Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts

Chapter 15. Process-Based Regulation

Chapter 15 Process-Based Regulation WE HAVE examined various strategies that the police and the courts can use to regulate people's behaviors. Our particular interest is in those behaviors that legal authorities can engage in to enhance the willingness of the public to support and accept their decisions. We have distinguished between two possible strategies for effective regulation. The deterrence strategy dominates current thinking about how to bring people's behavior into line with the law and the directives of legal authorities. Deterrence relies on gaining compliance through the power of legal authorities to sanction people. In implementing this approach, police officers and judges use the possibility of sanctioning to pressure people to comply with their directives. As we have noted, research suggests that deterrence does affect people's behavior, but that those effects are oftenweak. Itis an effectivebut inefficient way to handle regulation. The second strategy is to encourage the judgment that the police and the courts are using fair procedures in exercising their authority and to develop the public'S trust in the motives of legal authorities. We refer to these strategies as process-based regulation because they are based on seeking to gain the cooperation and consent of members of the public through the fair, respectful behavior of legal authorities. We have shown that process-based regulation offers several advantages . First, it lessens defiance and hostility, making it easier for societal authorities to gain acceptance for their decisions from the public. In personal encounters with legal authorities, members of the public are more likely to accept their decisions when they feel that they are fairly treated by those authorities and can trust their motives. Second, because people are accepting the decisions of authorities more voluntarily, they are more likely to adhere to those decisions over time. When people unwillingly give way before the force of police officers or judges, who have the power to arrest, fine, or jail them, their com- Process-Based Regulation 205 pliance does not develop from internal motivations. Once the immediate threat of punishment is lessened, people revert to their prior behaviors . Therefore, legal authorities must often revisit problems and people over and over again to remind them of the possibility of sanctioning. To the degree that people have willingly accepted authorities' decisions, their motivation to continue abiding by those decisions in the future is greater. Therefore, the first conclusion of this analysis is that process-based regulation enhances both the public's immediate acceptance of the directives of legal authorities and its consent and cooperation over time. In both the short term and the long term, people are more willing to accept decisions when they believe that legal authorities are following fair procedures and have trustworthy motives for their behavior. Societal Orientations and Decision Acceptance In addition to being influenced by their judgments about the behavior of the particular police officers and judges they encounter, people's willingness to defer voluntarily to legal authorities is shaped by their broader societal orientations. The results we have outlined clearly show that legitimacy, trust in others in one's community, and social connections with others all facilitate decision acceptance within particular situations. The strongest influence comes from legitimacy, as we would expect, since legitimacy is directly linked to the characteristics of the law and legal authorities. However, the results also support the suggestion that the strength of people's connections to their community and to society in general influence their behavior. The second conclusion of this analysis therefore is that general societal orientations, such as the legitimacy of legal institutions, have an influence on how people behave during their personal experiences with legal authorities. When people feel that the law and legal authorities are more legitimate, they are more willing to defer to particular police officers and judges. This is also true when people feel that they have ties to other people in the community or when they identify with society. Interestingly, not all general societal orientations have a direct influence on people's reactions during personal experiences. In particular, people's identification with their ethnic group does not influence their decision on how to react to particular police officers and judges. Hence, ethnic group identification neither hinders nor helps police officers and judges seeking to gain the cooperation of community residents. 206 Trust in the Law We identified two typesofinfluence. First, societal orientations directly influence decision acceptance. Those with morefavorable orientations...