Testing the fair process heuristic in a traffic stop context: Evidence from a factorial study with video vignettes

Published online on January 22, 2021

Abstract

We explored whether distributive justice mediated the observed association between procedural justice and legitimacy, as well as cooperation with police. We distributed a 2 × 2 factorial survey to a national online sample of 560 adults. Participants were randomly assigned to view one video vignette of a traffic stop varying the components of procedural justice (decision-making and treatment quality). We used structural equation modelling to test the significance of direct and indirect effects. The results indicated that distributive justice fully mediated the effect of decision-making quality on each outcome and partially mediated the effect of treatment quality on trust and cooperation with police. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.