigilantism, police
Introduction
The social order depends on the general consent and coopera-
tion of its members (Lipsky, 2010). However, in various cases,
individuals and groups challenge this order by engaging in vig-
ilante activities (Kirkpatrick, 2008). Vigilantism is an illegal
activity carried out by a private citizen in response to a criminal
activity committed by another private citizen against that perpe-
trator(Haasetal.,2012).Itisusedasameansofnarrowingthe
perceived gap between the distributive justice one desires and
the actual result in order to restore one’s sense of justice
(Exline et al., 2003). Are distributive justice and policy out-
comes the only elements that explain why people engage in
vigilantism? Is it possible that how the policy is implemented,
not just its results, also influence vigilante behavior? Indeed,
several studies show that procedural justice in the process of
allocating public goods is particularly important in examining
the interaction between citizens and service providers
(Mentovich et al., 2020). Previous research has also demon-
strated the possible effect of procedural justice on supporting
vigilantism but not necessarily acting on it (see Koster, 2020;
Tankebe, 2009). Nevertheless, the factors that lead people to
act as vigilantes remain unstudied. Thus, to better understand
vigilantism, we must focus on day-to-day interactions
between citizens and those who implement policy. To accom-
plish this goal, we investigated the specific impact of citizens’
interactions with street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) on the
former’s decision to take matters into their own hands.
Procedural justice is particularly salient in the day-to-day
interactions between citizens and SLBs (Durnescu &
Poledna, 2020; Portillo & Rudes, 2014), yet the literature
linking the two is inadequate. Studies that do document the
importance of procedural justice among SLBs in various gov-
ernment institutions, especially in law enforcement agencies
(Skogan, 2006), reinforce the need to understand their impact
on citizens, due to their role in enforcing compliance.
Regardless of the written policy, how SLBs use procedural
justice when implementing policy might affect citizens’
behavior. Thus, the role of SLBs is important not only
because of their influence on policy outcomes, but also
because the way they implement policy may prompt citizens
to engage in vigilante activities.
The question that underlies this study is: What role do the
perceptions of clients about the procedural justice that SLBs
use when implementing policy play in prompting citizens to
engage in vigilante actions? This study seeks to understand
the possible influence of SLBs’perceptions and behavior
on the emergence of vigilantism.
The Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Political
Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Corresponding Author:
Ofek Edri‐Peer,The Department of Public Administration and Policy, School
of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Email: ofekedri@gmail.com
Article
American Review of Public Administration
2023, Vol. 53(2) 51–63
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/02750740221148192
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