Race and Procedural Justice

In response to the recent crisis in police–community relations, police researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have presented the procedural justice model of policing as the key to police reform. This chapter explores the generalizability of the procedural justice model of policing to police relations with Black communities. It begins with a discussion of the development of the procedural justice model of policing and the contemporary crisis in American law enforcement that has brought this model to the forefront of police reform efforts. It then considers the application and effectiveness of procedural justice in minority communities, using evidence of the impact of the procedural justice model and the nature of public perceptions of police to inform this discussion. In conclusion, this chapter presents a Black Criminology model of procedural justice designed to incorporate the unique lived experiences of Black Americans into our current understanding of procedural justice. Specifically, this model connects research on the origins and impact of Black Americans’ global attitudes of police to the procedural justice model of policing. To enhance police relations with minority communities, this chapter suggests the procedural justice model must consider the history and context of Black Americans’ experiences with law and the police.