Pretrial jail experiences and the criminal justice legitimacy divide: Race differences in key sources of legitimacy during pretrial detention

Abstract

One consequence of racial disparities in criminal justice experiences and outcomes is racially stratified views of criminal justice legitimacy. An overlooked criminal justice processing point that might contribute to racial differences in perceptions of criminal justice legitimacy is pretrial detention. The current study examines whether racial differences exist in perceptions of procedural justice and effectiveness of jail staff—two factors that garner legitimacy—among individuals incarcerated in jails pretrial. The current study uses nationally representative data from the National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012, and a series of logistic regression models to examine the associations between race/ethnicity and self-reported perceptions of jail staff. The results suggest that, compared to White individuals, Black individuals are consistently less likely to perceive jail staff as procedurally just or as effective at maintaining safety and meeting the needs of incarcerated people. The findings underscore the potential for the mass use of pretrial detention to be a key source of racially divergent perceptions of criminal justice legitimacy and also raise questions about the drivers of these perceptions, such as imported beliefs, systemic bias, and differential treatment.