What price fairness when security is at stake? Police legitimacy in <scp>S</scp>outh <scp>A</scp>frica
Journal: Regulation & Governance
Year: 2013

Abstract The legitimacy of legal authorities – particularly the police – is central to the state's ability to function in a normatively justifiable and effective manner. Studies, mostly conducted in the US and UK , regularly find that procedural justice is the most important antecedent of police legitimacy, with judgments about other aspects of police behavior – notably, about effectiveness – appearing less relevant. But this idea has received only sporadic testing in less cohesive societies whe