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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Recently, there has been an upsurge in highly publicized negative police-citizen encounters, contributing to the current crisis in police legitimacy. These encounters, mostly filmed and disseminated by citizens, provide a new type of vicarious experience through which the viewer can assess police-citizen interactions, potentially shaping their perceptions of the police. These recordings have sparked national conversations and protests regarding police behavior and treatment of minority citizens. An area that has received less attention, however, is what effect viewing video recordings of less contentious police-citizen interactions has on public perceptions of police. To that end, this study seeks to address the knowledge gap through experimental methodology. Using actual footage of a variety of police-citizen encounters, this study examines the impact of viewing videos of police encounters on individuals' perceptions of police legitimacy, procedural justice, estimates of police misconduct, and their willingness to cooperate with police. Also examined are the impact these videos have on support for officer body-worn cameras and willingness to film the police. The findings indicate the impact of viewing police-citizen encounters on individual perceptions and attitudes are primarily linked to the content – whether positive, negative or neutral – of the video. Specifically, positive videos depicting procedurally just encounters increased perceptions of procedural justice, decreased estimations of police misconduct and increased support for officer body-worn cameras. Viewing negative videos, however, decreased perceptions of police legitimacy, distributive fairness, and procedural justice while increasing estimations of police misconduct and willingness to film the police in the future. The effects of the video encounters on perceptions of police were not lasting and were not stable when respondents were surveyed again two weeks later. Lasting effects were found for individuals’ self-reported willingness to film the police in the future. Given these findings, the process-based model of policing should consider also incorporating digital vicarious experiences when examining factors impacting perceptions of police.
ContributorsParry, Megan Marie (Author) / Wallace, Danielle M (Thesis advisor) / White, Michael D. (Committee member) / Katz, Charles (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The role of the American police is to work for and with the communities they serve. The relationship between police and community, however, has not always been a positive one. In recent decades, police organizations throughout the United States have attempted various approaches to addressing the problem. Most recently, they have been focused on improving that relationship by enhancing their legitimacy. This practice is commonly known as the process-based model of policing: theoretically, a procedurally just interaction will enhance legitimacy, which in turn will enhance willingness to cooperate with the police. The benefit for police agencies in enhancing legitimacy lies in the idea that when the police are perceived as a legitimate entity, the public will be more likely to cooperate with them. Enhancing police legitimacy also offers benefits for the public, as this is preceded by a procedurally just interaction.
The goal of this dissertation is to assess the applicability of the process-based model of policing to an under-studied population: Hispanics and undocumented immigrants residing within Maricopa County, Arizona. The analysis for this dissertation uses data from two different sources: a sample of Maricopa County residents (n=854) and a sample of Maricopa County arrestees (n=2268). These data are used to assess three research questions. The first research question focuses on assessing the applicability of the process-based model of regulation as a theoretical framework to study this population. The second research question compares Hispanic and White respondents’ views of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. The last research question examines the differences between undocumented immigrants’ and U.S. citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. In doing so, this study examined the convergent and discriminant validity of key theoretical constructs. Among several notable findings, the results show that the process-based model of regulation is a promising framework within which to assess perceptions of the police. However, the framework was only supported by the sample of arrestees. Implications for theory, practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The goal of this dissertation is to assess the applicability of the process-based model of policing to an under-studied population: Hispanics and undocumented immigrants residing within Maricopa County, Arizona. The analysis for this dissertation uses data from two different sources: a sample of Maricopa County residents (n=854) and a sample of Maricopa County arrestees (n=2268). These data are used to assess three research questions. The first research question focuses on assessing the applicability of the process-based model of regulation as a theoretical framework to study this population. The second research question compares Hispanic and White respondents’ views of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. The last research question examines the differences between undocumented immigrants’ and U.S. citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. In doing so, this study examined the convergent and discriminant validity of key theoretical constructs. Among several notable findings, the results show that the process-based model of regulation is a promising framework within which to assess perceptions of the police. However, the framework was only supported by the sample of arrestees. Implications for theory, practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
ContributorsNuño, Lidia (Author) / Katz, Charles M. (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis advisor) / White, Michael D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Why do states repress sexual minorities? The logic of coercive responsiveness demonstrates that states repress people when they feel threatened. From this perspective and because repression leaves states with international condemnations and sanctions, it is puzzling why states target sexual minorities. First, I explore this puzzle in all states and argue that political regimes repress sexual minorities when their legitimacy is undermined. Repression of sexual minorities becomes a legitimation strategy for political regimes in homophobic societies especially when regimes lack rational-procedural legitimacy. Second, I examine state repression of LGBTQ+ people in conservative countries and argue that political regimes in homophobic societies tend to repress sexual minorities to divert public attention from domestic economic problems. Corruption, government ineffectiveness, and uneven economic development sprout public resentment and discontent. Political regimes act to repress sexual minorities, implementing homophobic policies to divert public attention from poor economic conditions and discourage citizens from demanding redistributive policies. Instilling homophobic elements into nationalist diversionary tactics makes these tactics more appealing to a broader society where traditional family values and normative homosexuality is blended with national identity. Third, I study the repression of sexual minorities in authoritarian countries and argue that regimes which oppose the US-led international liberal order are more likely to repress sexual minorities. Political leaders in these regimes commit egregious human rights abuses against sexual minorities to draw attention from Western media and gay rights organizations, which press Western governments to make condemnations and sometimes impose sanctions. Leaders in these anti-Western then frame these condemnations and sanctions as threats to sovereignty and cultural imperialism, which become appealing to the homophobic public. Testing these conjectures against new country-year data, survey experiments, and five public surveys, I find results consistent with these arguments. The results suggest that state repression has both domestic and external dimensions. Homosexuality is highly politicized in repressive countries. Leaders resort to violence against sexual minorities for various political gains when the public is hostile to homosexuality. I conclude that public acceptance of LGBTQ+ people is paramount to the improvement of gay rights.
ContributorsAbbasov, Namig (Author) / Siroky, David S (Thesis advisor) / Bustikova, Lenka (Committee member) / Hanson, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Research on Tyler’s process-based model has found strong empirical support. The premise of this model is that legitimacy and legal cynicism mediate the relationship between procedural justice and compliance behaviors. Procedural justice and legitimacy in particular have been linked to compliance and cooperation and a small, but growing body of literature has examined how these factors relate to criminal offending. There remains a number of unanswered questions surrounding the developmental processes and underlying mechanisms of procedural justice and legal socialization. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study will build upon recent trends in the literature to examine what factors influence changes in perceptions of procedural justice and legal socialization attitudes over time. In order to do so, the effects of a number of time-stable and time-varying covariates will be assessed. Second, this study will evaluate the effects of four possible mediating measures—legitimacy, legal cynicism, anger, and prosocial motivation—underlying the relationship between procedural justice and criminal offending. This section of the study will use a multilevel mediation method to assess whether mediation occurs between or within the individual.
Data from the Pathways to Desistance Study—a longitudinal study of 1,354 adolescents adjudicated of a serious offense followed-up for seven years—are used to address this research agenda. Results from this study offer three general conclusions. First, results show that perceptions of procedural justice are malleable, that is, they can change over time and are influenced by a number of factors. Legal socialization beliefs, however, demonstrate only marginal change over time, suggesting these beliefs to be more stable. Second, analyses indicate differing pathways and effects for direct and vicarious experiences of procedural justice. Finally, the multilevel mediation analyses reveal that within-individual changes in direct experiences of procedural justice remains a robust predictor of offending, regardless of the presence of mediating variables. Legitimacy was found to have the strongest mediation effect on between-individual differences in direct procedural justice, whereas anger partially mediated the effects of between-individual differences in vicarious procedural justice. This study concludes with a discussion of policy implications and avenues for future research.
Data from the Pathways to Desistance Study—a longitudinal study of 1,354 adolescents adjudicated of a serious offense followed-up for seven years—are used to address this research agenda. Results from this study offer three general conclusions. First, results show that perceptions of procedural justice are malleable, that is, they can change over time and are influenced by a number of factors. Legal socialization beliefs, however, demonstrate only marginal change over time, suggesting these beliefs to be more stable. Second, analyses indicate differing pathways and effects for direct and vicarious experiences of procedural justice. Finally, the multilevel mediation analyses reveal that within-individual changes in direct experiences of procedural justice remains a robust predictor of offending, regardless of the presence of mediating variables. Legitimacy was found to have the strongest mediation effect on between-individual differences in direct procedural justice, whereas anger partially mediated the effects of between-individual differences in vicarious procedural justice. This study concludes with a discussion of policy implications and avenues for future research.
ContributorsKaiser, Kimberly A (Author) / Reisig, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Sweeten, Gary (Committee member) / Wright, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016