Procedural and distributive justice: Effects on attitudes toward body-worn cameras

AuthorThomas Mrozla
Date01 September 2021
DOI10.1177/14613557211026937
Published date01 September 2021
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Procedural and distributive justice: Effects
on attitudes toward body-worn cameras
Thomas Mrozla
University of South Dakota, USA
Abstract
The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it examined how procedural and distributive justice influence college
students’ perceptions of adoption of body-worn cameras by the police. Second, it explored how procedural and
distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of the ability of body-worn cameras to improve community
relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase police officer respect, increase citizen respect, and improve training.
Those who perceived distributive injustice were more likely to agree that the police should adopt body-worn
cameras. Perceived distributive injustice was also a consistent predictor regarding the varying abilities of body-worn
cameras.
Keywords
Body-worn cameras, police accountability, policing, perceptions of accountability, BWCs
Submitted 27 Oct 2020, Revise received 11 Mar 2021, accepted 24 May 2021
Introduction
Public perception of any law enforcement agency is para-
mount to the success of that organization. To improve
accountability and maintain favorable perceptions, police
agencies can adopt a number of internal accountability
mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is body-worn cam-
eras (BWCs). BWCs are becoming standard pieces of tech-
nology in many police departments around the around the
globe. They have been adopted for many reasons, but pres-
sure put on the police to become more accountab le and
transparent remains an important reason for acquisition.
Specifically important is the perception that fair and equal
treatment by the police is eroded by instances of deadly
force and police misconduct. In the United States, one of
the many events that pressured police departments to adopt
BWCs was the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson
(MO) police officer in 2014 (White and Malm, 2020). This
prompted the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Poli-
cing to recommend and assist with the adoption of BWCs
as a tool to improve accountability. More recently, the call
for greater accountability from citizen groups such as Black
Lives Matter has been placed on police after the death of
George Floyd in Minneapolis. The most recent data sug-
gests that nearly one-half of agencies in 2016 had acquired
BWCs (Hyland, 2018).
Even in 2021, the police in America find themselves in
the midst of a widespread crisis in which legitimacy of the
police profession may be questioned in similar ways to past
crises. In addition to legitimacy, many have highlighted the
inequities in policing related to procedural and distributive
justice. A growing body of literature is building around
citizen perceptions of BWCs but more knowledge is
needed in this area, especially linking procedural and dis-
tributive justice with attitudes toward BWCs. Drawing on a
survey administered to college students in a rural area, this
study explores the factors that influence not only support
for the adoption of BWCs, but also the perceptions regard-
ing BWCs to improve community relations, decrease citi-
zen complaints, increase respect of police officers and
Corresponding author:
Thomas Mrozla PhD, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark Street,
Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Email: Thomas.mrozla@usd.edu
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
ªThe Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14613557211026937
journals.sagepub.com/home/psm
2021, Vol. 23(3) 317–327

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