General Views and Encounter-Specific Information as Predictors of Encounter-Specific Assessments of Police-Provided Procedural Justice: Findings from a Vignette Survey Experiment

The importance of citizens’ subjective sense that they were treated fairly in specific encounters with the police is well established. Yet, the interrelated roles of general views of police legitimacy and procedural justice, on the one hand, and the procedural justice cues displayed by officers during an encounter, on the other, remain unclear. This study addresses this gap using data from a vignette-based survey experiment in which the scenarios vary in the extent of procedurally fair treatment shown by the officers (𝑁=1356). The analysis reveals that both general views of police legitimacy/procedural justice and encounter-specific procedural justice cues significantly predict encounter-specific assessments of fairness. However, their effects differ. The more procedural justice cues the officer displays, the less participants’ general attitudes about police legitimacy and procedural justice shape their interpretations of the encounter. Conversely, the less favorable those general views are, the stronger the impact of immediate procedural justice cues. These findings offer an optimistic message for the police: officers have considerable influence over how citizens interpret the fairness of specific encounters, and procedurally just treatment is especially effective for individuals who begin with relatively negative general views of the police.