VOICE, CONTROL, AND BELONGING: The Double-Edged Sword of Procedural Fairness

“Taylor and Brown (1988) review a large body of evidence that “overly positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism are characteristic of normal human thought (p. 193)” and essential to healthy coping.”

“Moreover, procedural justice scholars have consistently and explicitly noted the risk of false consciousness in their writings (e.g., Lind & Tyler, 1988; MacCoun, Lind, & Tyler; Tyler et al., 1997).”

“…or confirmatory factor analyses are used to establish that theoretically distinct concepts are, in fact, empirically distinguishable (see Blader & Tyler, 2003; Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2002, 2003; Colquitt, 2001; Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, & Porter, 2001; Skitka, Winquist, & Hutchinson, 2003).”

“Securing compliance based on trust and legitimacy is of course a desirable alternative to the use of coercive force, but as MacCoun (2005) has argued, procedural justice is “clearly a double-edged sword” (p. 193).”

“This reflects the broader expectations of evidence-based policing (Bradford, Murphy & Jackson, 2014; MacCoun, 2005; Sherman, 1998), which seeks to measure and evaluate police policy, decision-making and practice.”

“^Writing in the context of the relationships between authorities and citizens, MacCoun (2005) suggests that the use of procedural justice by authorities in their interactions with citizens might distract citizens, causing them to ignore the importance of appropriate or fair outcomes of the…”

“MacCoun (2005) and Gross (2007) argue that procedural justice is particularly important where uncertainty exists on what constitutes fair aggregate or distributive outcomes to encourage participation by all relevant parties and open debate on the ethical dimensions of climate decision-making 1 .”

“People react especially negatively when they feel they have been disrespected (MacCoun, 2005; Miller, 2001; cf. Vermunt, Van der Kloot, & Van der Meer, 1993).”

“However work within the procedural justice paradigm consistently finds that it is the perceived fairness of procedures which have a dominant role in predicting satisfaction with both personal and more mediated experiences of the police (MacCoun 2005).”

“For instance, MacCoun (2005) reviewed the relevant works and noted the convergence among cultures and peoples on the dynamics of procedural justice.”

“There is even an assumption that a fair procedure is likely to yield a fair outcome [46].”

“It also provides insights into social welfare decision-making and procedural justice, shedding light on how individual and group identity affect perceptions of, and compliance with, the criminal justice system (MacCoun 2005; Tyler 2005).”

“2012; Maccoun 2005) and guides them in their interactions with employees (Ambrose et al.”

“Although the central claim in procedural fairness theory is that people care deeply about how decisions are made (e.g., MacCoun, 2005; Tyler, 2006), the outcome favorability of a decision—the extent to which the decision is in accordance with an individual’s preferences—can still taint people’s…”

“Extensive research since the 1970s on procedural justice has shown that parties are more willing to accept government policies if they perceive the decision-making process as neutral and government as trustworthy, if they have been able to express their point of view, and if they have been treated with politeness, dig…”

“Moreover, it has the potential to inform debates about the relative primacy and importance of distributive justice across species, given that concerns with distributive fairness potentially emerged earlier in the collective ancestral past than, for example, concerns about procedural fairness (such as the value of voic…”

“A vast literature in social and organizational psychology has focused on the way people evaluate authorities not only on the basis of outcomes but also on the basis of the fairness of decision-making procedures (see MacCoun 2005 or Murphy 2017 for recent reviews).”

“Research has shown that providing the public with ‘‘voice’’ in important public decisions can lead to more satisfied individuals, which may increase the likelihood of decision acceptance (Lind and Tyler 1988; MacCoun 2005).”

“Literature in other areas also suggests that the perceived fairness of decision-making procedures is crucial for legitimacy beliefs in legal, political, and managerial settings (see MacCoun, 2005; Tyler, 2006, for reviews).”

“Procedural fairness is linked to legitimacy in that “procedures matter […] because fair procedures produce fair outcomes” (MacCoun, 2005, p. 182).”

“Individuals are more willing to adhere to the law when it is seen to be fair and enforced appropriately (MacCoun 2005).”

“Processes that exacerbate or simply perpetuate inequities cannot be judged as procedurally just (Haney 1991; MacCoun 2005).”

“Scholars such as Tyler (1989, 2000) and MacCoun (2005) have suggested that RJ conferencing gives the offender the opportunity to make things right with the victim and has the potential for the larger group to respect the offender as a person who has committed a wrong but can be reintegrated back…”

“…justice have replicated in civil and criminal courts, interpersonal disputes, and work environments (Casper et al. 1988; Jones et al. 2019; MacCoun 2005; Tyler 2017) and across a variety of cultural contexts (Bradford et al. 2014; Huq et al. 2017; Mazerolle et al. 2012; Pryce et al. 2016;…”

“Thus, MacCoun (2005 ) warned that procedural justice has a dark side: It leaves citizens potentially vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by the power holders.”

“1 See, for example, theories and research on procedural justice, of which MacCoun (2005) gives a good overview.”

“…several authors in this fi eld point towards the risks of false consciousness and alibi participation: When governments use participatory tools to raise support among citizens even though they are not genuinely motivated to engage with citizen ’ s input (Lafont, 2015; MacCoun, 2005; Pateman, 2012).”

“It also provides legitimacy and support to coercive interventions (MacCoun, 2005), which would include a mandatory excise tax.”

“To balance this dual role (control and care), perceived fairness, respect, and humanity have been proposed as elements that can reduce the coerciveness of mandatory conditions of treatment or supervision (Bourgon & Guiterrez, 2013; MacCoun, 2005; Skeem et al., 2003).”

“Prior work finds that individuals greatly value the ability to have a voice and to express opinions in the legal process, leading to more positive views of the justice system and to a greater sense that the legal system is legitimate (Tyler and Huo 2002; MacCoun 2005).”

“It can thus be questioned whether public administrators are genuinely interested in engaging with citizens’ input, or more motivated to fabricate support for their work—the so-called alibi participation (cf. MacCoun, 2005).”

“Last but not least, there are concerns by scholars that authorities can utilize the appearance of fair procedures (via factors such as dignity, respect, and voice) as an inexpensive way to distract citizens from substantively unfair or biased outcomes (MacCoun, 2005), or that legal proceedings could become a show for…”

“A distinct subset within institutional theories of trust concerns the importance of procedural fairness (Grimes, 2006; MacCoun, 2005; Esaiasson, 2010) or procedural justice (Lind & Tyler, 1988; Tyler, 1988; Tyler, 2006) for institutional trust and institutional legitimacy.”

“However, the act of blaming also carries substantial social costs for blamers, such as retaliation towards the blamer by the norm-violator or reputational damage for the blamer when an accusation is unsupported or unwarranted (e.g., MacCoun, 2005; Mikula et al., 1998).”

“…cases (Casper, Tyler, & Fisher, 1988), police interactions (Paternoster, Brame, Bachman, & Sherman, 1997; Tyler & Huo, 2002), interpersonal disputes (Lind, Tyler, & Huo, 1997), and organizational settings (Tyler, 1994; Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, & Ng, 2001; see MacCoun, 2005; for overview).”

“The renowned works on procedural fairness of Thibaut and Walker, and Lind and Tyler, and others following in their tradition, show how plaintiffs do not only care about the outcome of a trial, but also care deeply about the process by which conflicts are resolved and decisions are made, even when outcomes are unfavour…”

“While the importance of this theory is well-established (MacCoun, 2005), only one study has applied the principles of procedural justice in the child protection context (Venables & Healy, 2019) despite the clear relevance of procedural justice theory to this context.”

“For instance, a cup of tea and kind words might be enough to ‘ sugar coat ’ and thus ‘ hoodwink ’ detainees into cooperating with necessary police procedures (Skinns, 2011; MacCoun, 2005).”

“…in the field of criminology and criminal justice (Hagan & Hans, 2017; Nagin & Telep, 2020), representing the central theme of a diverse range of issues, such as restorative justice (Menkel-Meadow, 2007), dispute resolution (Hollander-Blumoff & Tyler, 2011), and obedience to the law (MacCoun, 2005).”

“) has confirmed the significance of procedural justice (Folger and Cropanzano, 1998; Lind and Tyler, 1988; Tyler and Blader, 2000; Blader and Tyler, 2003a; MacCoun, 2005), its role in the resolution of conflicts (Welsh, 2004; 2006) and in negotiations (Hollander-Blumoff and Tyler, 2008; Hollander-Blumoff, 2010), its a…”

“Research has examined the manner in which fair processes generate fair outcomes (MacCoun 2005; Thibaut and Walker 1975); and has emphasised the “effects of values associated with group membership” and the ways in which group procedures work (Lind and Tyler 1988, p.”

“Thus, a court that treats an individual defendant fairly may not necessarily be trustworthy, especially when other drivers are salient (e.g., self-interest; see MacCoun, 2005).”

“It is important to accept that the procedures are there for the deliverance of ‘ just ’ outcomes within the internal procedures applied, without fear or favour, to all staff (Feuille & Chachere, 1995; MacCoun, 2005).”