Predictors of satisfaction with Kenya’s police and Kenya’s criminal justice system: Results from a sample of Kenyan college students
| Author | George Wilson,Daniel K Pryce,Kenethia Fuller |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X18814281 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Predictors of satisfaction
with Kenya’s police
and Kenya’s criminal
justice system: Results
from a sample of Kenyan
college students
Daniel K Pryce , George Wilson and Kenethia Fuller
North Carolina Central University College of Behavioral and Social
Sciences, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Although the influence of procedural justice on citizens’ satisfaction and cooperation
with police has been tested in several geopolitical contexts, this is the first study to
examine the relationship between procedural justice and satisfaction with Kenya’s
police and Kenya’s criminal justice system on a Kenyan college campus. Using a sample
of 523 students from a prominent Kenyan university, we found that procedural justice
and officer integrity predicted satisfaction with both Kenya’s police and criminal
justice system. Also, more highly educated students (sophomores, juniors, and
seniors, compared to freshmen) were more satisfied with both the Kenyan police and
criminal justice system. Conversely, victims of crime in the community were less
satisfied with Kenyan police, and students who had a negative personal experience
with police were less satisfied with the country’s criminal justice system. Although
instrumental factors of policing (e.g., police effectiveness) were not tested in this
study, thus precluding a comparative assessment of normative and instrumental
models of policing, this study contributes to the extant literature by poin ting out the
salience of procedural justice and officer integrity for improving the relationship
between the police and the communities they are sworn to serve. The study’s
implications for policy are discussed.
Corresponding author:
Daniel K Pryce, North Carolina Central University College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1801 Fayetteville
Street, Durham, North Carolina 27707-3129, USA.
Email: dpryce@nccu.edu
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
2019, Vol. 92(4) 296–315
ªThe Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X18814281
journals.sagepub.com/home/pjx
Keywords
Procedural justice, satisfaction with police, officer integrity, policing in Kenya, policing in
sub-Saharan Africa, crime victimisation in Kenya, experiences with police
Introduction
This paper adds to the extant literature by examining the effects of procedural justice and
police officer integrity on Kenyan college students’ satisfaction with Kenya’s police and
criminal justice system. The effect of procedural justice on satisfaction and cooperation
with police has been tested in a number of studies, and extending these studies to
additional geopolitical contexts would provide a firm foundation for procedural justice
as an influential theory for improving police–public relations (Pryce, 2016; Sunshine and
Tyler, 2003; Tankebe, 2009). Although deterrence approaches continue to be a part of
law enforcement operations (Harcourt, 2001), criminologists, sociologists and other
behavioural scientists have continued to promote normative concepts, such as procedural
justice and legitimacy, as the answer to improving the relationship between the police
and the communities they have taken an oath to serve. Indeed, the process-based model
of policing has gained wide acceptance because multiple studies have confirmed its
usefulness in improving law and order in communities across the globe (Karakus,
2017; Sunshine and Tyler, 2003). For the process-based model to reach the threshold
of broad acceptance, however, it must be studied in different geopolitical contexts, and
this paper adds to the small number of studies that have taken place in sub-Saharan
Africa (Boateng, 2016; Tankebe, 2009).
Literature review
Satisfaction with police officers and the criminal justice system
Police–public relations are important to police agencies, prompting research efforts to
continually understand the antecedents of citizen satisfaction with police agencies and
the criminal justice system (Hinds and Murphy, 2007; Pryce, 2016; Reisig and Parks,
2000; Tyler and Folger, 1980; Weitzer and Tuch, 2005). Research on satisfaction with
police is not limited to the United States alone; it has taken place in many geopolitical
contexts as well. This stream of comparative research allows researchers and practi-
tioners to ‘expand knowledge about the applicability of findings in other jurisdictions,
and also to expand U.S.-based knowledge by confirming existing findings, or modifying
existing knowledge and suggesting ne w or modified areas for research’ (Hind s and
Murphy, 2007: 30).
As Pryce has argued, ‘[m]easuring public satisfaction with the police is important
because, on the one hand, police services are not really subject to the principles of a
market economy’ (2016: 2). In other words, any citizen or community member seeking
police services cannot choose between competing agencies – the services the police
provide must be accepted for what they are, whether satisfactory or not (Cheurprakobkit
and Bartsch, 2001). On the other hand, consumers’ satisfaction with service delivery is
important to both police agencies and for-profit businesses (Brown and Swartz, 1989;
Pryce et al. 297
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