Student Attitudes towards Police — The Importance of Perceived Fairness and Procedural Justice

An emerging concept in policing is procedural justice, or the perception of being fairly treated in a specific police contact. Many studies have found that procedural justice greatly outweighs commonly examined characteristics, such as race, and the development of global attitudes towards police. These general attitudes are essential in creating a community-police partnership, and have often been used as theoretical measure of community satisfaction. Using data collected from students in a four-year university in the Pacific Northwest, the current study examined the importance of procedural fairness within a specific encounter in comparison with its outcome. Findings relate to the importance of perceived respectfulness of an officer and the impact it has on general attitudes