Procedural Justice Theory

Abstract Understanding why and on what basis people cooperate with police and comply with the law is vital for the formulation of legal policy and, indeed, the functioning of the justice system. Procedural justice theory (PJT) has emerged as arguably the dominant account in this area. Stressing the centrality of fairness judgments in police-public relations, PJT provides a detailed account of the ways trust and legitimacy are formed, are reproduced, and feed into cooperation and compliance. In this chapter, we outline the existing evidence base for PJT, consider recent critiques of the theory, and explore some new developments and avenues for future research and practice. We conclude that although PJT has contributed enormously to our understanding of police-public relations, to demonstrate its applicability where it really counts for policing, those working within the paradigm need to develop a more expansive theoretical and methodological framework.