Public confidence in the police testing the effects of public experiences of police corruption in Ghana

Type Journal Article - British Journal of Criminology
Title Public confidence in the police testing the effects of public experiences of police corruption in Ghana
Author(s)
Volume 50
Issue 2
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
Page numbers 296-319
URL http://www.slcdocs.com/ODHR/Website/Right to Safety/Literature/PublicConfidenceInThePolice.pdf
Abstract
Nearly every study of police corruption hypothesizes that public experience of police corruption undermines the moral standing of the police. However, scarcely any studies actually test the hypothesis. My aim in this empirical study is to compare the effects of three dimensions of police corruption on perceptions of police trustworthiness, procedural justice and effectiveness. These three dimensions of corruption are personal experience, vicarious experience and subjective evaluations of police anti-corruption measures. The data come from a survey of people living in Accra, Ghana. The findings show that both vicarious experiences of corruption and satisfaction with reform measures explain assessments of police trustworthiness, procedural justice and effectiveness, but that personal experiences of police corruption do not do so.

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