NCJ Number
118907
Date Published
1988
Length
267 pages
Annotation
This book reviews current theory and research on procedural justice and explores procedural justice's implications for legal, political, interpersonal, and work-related settings.
Abstract
The study of procedural justice is one part of the more general study of the social psychology of justice. Like other areas of justice research, procedural justice begins with the hypothesis that there is a class of psychological reactions to adherence to or violation of norms that prescribe certain patterns of treatment or allocation. Norms that form the basis of the justice response can be divided into two categories, those dealing with social outcomes and those dealing with social process. Social psychologists and theorists in related disciplines often assume that people evaluate their social experiences in terms of the outcomes they receive and that their attitudes and behavior can be explained by outcome-based judgments. The book studies procedural justice from a different premise; The authors view people as more interested in issues of process than in issues of outcome and address the way people's evaluations of experiences and relationships are influenced by the form of social interaction. Chapters cover early research in procedural justice, research methods, legal attitudes and behavior, sources and implications of procedural justice judgments, the generality of procedural justice, procedural justice in the political arena and in organizations, and models of procedural justice. Supplemental information on the assessment of procedural justice beliefs is appended. 239 references, 30 tables, 20 figures.