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What price fairness when security is at stake? Police legitimacy in South Africa

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  • Ben Bradford
  • Aziz Huq
  • Jonathan Jackson
  • Benjamin Roberts

Abstract

The legitimacy of legal authorities – particularly the police – is central to the state's ability to function in a normatively justifiable and effective manner. Studies, mostly conducted in the US and UK, regularly find that procedural justice is the most important antecedent of police legitimacy, with judgments about other aspects of police behavior – notably, about effectiveness – appearing less relevant. But this idea has received only sporadic testing in less cohesive societies where social order is more tenuous, resources to sustain it scarcer, and the position of the police is less secure. This paper considers whether the link between process fairness and legitimacy holds in the challenging context of present day South Africa. In a high crime and socially divided society, do people still emphasize procedural fairness or are they more interested in instrumental effectiveness? How is the legitimacy of the police influenced by the wider problems faced by the South African state? We find procedural fairness judgments play a key role, but also that South Africans place greater emphasis on police effectiveness (and concerns about crime). Police legitimacy is, furthermore, associated with citizens' judgments about the wider success and trustworthiness of the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Bradford & Aziz Huq & Jonathan Jackson & Benjamin Roberts, 2014. "What price fairness when security is at stake? Police legitimacy in South Africa," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(2), pages 246-268, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:8:y:2014:i:2:p:246-268
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jackson, Jonathan & Hough, Mike & Bradford, Ben & Hohl, Katrin & Kuha, Jouni, 2012. "Policing by consent: understanding the dynamics of police power and legitimacy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47220, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Jonathan Crush & Belinda Dodson, 2007. "Another Lost Decade: The Failures Of South Africa'S Post‐Apartheid Migration Policy," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(4), pages 436-454, September.
    3. Rita Abrahamsen & Michael C. Williams, 2008. "Public/Private, Global/Local: The Changing Contours of Africa's Security Governance," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(118), pages 539-553, December.
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    1. Abril, Veronica & Perez-Vincent, Santiago & Tobon, Santiago & Vanegas-Arias, Martin, 2024. "Do procedurally just interactions increase police legitimacy? Evidence from a representative vignette experiment in Colombia," SocArXiv 67urc, Center for Open Science.
    2. Abril, Veronica & Perez-Vincent, Santiago & Tobon, Santiago & Vanegas-Arias, Martin, 2022. "How to measure public trust in the police? A framework with an application for Colombia," SocArXiv 89shw, Center for Open Science.
    3. Maxwell Haurovi & Maxwell Haurovi & Alouis Chilunjika, 2023. "Assessing the prevalence of unethical behaviour in the South African police service," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 5(4), pages 36-48, December.
    4. Alvaro Morcillo, 2013. "Cooperation with the police in a diverse society: the case of South Africa," NCID Working Papers 09/2013, Navarra Center for International Development, University of Navarra.

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