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'PLAYING THE GAME': POWER, AUTHORITY AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IN INTERACTIONS BETWEEN POLICE AND HOMELESS PEOPLE IN LONDON

Stott

'PLAYING THE GAME': POWER, AUTHORITY AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IN INTERACTIONS BETWEEN POLICE AND HOMELESS PEOPLE IN LONDON Thumbnail


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Abstract

We explore the relevance of procedural justice theory for understanding the relationship between police and marginalized groups and individuals. Analysis is based on ethnographic research into the policing of the street population in an inner London borough through shadowing policing patrols and embedding observation within the homeless community. Police–street population relationships appear characterized by: (1) a structural context of extreme disempowerment; (2) a micro-sociological dimension relating to the exercise of authority and (3) a dynamic power relationship characterized by ‘the game of cat and mouse’. The nature of interactions within this context and the extreme marginality of the street population alter the weight placed on fairness perceptions and the extent to which police activity can affect legitimacy and compliance.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 30, 2020
Online Publication Date Nov 30, 2020
Publication Date 2021-05
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal The British Journal of Criminology: an international review of crime and society
Print ISSN 0007-0955
Publisher Oxford University Press
Volume 61
Issue 3
Pages 670 - 689
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa086
Keywords power; authority; procedural justice; police; homeless people
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa086

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