Associate Magazine FBINAA Q1-2023

TIM HEGARTY, NA Session 238 The Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing contains 21 references to procedural justice, starting with the crucial role it plays in the first of the report’s six rec ommendations for improving American policing: build trust and legitimacy. 1 The report makes the case that the procedur ally just treatment of citizens by the police leads to communi ty acceptance of the police as a legitimate authority, and this creates a greater likelihood that citizens will both voluntarily comply with the law and cooperate with the police in creating a safer community. P rocedural justice is also an integral part of the report’s fifth recommendation addressing reforms of police training and education. The George Floyd Justice in American Polic ing Act of 2020 passed by the House in March of 2021 but was rejected by the Senate, citing procedural justice as a key element in addressing racial bias. 2 In the immediate aftermath of the death of Floyd, International Association of Chiefs of Police President Steven Casstevens said, “The IACP and the policing profession are focused on building trust within our communities through transparency, the principles of procedural justice, and holding ourselves and our of ficers accountable for their actions. 3 There is a reason for the prominence of procedural justice in the lexicon of police reform. A great deal of research collectively supports the idea that police practice of procedural justice can build trust and legitimacy through, in part, reducing racial bias in officers’ decision-making. 4 In short, procedural justice has become the next paradigm that promises to cure the ills of American policing, replacing Compstat and proactive policing, which in turn replaced community policing. THE PROCEDURAL JUSTICE PARADIGM AND THE NON-TRAFFIC SAFETY STOP

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