Police understanding of the foundations of their legitimacy in the eyes of the public: The case of commanding officers in the Israel national police

The legitimacy of legal authorities has become an important area of interest in the fields of criminal justice and criminology, one that has given rise to much theoretical and empirical work. Much of this literature stems from the work of Tom Tyler and his colleagues, and uses their conceptualization of key terms such as “legitimacy” and “procedural justice” (see reviews by Bottoms and Tankebe 2012; National Research Council 2004; Tyler 2004, 2009, 2011). In this body of work, the legitimacy of an authority is typically viewed from the perspective of the citizen, who is making judgments about the entitlement of the authority and its agents to call on the public to follow the law, cooperate with requests, accept decisions, and assist legal agents to carry out their responsibilities (Tyler 2004, 2009). Empirical studies have generally tried to identify the outcomes of legitimacy (such as citizen satisfaction, cooperation, compliance, and future law obedience) and the factors that impact legitimacy assessments (mostly focusing on procedural justice versus instrumental considerations; e.g., Hinds and Murphy 2007; Jonathan-Zamir and Weisburd 2013; Murphy, Hynds and Fleming 2008; Reisig, Bratton and Gertz 2007; Sunshine and Tyler 2003; Tyler 2001, 2004, 2009; Tyler and Fagan 2008; Tyler and Huo 2002; Tyler, Schulhofer and Huq 2010).