National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice: Research Roundtable, Yale Law School, November 19-20, 2015

• NCJ Number: 249869
• Date Published: February 2016
• Length: 66 pages
• Agencies: OJP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description; Policy

Annotation

This report presents the recommendations of a roundtable convened to identify an agenda for future research in the areas of procedural justice, implicit bias, and reconciliation, for the purpose of increasing public trust and confidence in both law enforcement officers and in the legal system they represent.

Abstract

The roundtable brought together experts in each of the three focus areas. They presented background papers, followed by panel discussions on the ideas presented in the background papers. Roundtable discussions began with a review of what is already known from basic science in each of the three areas, along with ways in which this knowledge has shaped extant interventions intended to improve police-community relations. This information is summarized at the beginning of each of this report's subsections. The roundtable then moved from the application of current findings to the identification of what is not currently known but which has the potential to contribute to future efforts in building police legitimacy with the communities they serve. The roundtable reached consensus on four directions for future research. One area of research recommended is to study the three pillars of legitimacy - procedural justice, implicit bias, and reconciliation - in their interaction with and influence upon one another. A second area recommended for research is the specification of protocols for action, based upon research about what is viewed as fair by the public and what minimizes bias by law enforcement officers. A third area recommended for future research is an examination of how segments of the public and the police perceive and are influenced by their dominant social worlds and interactions, as well as how a shared identity can be forged between social groups. A fourth area recommended for research is how individuals and social groups recognize and overcome their resistance to change. 27 references