Procedural justice in police interactions: Exploring the relation between officer behavior and subjective procedural justice in a training simulation

Drawing from procedural justice theory and the sociocultural psychology of communication, we examined the degree to which specific police behaviors promote subjective judgments of procedural justice during simulated police interactions. Data came from 75 Norwegian police trainees participating in a simulation to defuse an ambiguous conflict between two people in a public park. Body camera footage was used to collect data on trainees’ behavior during the simulation. Self-report measures of subjective procedural justice were completed by the actors role-playing the conflict. Subjective procedural justice was higher when trainees gave the role-players an opportunity to express their view, listened to their story, and acted in ways that conveyed respect. Role-players also rated trainees as more procedurally just when the trainees demonstrated perspective-integrating via the verbal coordination of multiple perspectives in the conflict. The results identify multiple behaviors available to officers to increase the likelihood they will be judged as procedurally just.