Training and ‘Doing’ Procedural Justice in the Frontline of Public Service: Evidence from Police

Abstract

Procedural justice can impact on street-level bureaucrat (SLB)-citizen encounters as it shapes citizens’ experience with, and perception of, the delivery of public service. Specifically, in police encounters with the public, procedural justice has recently dominated the public discourse due to the tensions around police-community relations. One way to enhance the quality of SLB-citizen encounters is through procedural justice training. Utilizing a mixed methods design, we conduct a two-pronged analysis of (1) the content and teaching time of procedural justice training in state-mandated basic police curricula across U.S. states and (2) the ways training content (i.e., concepts of procedural justice) is conceptualized by the street-level bureaucrats who are the subjects of these curricula. The study identifies deficiencies in the length of the training and highlights discrepancies between the content emphasized in the training and the ways in which SLBs perceive and interpret its utility and applicability. It concludes by offering practical recommendations on how to improve procedural justice competencies, and by way, enhance SLB-citizen encounters through training.