Studies on confidence in the police have employed three theoretical frameworks: (1) an instrumental model that focuses on the effect of police effectiveness and fear of crime, (2) an expressive model that emphasizes the role of general perception on social cohesion, and (3) a procedural model that highlights the distinct role of perceived police fairness. While studies have clarified specific pathways in the instrumental and expressive models, a comprehensive examination of all three models remains sparse in the field of criminal justice. Furthermore, existing studies rarely examined the multilevel causal structures of these models. This study aims to address these limitations by examining separate and comprehensive multilevel structural equation models (SEMs) of these theoretical frameworks. The data was collected through the multistage stratified random sampling from 12 boroughs of four metropolitan cities in South Korea, and a total of 2040 individuals were interviewed face-to-face. The results of the SEM analyses showed that perceived police fairness was the primary determinant of confidence in the police in South Korea, while fear of crime, perceived police effectiveness, and perceived social cohesion had a limited effect. Policy implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

中文翻译：

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解开韩国警察信任的复杂途径：逐步多级结构方程建模分析

对警察信心的研究采用了三个理论框架：(1) 一种工具模型，侧重于警察效力和对犯罪的恐惧的影响，(2) 一种表达模型，强调一般感知对社会凝聚力的作用，以及 ( 3) 一个程序模型，突出了感知警察公平的独特作用。虽然研究已经阐明了工具模型和表达模型中的具体途径，但在刑事司法领域对所有三种模型的全面检查仍然很少。此外，现有研究很少检查这些模型的多层次因果结构。本研究旨在通过检查这些理论框架的单独和全面的多级结构方程模型 (SEM) 来解决这些局限性。数据是通过多阶段分层随机抽样收集的，来自韩国四个大城市的12个行政区，共2040人接受了面对面采访。SEM 分析的结果表明，感知的警察公平是韩国警察信心的主要决定因素，而对犯罪的恐惧、感知的警察效率和感知的社会凝聚力的影响有限。讨论了对未来研究的政策影响和建议。并且感知到的社会凝聚力的影响有限。讨论了对未来研究的政策影响和建议。并且感知到的社会凝聚力的影响有限。讨论了对未来研究的政策影响和建议。