Principles of Procedurally Just Policing The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School January 2018 The Justice Collaboratory brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars and researchers at Yale University and elsewhere to work on issues related to institutional reform and policy innovation and advancement. We infuse theory and empirical research in order to achieve our goal of making the components of criminal justice operation simultaneously more effective, just, and democratic. Principles of Procedurally Just Policing The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School Authors: Megan Quattlebaum, Tracey Meares, and Tom Tyler Student Co-Authors: Matthew Ampleman, Asli Bashir, Reginald Betts, Alon Gur, Dahlia Mignouna, Nora Niedzielski-Eichner, Shannon Prince, Laura Savarese, Jane Shim, Rachel Shur, and Corinne Waite. January 2018 Student co-authors participated in an experiential course at the Yale Law School that was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. We are extremely grateful to Monica Bell, Alexandra Cox, Elizabeth Clark-Polner, Christin Glodek, Yael Granot, Rachel Johnston, Thomas O’Brien, and Rick Trinkner for their valuable input, and to Kaitlin Koga and Kiran Lutfeali for their research assistance. Special thanks to our colleagues at the Center for Policing Equity, the National Network for Safe Communities, and the Urban Institute, as well as the police departments of Birmingham, Alabama; Fort Worth, Texas; Gary, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Stockton, California for their comments on earlier drafts of this report. This project was supported by Grant #2014-mu-mu-k051 awarded by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice. Introduction 6 1 Part One: Transparency and Public Engagement 10 Procedurally Just Policymaking 10 Overview 10 Definitions 12 principle 1. Make Policies Publicly Available . 12 principle 2. Subject Policies Likely to Substantially Impact Community Members to Intensive Public Review . 13 principle 3. Solicit Community Input When Making or Revising Policies . 14 principle 4. Communicate Reasons for Policy Decisions . 15 Use of Force Review: Principles and Policies 16 Overview 16 principle 5. Draft Specific and Comprehensive Use of Force Guidelines . 16 principle 6. Make Policies and Data Publicly Available . 17 principle 7. Employ Sentinel Event Reviews and Early Warning Systems . 18 Body-Worn and Vehicle-Mounted Cameras 18 Overview 18 Definitions 19 principle 8. Involve the Community in Body-Worn and Vehicle-Mounted Camera Policymaking . 19 principle 9. Develop Clear Guidelines for Body-Worn Camera Activation . 20 principle 10. Develop Clear Guidelines for Vehicle-Mounted Camera Activation . 21 principle 11. Develop Clear Guidelines for Film Retention . 22 principle 12. Employ a Presumption in Favor of Film Release . 22 2 Part Two: Procedural Justice Inside the Department 23 Model Policy for Workplace Procedural Justice 23 Overview 23 principle 13. Promote an Ethic of Respect . 24 principle 14. Give Officers Due Process and Voice . 25 principle 15. Accommodate Officers’ Needs and Preferences . 26 principle 16. Provide Employees with Support . 26 principle 17. Recognize Employees’ Contributions . 27 Model Policy for Performance Assessment in Procedurally Just Agencies 28 Overview 28 Definitions 29 principle 18. Encourage Officers to Act as Guardians . 29 principle 19. Track and Prioritize Community Trust . 30 principle 20. Reward Procedural Justice . 30 principle 21. Encourage a Growth Mindset . 31 principle 22. Make Performance Metrics Transparent to the Public . 31 principle 23. Model Procedural Justice at All Levels of the Department . 32 3 Part Three: Officer Interactions with Their Communities 33 Model Policies for Police Dispatch Procedures 33 Definitions 33 principle 24. Provide Supplemental Training to 911 Dispatchers . 33 principle 25. Incorporate the Best Available Data and Technology . 35 principle 26. Employ and Expand Alternative Call Systems and Responses . 35 Investigatory Stops and Traffic Stops 37 Overview 37 Definitions 37 principle 27. Limit Investigatory Stops to Appropriate Circumstances . 37 principle 28. Limit Traffic Stops to Appropriate Circumstances . 39 principle 29. Employ Procedural Justice in all Stops . 40 De-escalation of Conflict 41 Overview 41 Definitions 41 principle 30. Use De-escalation Techniques in All Encounters . 41 principle 31. Give Officers De-Escalation Training . 43 principle 32. Publicly Debate Vehicle Pursuit Policy . 44 4 Part Four: Practicing Procedural Justice with Particular Groups 45 LGBTQI Individuals 46 Overview 46 Definitions 46 principle 33. Treat all People with Respect . 47 principle 34. Ensure the Safety of all People . 48 principle 35. Conduct Outreach to LGBTQI Organizations . 48 Immigrant Communities 48 Overview 48 principle 36. Decouple Federal Immigration Enforcement from Local Policing . 49 principle 37. Adopt Inclusive and Welcoming Attitude Toward Immigrant Members of the Community . 50 Racial Minorities 52 Overview 52 principle 38. Developing Training Programs and Policies that Reduce the Potential for Racial Biases to Affect Decisionmaking . 52 principle 39. Promote Positive Interactions Between Racial Minorities and Police Officers . 53 Young People 54 Overview 54 principle 40. Engage Young People in the Co-Production of Public Safety . 56 principle 41. Employ Procedural Justice in Interactions with Young People . 56 Endnotes 57 Introduction The guiding principle of this document is that police departments’ policies should be conducive to building and maintaining law enforcement legitimacy and public trust. By legitimacy, we mean the public’s belief that the authority enforcing the law has the right to do so. We emphasize this concept because empirical evidence persuasively demonstrates that perceptions of legitimacy have a greater impact on compliance with the law than do instrumental factors, such as sanctions imposed by authorities on individuals who commit crimes. The more legitimate members of the public perceive actors in the criminal justice system to be, the more likely they will be to obey the law. The theory of procedural justice is grounded in the idea that people’s perceptions of police legitimacy will be influenced more by their experience of interacting with officers than by the end result of those interactions. For instance, a driver’s perception of his experience of being stopped by a police officer will depend less on whether he receives a ticket, and more on whether he feels the officer has treated him in a “procedurally just” way. Individuals evaluate whether they have received procedurally just treatment by considering four central features of their interactions: whether they were treated with dignity and respect, whether they were given voice, whether the decision-maker was neutral and transparent, and whether the decision-maker conveyed trustworthy motives. Research demonstrates that when members of the public perceive police officers to behave in a procedurally just manner, they have a more positive view not only of their individual encounters with those officers, but of the legitimacy of law enforcement more generally. Notably, the recommendations made herein are in concert with those of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. We believe those recommendations should serve as a model for law enforcement across the country.1 Pillar One of the Task Force’s final report focused on “building trust and legitimacy,” and its very first recommendation stated: Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to build public trust and legitimacy. Toward that end, police and sheriffs’ departments should adopt procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and external policies and practices to guide their interactions with the citizens they serve.2 Concepts of procedural justice are already visible in many police departments’ policies, particularly in the form of mission statements communicating the overall goal of the law enforcement agency, and in policies specifically addressing professional responsibility standards for officers. These provide an important opportunity to distill professional responsibility considerations into a set of principles to guide members of the department, and to establish that principles of procedural justice inform all of the departments’ actions. 6 principles of procedurally just policing | the justice collaboratory at yale law school We believe that procedural justice can and should be integrated throughout the policies of a department. In this document, we identify three key areas of department policymaking in which procedural justice principles should be incorporated: 1. Addressing transparency and public engagement If police departments are only able to make one change to their current operating procedures, it should be this: departments should move toward a process for publishing and revising their general and special orders that incorporates procedural justice principles. As described above, if a police department is to be viewed as procedurally just, it must give members of the public voice and make decisions in a fair and neutral way. Procedural justice is not a project or program to be completed, nor a goal to be achieved; it is a comprehensive change to the ways in which