Assessing the Impact of Procedural Justice on Citizens' Perception of Police Legitimacy in Trinidad and Tobago: A Mixed-Methods Study

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2024 in the subject Business economics - Law, language: English, abstract: This dissertation examines the impact of procedural justice on citizens' perceptions of police legitimacy in Trinidad and Tobago. The focus is on the erosion of public trust in law enforcement and how procedural justice can help rebuild that trust. Using Tom Tyler's procedural justice model as the theoretical framework, the study analyzes the significance of several influencing variables on the perception of legitimacy. Employing a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, data were collected through online questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. The findings indicate that procedural justice is the most important predictor of police legitimacy and emphasize its applicability in developing nations. The research aimed to expand the external validity of the theory and establish a new framework for trust and image restoration in police organizations.