‘Playing the Game’: Power, Authority and Procedural Justice in Interactions Between Police and Homeless People in London

Beyond Procedural Justice: A Dialogic Approach to Legitimacy in Criminal Justice

Arabella Kyprianides, Clifford Stott and Ben Bradford

The British Journal of Criminology, 2021, vol. 61, issue 3, 670-689

Abstract: We explore the relevance of procedural justice theory for understanding the relationship between police and marginalized groups and individuals. Analysis is based on ethnographic research into the policing of the street population in an inner London borough through shadowing policing patrols and embedding observation within the homeless community. Police–street population relationships appear characterized by: (1) a structural context of extreme disempowerment; (2) a micro-sociological dimension relating to the exercise of authority and (3) a dynamic power relationship characterized by ‘the game of cat and mouse’. The nature of interactions within this context and the extreme marginality of the street population alter the weight placed on fairness perceptions and the extent to which police activity can affect legitimacy and compliance.

Keywords: power; authority; procedural justice; police; homeless people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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