This article uses the procedural justice perspective and anonymous mailed surveys to examine the effect the implementation of a new citizen oversight agency in one mid-sized Western city had on levels of satisfaction among citizens who filed complaints against police officers. The results indicate that the implementation of the oversight agency improved levels of satisfaction with certain parts of the complaint process, such as the quality of communication and the thoroughness of the process. However, the new citizen agency had no statistically significant direct effect on levels of satisfaction with either the complaint process as a whole or with complaint outcomes.
Arbuckle, J. (2006). AMOS 7.0 user's guide. Chicago : Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.
2.
Baron, R., & Kenny, D. (1986). Moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
3.
Barton, P.G. (1970). Civilian review boards and the handling of complaints against the police. University of Toronto Law Journal, 20, 448-468.
4.
Bayley, D. (1991). Preface. In A. Goldsmith (Ed.), Complaints against the police: The trend to external review (pp. x-xi). Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
5.
Bentler, P.M., & Chou, C. (1987). Practical issues in structural equation modeling . Sociological Methods Research, 16, 78-117.
6.
Brereton, D. (2000). Evaluating the performance of external oversight bodies. In A. Goldsmith & C. Lewis (Eds.), Civilian oversight of policing: Governance, democracy and human rights (pp. 105-124). Portland, OR: Hart Publishing.
7.
Brown, D. (1987). The police complaints procedure: A survey of complainant's views (Home Office Research Study 93). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
8.
Byrne, B.M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concept, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
9.
Casper, C., Tyler, T., & Fisher, B. (1988). Procedural justice in felony cases. Law and Society Review, 22, 483-508.
10.
de Guzman, M. (2008). Complainants' views about civilian review of the police: A study of the Philippines. Asian Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Crime, Law and Deviance in Asia. Retrieved May 1, 2008, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/x448q67710763686/fulltext.html
11.
Gellhorn, W. (1966). Police review boards: Hoax or hope. Columbia University Forum, 9(3), 5-10.
12.
Goldsmith, A. (1996). What's wrong with complaint investigations: Dealing with difference differently in complaints against police. Criminal Justice Ethics, 15, 36-55.
13.
Hagan, J., & Albonetti, C. (1982). Race, class, and perceptions of criminal injustice in America. American Journal of Sociology, 88, 329-355.
14.
Hagan, J., Shedd, C., & Payne, M. (2005). Race, ethnicity, and youth perceptions of criminal justice. American Sociological Review, 70, 381-407.
15.
Henderson, M., Cullen, F., Cao, L., Browning, S., & Kopache, R. (1997). The impact of race on perceptions of criminal injustice. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25(6), 447-462.
16.
Hoyle, R. (1995). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
17.
Hudson, J.R. (1972). Organizational aspects of internal and external review of the police. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 63(3), 427-433.
18.
Human Rights Watch. (1998). Shielded from justice: Police brutality and accountability in the United States . Retrieved August 4, 2004, from http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/uspo06.htm
19.
Kerstetter, W. (1985). Who disciplines the police? Who should? In W. A. Geller (Ed.), Police leadership in America (pp. 149-182). New York: Praeger.
20.
Kerstetter, W. (1996). Toward justice for all: Procedural justice and the review of citizen complaints. In W. Geller & H. Tochs (Eds.), Police violence: Understanding and controlling police abuse of force (pp. 234-246). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
21.
Kerstetter, W., & Rasinski, K. (1994). Opening a window into police internal affairs: Impact of procedural justice reform on third-party attitudes. Social Justice Research, 7(2), 107-127.
22.
Landau, T. (1996). When police investigate police: A view from complainants . Canadian Journal of Criminology, 38, 219-315.
23.
Livingston, D. (2004). The unfulfilled promise of citizen review. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 1, 653.
24.
Lynd, E.A., & Tyler, T. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York: Plenum.
25.
Maguire, M. (1990). Complaints against the police: The British experience . In A. Goldsmith (Ed.), Complaints against the police: The trend to external review (pp. 177-210). New York: Oxford University Press.
26.
Maguire, M., & Corbett, C. (1991). A study of the police complaint system. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
27.
New York American Civil Liberties Union. ( 1990). Police abuse: The need for civilian investigation and oversight. New York: Author.
28.
New York American Civil Liberties Union. ( 2007). Mission failure: Civilian review of policing in New York City, 1994-2006. Retrieved September 6, 2007, from http://www.nyclu.org/node/1345
29.
Perez, D. (1994). Common sense about police review. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
30.
Prenzler, T. (2004). Stakeholder's perspectives on police complaints and discipline: Towards a civilian control model. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 37(1), 85-113.
31.
Robinson, P. (1994). A failure of moral conviction? The Public Interest, 35, 40-48.
32.
Sampson, R., & Bartusch, D. (1998). Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of social difference. Law & Society Review, 32, 777-804.
33.
Sampson, R., & Lauritsen, J. (1997). Racial and ethnic disparities in crime and criminal justice in the United States. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: An annual review of research (Vol. 22, pp. 311-374). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
Smith, G. (2004). Rethinking police complaints. British Journal of Criminology, 44, 15-33.
35.
Sunshine, J., & Tyler, T. (2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping public support for the police. Law and Society Review, 37, 513-548.
36.
Sviridoff, M., & McElroy, J. (1989). Processing complaints against police in New York City: The complainant's perspective. New York: Vera Institute of Justice.
37.
Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
38.
Tyler, T. (1990). Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
39.
Tyler, T., & Huo, Y. (2002). Trust in the law. New York : Russell SAGE.
40.
Tyler, T., & Wakslak, C. (2004). Profiling and police legitimacy: Procedural justice, attributions of motive, and acceptance of police authority. Criminology, 42, 253-281.
41.
Walker, S. (1997). Complaints against the police: A focus group study of citizen perceptions and expectations. Criminal Justice Review, 22, 207-225.
42.
Walker, S. (1999). Citizen and police officer evaluations of the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
43.
Walker, S. (2001). Police accountability: The role of citizen oversight . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
44.
Walker, S. (2005). The new world of police accountability. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
45.
Walker, S., & Archbold, C. (2000). Mediating citizen complaints against the police: An exploratory study. Journal of Dispute Resolution, 2, 231-244.
46.
Waters, I., & Brown, K. (2000). Police complaints and the complainants' experience . British Journal of Criminology, 40, 617-638.
47.
Wells, W. (2007). Type of contact and evaluations of police officers: The effects of procedural justice across three types of police-citizen contacts . Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 612-621.
48.
West, S., Finch, J., & Curran, P. (1995). Structural equation models with nonnormal variables: Problems and remedies. In R. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 56-75). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
49.
Young, R., Hoyle, C., Cooper, K., & Hill, R. (2005). Informal resolution of complaints against the police. Criminal Justice, 5, 279-317.
