Organizational Justice and Police Misconduct

• NCJ Number: 234994
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 332-353
• Author(s): Scott E. Wolfe; Alex R. Piquero
• Date Published: April 2011
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-IJ-CX-0066
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Western Society of Criminology, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 4-6, 2010.

Annotation

This study explored the role of organizational justice in police misconduct.

Abstract

Although police misconduct has interested policing scholars for many years, extant research has been largely atheoretical and has ignored the role of organizational justice in understanding the behavior. This study uses survey data from a random sample of 483 police officers employed in the Philadelphia Police Department to explore the role of organizational justice in police misconduct. Results indicate that officers who view their agency as fair and just in managerial practices are less likely to adhere to the code of silence or believe that police corruption in pursuit of a noble cause is justified. Furthermore, perceptions of organizational justice are associated with lower levels of engagement in several forms of police misconduct. The results suggest that organizational justice is a promising framework to understand police misconduct and may help guide police administrators in the implementation of effective management strategies to reduce the incidence of the behavior. (Published Abstract)