IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/brikps/13626.html

Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy: Evidence from a Vignette Experiment in Central America

Author

Listed:
  • Perez-Vincent, Santiago M.
  • Puebla, David

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of procedural justice and sanctions on police legitimacy in a middle-income context using a between-subjects vignette experiment among civilians and police officers in Honduras. The scenarios involved civilian--police interactions following a minor infraction, varying in whether the police officer treated the civilian respectfully or disrespectfully, and whether a sanction (fine) was imposed. Respectful treatment increased satisfaction, acceptance of decisions, and willingness to cooperate, while sanctions had the opposite effects on these variables. Sanctions lowered the perceived likelihood of repeating the infraction, whereas respectful treatment had no effect on it. Results were similar for civilians and police officers, though officers assigned greater importance to procedural justice. The study concludes that, while sanctions deter repeated infractions, they can erode legitimacy if not applied respectfully, highlighting the importance of procedural justice in civilian--police interactions. The positive impact of procedural justice among both civilians and officers perceptions supports the desirability and feasibility of its application in this context.

Suggested Citation

  • Perez-Vincent, Santiago M. & Puebla, David, 2024. "Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy: Evidence from a Vignette Experiment in Central America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13626, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:13626
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0013056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Procedural-Justice-and-Police-Legitimacy-Evidence-from-a-Vignette-Experiment-in-Central-America-.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0013056?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Son, In Soo & Davis, Mark S. & Rome, Dennis M., 1998. "Race and its effect on police officers' perceptions of misconduct," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 21-28.
    2. Gobena, Lemessa Bayissa & Van Dijke, Marius, 2017. "Fear and caring: Procedural justice, trust, and collective identification as antecedents of voluntary tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Wutich, Amber & Beresford, Melissa & Carvajal, Cinthia, 2016. "Can Informal Water Vendors Deliver on the Promise of A Human Right to Water? Results From Cochabamba, Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 14-24.
    4. Anqi Zhao & Peng Ding, 2022. "Regression-based causal inference with factorial experiments: estimands, model specifications and design-based properties [Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination]," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 109(3), pages 799-815.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberto Balado‐Naves & María A. García‐Valiñas & David Roibás Alonso, 2025. "Assessing the efficiency of residential water demand: The role of information," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 556-585, May.
    2. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    3. Fatas, Enrique & Nosenzo, Daniele & Sefton, Martin & Zizzo, Daniel John, 2021. "A self-funding reward mechanism for tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Georg Meran & Markus Siehlow & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2021. "Pipes, Taps, and Vendors: An Integrated Water Management Approach," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(04), pages 1-29, October.
    5. Oluwafadekemi S. Areo & Obindah Gershon & Evans Osabuohien, 2020. "Improved Public Services and Tax Compliance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria: A Generalised Ordered Logistic Regression," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(7), pages 833-860, July.
    6. Miloš Fišar & Tommaso Reggiani & Fabio Sabatini & Jiří Špalek, 2020. "Media Bias and Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2020-01, Masaryk University, revised Feb 2023.
    7. Brewis, Alexandra & Choudhary, Neetu & Wutich, Amber, 2019. "Household water insecurity may influence common mental disorders directly and indirectly through multiple pathways: Evidence from Haiti," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    8. McElvain, James P. & Kposowa, Augustine J., 2004. "Police officer characteristics and internal affairs investigations for use of force allegations," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 265-279.
    9. Joseph Kangmennaang & Elijah Bisung & Susan J. Elliott, 2020. "‘We Are Drinking Diseases’: Perception of Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress in Urban Slums in Accra, Ghana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Beresford, Melissa & Brewis, Alexandra & Choudhary, Neetu & Drew, Georgina & Garcia, Nataly Escobedo & Garrick, Dustin & Hossain, Mohammed Jobayer & Lopez, Ernesto & Nébié, Elisabeth Ilboudo & Pacheco, 2023. "Justice and Moral Economies in Modular, Adaptive, and Decentralized (MAD) Water Systems," SocArXiv 6ywp7, Center for Open Science.
    11. Mzalendo, Ryoba & Chimilila, Cyril, . "Tax administration, Taxpayer’s Reciprocity and Compliance in Tanzania: Empirical Evidence from a Survey," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 8(2).
    12. repec:osf:socarx:6ywp7_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Francis Dakyaga & Alphonce G. Kyessi & Joel M. Msami, 2024. "Water Access Today and Tomorrow: Domestic Water Sustainability under Informal Water Supply Markets in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(6), pages 120-120, July.
    14. Erwin Harinurdin & Karin Amelia Safitri & Ronny Kountur, 2024. "Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior in Examining the Intention to Improve Corporate Tax Compliance Through Compensation and Counterproductive Work Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(4), pages 21582440241, December.
    15. Sandra Aulia & Haula Rosdiana & Inayati Inayati, 2022. "Trust, Power, and Tax Risk into the “Slippery Slope”: A Corporate Tax Compliance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    16. Heinrich Zozmann & Alexander Morgan & Christian Klassert & Bernd Klauer & Erik Gawel, 2022. "Can Tanker Water Services Contribute to Sustainable Access to Water? A Systematic Review of Case Studies in Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-27, September.
    17. Argentiero, Amedeo & Cerqueti, Roy & Sabatini, Fabio, 2021. "Does social capital explain the Solow residual? A DSGE approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 35-53.
    18. Gao, Mengsi & Ding, Peng, 2025. "Causal inference in network experiments: Regression-based analysis and design-based properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 252(PA).
    19. Bruns, Christoffer & Fochmann, Martin & Mohr, Peter N.C. & Torgler, Benno, 2025. "Multidimensional tax compliance attitude," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    20. Meran, Georg & Siehlow, Markus & von Hirschhausen, Christian, 2018. "Pipes, Taps and Vendors: Managing and Regulating the Unconnected Water Market," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181584, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Federico A. Bugni & Ivan A. Canay & Steve McBride, 2023. "Decomposition and Interpretation of Treatment Effects in Settings with Delayed Outcomes," Papers 2302.11505, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2025.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:13626. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.