Negative Police-Citizen Encounters Ramp up Perception of Justice

Abstract

Most encounters between officers and citizens occur in low-visibility settings, where front-line officers exercise significant discretionary power. Previous research has highlighted the crucial role of police–citizen contact in shaping citizens’ perceptions of procedural and distributive justice. This study goes beyond the simple focus on voluntary versus involuntary contact by examining how specific officer demeanors, such as shouting, impact citizens’ sense of justice. Using data from the 2015 Police-Public Contact Survey and two binary logistic regression models, we found that shouting by officers significantly reduces citizens’ sense of both distributive and procedural justice. Notably, the effect of race is only statistically associated with citizens’ sense of distributive justice, but not procedural justice. Moreover, findings from the Chi-square analysis suggest that while procedural justice perceptions show relatively small racial differences, perceptions of distributive justice vary substantially by race. The study concludes by discussing policy implications and suggesting directions for future research.