“You are first a migrant”: The role of police procedural injustice and social identity among Nigerian immigrants in the United States

Abstract

Process-based policing represents a strategy for building productive relationships between the police and residents. This study used data from in-depth qualitative interviews with Nigerian immigrants living in a large city to gauge the potential utility of this strategy. Although participants expected the police to behave in a manner consistent with an idealized image of the United States, police contacts were typically characterized as procedurally unfair, which negatively affected their social identity, their support for the police, and their willingness to comply and cooperate. Participants indicated that such treatment signaled to them that the police considered migrants an outgroup whose members represented a threat to public order and required higher levels of social control. Nevertheless, the evidence suggested that procedurally just tactics may prove effective over time, which could help immigrants identify with the police, support them, and report crimes.