Trust and Legitimacy in Criminal Justice

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Legitimacy and Criminal Justice

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Trust in Transition: Legitimacy of Criminal Justice in Transitional Societies

      • Susanne Karstedt

      Pages 3-31

   3. Sentencing, Legitimacy, and Public Opinion

      • Julian V. Roberts, Mojca M. Plesničar

      Pages 33-51

   4. Procedural Justice for Victims in an International Perspective

      • Jan van Dijk

      Pages 53-64

   5. Empowering the Victims of Crime: A Real Goal of the Criminal Justice System or No More Than a Pipe Dream?

      • Witold Klaus, Konrad Buczkowski, Paulina Wiktorska

      Pages 65-91

   6. Is Legitimacy Police Property?

      • Paul Ponsaers

      Pages 93-110

   7. Lost in Transition: Criminal Justice Reforms and the Crises of Legitimacy in Central and Eastern Europe

      • Benjamin Flander, Aleš Bučar Ručman

      Pages 111-133

3. Exploring Trust and Legitimacy in Police

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 135-135

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   2. Empirical Legitimacy as Two Connected Psychological States

      • Jonathan Jackson, Mike Hough, Ben Bradford, Jouni Kuha

      Pages 137-160

   3. Assessing Validity of Different Legitimacy Constructs Applying Structural Equation Modeling

      • Jerneja Šifrer, Gorazd Meško, Matevž Bren

      Pages 161-187

   4. Do We Trust Them? Public Opinion on Police Work in Plural Policing Environments in Central and Eastern Europe

      • Branko Lobnikar, Andrej Sotlar, Maja Modic

      Pages 189-202

   5. Trust in the German Police: Determinants and Consequences for Reporting Behavior

      • Nathalie Guzy, Helmut Hirtenlehner

      Pages 203-229

   6. Legitimacy of Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Results from a Cross-National Law Student Survey

      • Gorazd Meško, Katja Eman

      Pages 231-260

   7. Police Self-Legitimacy, Use of Force, and Pro-organizational Behavior in Slovenia

      • Justice Tankebe, Gorazd Meško

      Pages 261-277

4. Back Matter

   Pages 279-293

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The book explores police legitimacy and crime control, with a focus on the European region. Using comparative case studies, the contributions to this timely volume examine the effects of a transition to democracy on policing, public attitudes towards police legitimacy, and the ways in which perceptions of police legitimacy relate to compliance with the law.

Following these case studies, the authors provide recommendations for improving police legitimacy and controlling crime, in these particular sociopolitical environments, where the police are often associated with previous military or paramilitary roles. The techniques used by these researchers may be applied to studies for policing in other regions, with potential applications within Europe and beyond. Chapters present topical issues of crime, crime control and human emotions regarding crime, criminals, law enforcement and punishment in contemporary societies.

This book will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as political science and public policy.  

This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in procedural justice and legitimacy, encounters between citizens and the state, the effectiveness of governmental institutions, and democratic development. It stands alone in its broad, cross-national contributions to understanding these issues.

-Wesley G. Skogan, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

 

• Evidence-Based Criminology
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Police Studies
• Police Use of Force
• Policing Legitimacy
• Policing in Europe

• Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Maribor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  Gorazd Meško

• Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Justice Tankebe

Gorazd Meško, Ph.D., is Professor of Criminology and Dean at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Slovenia and a visiting scholar at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. He has recently edited Handbook on Policing in central and Eastern Europe (2013, with Charles B. Fields, Branko Lobnikar and Andrej Sotlar). His current research interests include crime prevention, provision of safety/security, and legitimacy. E-mail: gorazd.mesko@fvv.uni-mb.si Justice Tankebe, Ph.D., is University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, U. K. Some of his research has appeared in Criminology, Law & Society Review, and the British Journal of Criminology. His books include Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: International Explorations (forthcoming, edited with Alison Liebling) and Legitimacy, Social Order and Criminal Justice (co-authored with Tony Bottoms).

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