Although the process-based model of criminal justice has received substantial empirical attention, few previous studies have examined individuals embedded in a criminal lifestyle and at the most risk for future offending, and few have focused exclusively on female offenders. Employing structural equation modeling, the present study tests the process-based model of self-regulation among a sample of 694 incarcerated females. Specifically examined is the effect of perceptions of voice in respondents’ most recent encounter with police on their perceptions of police procedural justice and the impact of respondents’ procedural justice perceptions on their perceived obligation to obey the law. Results reveal support for the process-based model among serious female offenders, though the impact may be attenuated by increased experience with the criminal justice system. Policy implications are discussed.
BakerT. (2017). Exploring the relationship of shared race/ethnicity with court actors, perceptions of court procedural justice, and obligation to obey among male offenders. Race and Justice, 7, 87-102.
2.
BakerT.GordonJ. A.TaxmanF. S. (2015). A hierarchical analysis of correctional officers’ procedural justice judgments of correctional institutions: Examining the influence of transformational leadership. Justice Quarterly, 32, 1037-1063.
3.
BakerT.PelfreyW. V.Jr.BedardL.DhunganaK.GertzM.GoldenK. (2014). Female inmates’ procedural justice perceptions of the police and courts: Is there a spill-over of police effects?Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41, 144-162.
4.
BakerT.PickettJ. T.AminD. M.GoldenK.DhunganaK.GertzM.. . . BedaradL. (2015). Shared race/ethnicity, court procedural justice, and self-regulating beliefs: A study of female offenders. Law & Society Review, 49, 433-466.
5.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2015a). Female prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, December 31, 1978-2014 (Generated using the Corrections Statistical Analysis Tool). Available from www.bjs.gov
6.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2015b). Number of releases of sentenced female inmates from state or federal prisons, 1978-2014 (Generated using the Corrections Statistical Analysis Tool). Available from www.bjs.gov
7.
BushwayS. D.ApelR. (2012). A signaling perspective on employment-based reentry programming: Training completion as a desistance signal. Criminology & Public Policy, 11, 21-50.
8.
CasperJ. D.TylerT.FisherB. (1988). Procedural justice in felony cases. Law & Society Review, 22, 483-508.
9.
Chesney-LindM.RodriguezN. (1983). Women under lock and key: A view from the inside. The Prison Journal, 63, 47-65.
10.
ColquittJ. A.ConlonD. E.WessonM. J.PorterC.NgK. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425-445.
11.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2015). Crime in the United States, 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
12.
Florida Department of Corrections. (2010). Agency annual report 2009-2010. Tallahassee: Author.
13.
FolgerR. (1977). Distributive and procedural justice: Combined impact of “voice” and improvement on experienced inequity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 108-119.
14.
GauJ. M. (2011). The convergent and discriminant validity of procedural justice and police legitimacy: An empirical test of core theoretical propositions. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 489-498.
15.
GauJ. M. (2014). Procedural justice and police legitimacy: A test of measurement and structure. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 187-205.
16.
GauJ. M. (2015). Procedural justice, police legitimacy, and legal cynicism: A test of mediation effects. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 16, 402-415.
17.
GauJ. M.BrunsonR. K. (2010). Procedural justice and order maintenance policing: A study of inner-city young men’s perceptions of police legitimacy. Justice Quarterly, 27, 255-279.
18.
HindsL.MurphyK. (2007). Public satisfaction with police: Using procedural justice to improve police legitimacy. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 40, 27-42.
19.
HubbardD. J.PrattT. (2002). A meta-analysis of the predictors of delinquency among girls. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 34, 1-13.
20.
JacksonJ.BradfordB.HoughM.MyhillA.QuintonP.TylerT. (2012). Why do people comply with the law? Legitimacy and the influence of legal institutions. British Journal of Criminology, 52, 1051-1071.
21.
LindA.TylerT. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
22.
LindE. A.TylerT. R.HuoY. J. (1997). Procedural context and culture: Variation in the antecedents of procedural justice judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 767-780.
23.
LoughranT. A.PiqueroA. R.FaganJ.MulveyE. P. (2012). Differential deterrence: Studying heterogeneity and change in perceptual deterrence among serious youthful offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 58, 3-27.
24.
MarunaS. (2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
25.
MarunaS. (2004). Desistance from crime and explanatory style. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 20, 184-200.
26.
MazerolleL.AntrobusE.BennettS.TylerT. (2013). Shaping citizen perceptions of police legitimacy: A randomized field trial of procedural justice. Criminology, 51, 33-64.
27.
MazerolleL.BennettS.AntrobusE.EgginsE. (2012). Procedural justice, routine encounters and citizen perceptions of police: Main findings from the Queensland Community Engagement Trial (QCET). Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8, 343-367.
28.
McCartanL. M.GunnisonE. (2010). Individual and relationship factors that differentiate female offenders with and without a sexual abuse history. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25, 1449-1469.
29.
MurphyK. (2004). The role of trust in nurturing compliance: A study of accused tax avoiders. Law and Human Behavior, 28, 187-209.
30.
MurphyK. (2005). Regulating more effectively: The relationship between procedural justice, legitimacy, and tax non-compliance. Journal of Law and Society, 32, 562-589.
31.
MurphyK.HindsL.FlemingJ. (2008). Encouraging public cooperation and support for police. Policing & Society, 18, 136-155.
32.
PapachristosA. V.MearesT. L.FaganJ. (2012). Why do criminals obey the law? The influence of legitimacy and social networks on active gun offenders. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 102, 397-440.
33.
PickettJ. T.MetcalfeC.BakerT.BedardL.GertzM. (2014). Superficial survey choice: An experimental test of a potential method for increasing response rate and response quality in correctional surveys. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 30, 265-284.
34.
PiqueroA. R.FaganJ.MulveyE. P.SteinbergL.OdgersC. (2005). Developmental trajectories of legal socialization among serious adolescent offenders. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 96, 267-298.
35.
ReisigM. D.BrattonJ.GertzM. G. (2007). The construct validity and refinement of process-based policing measures. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34, 1005-1028.
36.
ReisigM. D.TankebeJ.MeškoG. (2012). Procedural justice, police legitimacy, and public cooperation with the police among young Slovene adults. VARSTVOSLOVJE: Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, 14, 147-164.
37.
SalisburyE. J.Van VoorhisP. (2009). Gendered pathways: A quantitative investigation of women probationers’ paths to incarceration. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 36, 541-566.
38.
SteffensmeierD.ZhongH.AckermanJ.SchwartzJ.AghaS. (2006). Gender gap trends for violent crimes, 1980 to 2003: A UCR-NCVS comparison. Feminist Criminology, 1, 72-98.
39.
SunshineJ.TylerT. (2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping public support for policing. Law & Society Review, 37, 513-547.
40.
TankebeJ. (2009). Public cooperation with the police in Ghana: Does procedural fairness matter?Criminology, 47, 1265-1293.
41.
TatarJ. R.IIKaasaS. O.CauffmanE. (2012). Perceptions of procedural justice among female offenders: Time does not heal all wounds. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 18, 268-296.
42.
ThibautJ. W.WalkerL. (1975). Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
TylerT. R. (1989). The psychology of procedural justice: A test of the group-value model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 830-838.
44.
TylerT. R. (1994). Psychological models of the justice motive: Antecedents of distributive and procedural justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 850-863.
45.
TylerT. R. (1997). The psychology of legitimacy: A relational perspective on voluntary deference to authorities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 323-345.
46.
TylerT. R. (2004). Enhancing police legitimacy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 593, 84-99.
47.
TylerT. R. (2006). Why people obey the law. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
48.
TylerT. R.BoeckmannR. J.SmithH. J.HuoY. J. (1997). Social justice in a diverse society. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
49.
TylerT. R.HuoY. (2002). Trust in the law: Encouraging public cooperation with the police and courts. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
50.
TylerT. R.RasinskiK. A.SpodickN. (1985). Influence of voice on satisfaction with leaders: Exploring the meaning of process control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 72-81.
51.
WhiteM.MulveyP.DarioL. M. (2015). Arrestees’ perceptions of the police: Exploring procedural justice, legitimacy, and willingness to cooperate with police across offender types. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43, 343-364.
52.
WolfeS. E.NixJ.KaminskiR.RojekJ. (2015). Is the effect of procedural justice on police legitimacy invariant? Testing the generality of procedural justice and competing antecedents of legitimacy. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 32, 253-282.
