Abstract
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.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
It is the most recent data which is available when this manuscript is written.
Available at http://kosis.kr/eng/
References
Bahn, C. (1974). The reassurance factor in police patrol. Criminology, 12(3), 338–345.
Baker, H. M., Nienstedt, C. B., Everett, S. R., & McCleary, R. (1983). The impact of a crime wave: perceptions, fear, and confidence in the police. Law and Society Review, 17(2), 319–336.
Bartsch, R. A., & Cheurprakobkit, S. (2004). The effects of amount of contact, contact expectation, and contact experience with police on attitudes toward police. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 19(1), 58–70.
Batzeveg, E., Hwang, E., & Han, S. (2017). Confidence in the police among Mongolian immigrants in South Korea and native Mongolians in Mongolia: a comparative test of conceptual models. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 50, 61–70.
Boateng, F. D. (2016). Neighborhood-level effects on trust in the police: a multilevel analysis. International Criminal Justice Review, 26(3), 217–236.
Boateng, F. D., Lee, H. D., & Abess, G. (2016). Analyzing citizens reported levels of confidence in the police: a cross-national study of public attitudes toward the police in the United States and South Korea. Asian Journal of Criminology, 11(4), 289–308.
Bradford, B., & Myhill, A. (2015). Triggers of change to public confidence in the police and criminal justice system: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales panel experiment.
Bradford, B., Jackson, J., & Stanko, E. (2009). Contact and confidence: revisiting the impact of public encounters with the police. Policing and Society, 19(1), 20–46.
Bursik, R. J. (1999). The informal control of crime through neighborhood networks. Socialogical Focus, 32(1), 85–97.
Cao, L., & Dai, M. (2006). Confidence in the police: where does Taiwan rank in the world? Asian Journal of Criminology, 1(1), 71–84.
Cao, L., & Wu, Y. (2019). Confidence in the police by race: taking stock and charting new directions. Police Practice and Research, 20(1), 3–17.
Cao, L., Frank, J., & Cullen, F. T. (1996). Race, community context and confidence in the police. American Journal of Police, 15(1), 3–22.
Cao, L., Lai, Y., & Zhao, R. (2012). Shades of blue: confidence in the police in the world. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(1), 40–49.
Dayton, C. M. (2003). Model comparison using information measures. Journal of Modern Applied Statistics Method, 2, 281–292.
Dowler, K., & Sparks, R. F. (2008). Victimization, contact with police, and neighborhood conditions: reconsidering African American and Hispanic attitudes toward the police. Police Practice and Research, 9(5), 395–415.
Fox, J. P. (2010). Bayesian item response modeling. Theory and application. New York: Springer.
Garcia, V., & Cao, L. (2005). Race and satisfaction with the police in a small city. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33(2), 191–199.
Grant, L., & Pryce, D. K. (2019). Procedural justice, obligation to obey, and cooperation with police in a sample of Jamaican citizens. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2019.1644178.
Han, J., & Bu, K. (2000). A study on the improvement of police image. Police Science Collection of Treaties, 16, 1–113.
Hawdon, J., & Ryan, J. (2003). Police-resident interactions and satisfaction with police: an empirical test of community policing assertions. Crimial Justice Policy Review, 14, 55–74.
Ho, T., & McKean, J. (2004). Confidence in the police and perceptions of risk. Western Criminology Review, 5(2), 108–118.
Hoffman, V. (1982). The development of modern police agencies in the Republic of Korea and Japan: a paradox. Police Studies, 5(3), 3–16.
Holmes, M. D., Painter II, M. A., & Smilth, B. W. (2017). Citizens’ perceptions of police in rural US communities: a multilevel analysis of contextual, organisational and individual predictors. Policing and Society, 27(2), 136–156.
Hwang, E., McGarrell, E. F., & Benson, B. L. (2005). Public satisfaction with the South Korean Police: the effect of residential location in a rapidly industrializing nation. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33(6), 589–599.
Jackson, J. (2004). Experience and expression: social and cultural significance in the fear of crime. British Journal of Criminology, 44(6), 946–966.
Jackson, J., & Bradford, B. (2009). Crime, policing and social order: on the expressive nature of public confidence in policing. British Journal of Sociology, 60(3), 493–521.
Jackson, J., & Sunshine, J. (2007). Public confidence in policing: a neo-Durkheim perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, J., Bradford, B., Hohl, K., & Farrall, S. (2009). Does the fear of crime erode public confidence in policing? Policing, 3(1), 100–111.
Jang, H., & Hwang, E. (2014). Confidence in the police among Korean people: an expressive model versus an instrumental model. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 42(4), 306–323.
Jang, H., Joo, H., & Zhao, J. (2010). Determinants of public confidence in police: an international perspective. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 57–68.
Jesilow, P., Meyer, J., & Namazzi, N. (1995). Public attitudes toward the police. American Journal of Police, 14(2), 67–88.
Joo, H. (2003). Crime and crime control. Social Indictors Research, 62(1), 239–263.
Kwak, H., & McNeeley, S. (2019). Neighbourhood characteristics and confidence in the police in the context of South Korea. Policing and Society, 29(5), 599–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2017.1320997.
Lee, S. (1990). Morning calm, rising sun: national character and policing in South Korea and in Japan. Police Studies, 13(3), 91–110.
Lee, H. D., Cao, L., Kim, D., & Woo, Y. (2019). Police contact and confidence in the police in a medium-sized city. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 56, 70–78.
Lind, E., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). Critical issues in social justice. The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Loader, I. (1997). Policing and the social: questions of symbolic power. British Journal of Sociology, 48(1), 1–18.
Loader, I., & Mulcahy, A. (2003). Policing and the condition of England: memory, politics and culture. Oxford; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Merry, S., Power, N., McManus, M., & Alison, L. (2012). Drivers of public trust and confidence in police in the UK. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 14(2), 118–135.
Moon, B. (2004). The politicization of police in South Korea: a critical review. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 27(1), 128–136.
Moon, C., & Kim, Y. (1996). A circle of paradox: development, politics, and democracy in South Korea. In L. Adrian (Ed.), Democracy and development. Oxford: Polity.
Moon, B., & Maorash, M. (2008). Policing in South Korea: struggle, challenge, and reform. In M. Hinton & T. Newburn (Eds.), Policing developing democracies (pp. 101–118). New York: NY: Routledge.
Moon, B., & Zager, L. (2007). Police officers’ attitudes toward citizen support: focus on individual, organizational and neighborhood characteristic factors. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 30, 484–497.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2017). Mplus user’s guide (Eighth ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Nalla, M. K., & Hwang, E. (2006). Relations between police and private security officers in South Korea. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 29(3), 482–497.
Park, S., & Fisher, B. S. (2017). Understanding the effect of immunity on over-dispersed criminal victimizations: zero-inflated analysis of household victimizations in the NCVS. Crime & Delinquency, 63(9), 1116–1145.
Povey, K. (2001). Open all hours: a thematic inspection report on the role of police visibility and accessibility in public reassurance. London: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Pryce, D. K., & Grant, L. (2020). The relative impacts of normative and instrumental factors of policing on willingness to empower the police: a study from Jamaica. JOURNAL OF ETHNICITY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 18(1), 19–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2019.1681046.
Pyo, C. (2001). Policing: the past. Crime and Justice International, 24, 5–6.
Pyo, C. (2002). An empirical research on the public perception of the police and various police reform initiatives in Korea: 1999–2001. Asian Policing, 1(1), 127–143.
Quinton, P., & Morris, J. (2008). Neighbourhood policing: the impact of piloting and early national implementation. London: UK: Home Office.
Reisig, M. D., & Parks, R. B. (2000). Experience, quality of life, and neighborhood context. Justice Quarterly, 17, 607–629.
Ren, L., Cao, L., Lovrich, N., & Gaffney, M. (2005). Linking confidence in the police with the performance of the police: community policing can make a difference. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33(1), 55–66.
Roh, S., & Choo, T. (2007). Citizen violence against Korean police. Crime and Justice International, 23, 4–13.
Rusinko, W. T., Johnson, K. W., & Hornung, C. A. (1978). Importance of police contact in the formulation of youths’ attitudes toward police. Journal of Criminal Justice, 6(1), 53–67.
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(5328), 918–924.
Sindall, K., & Sturgis, P. (2013). Austerity policing: is visibility more important than absolute numbers in determining public confidence in the police? European Journal of Criminology, 10(2), 137–153.
Skogan, W. (2009). Concern about crime and confidence in the police. Police Quarterly, 12(3), 301–318.
Smith, P. E., & Hwawkins, R. O. (1973). Victimization, types of citizen-police contracts, and attitudes toward the police. Law and Society Review, 8, 135–152.
Stanley, D. (2003). What do we know about social cohesion: the research perspective of the federal governments’ social cohesion research network. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 28(1), 5–17.
Sunshine, J., & Tyler, T. R. (2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in public support for policing. Law and Society Review, 37(3), 513–548.
Taylor, R. B., & Lawton, B. A. (2012). An integrated contextual model of confidence in local police. Police Quarterly, 15(4), 414–445.
Tyler, T. R. (1988). What is procedural justice?: criteria used by citizens to assess the fairness of legal procedures. Chicago, Ill: American Bar Foundation.
Tyler, T. R. (2003). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law. Crime and Justice, 30, 283–357.
Tyler, T. R. (2006). Why people obey the law. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Tyler, T. R., & Huo, Y. J. (2002). Trust in the law: encouraging public cooperation with the police and courts.
van der Linden, W. J. (2016). Handbook of item response theory. Volume 1. Models. Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor & Francis Group.
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. (2002). Perceptions of racial profiling. Criminology, 40, 435–456.
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. (2004). Race and perceptions of police misconduct. Social Problems, 51, 305–325.
Weitzer, R., Tuch, S., & Skogan, W. (2008). Police-community relations in a majority black city. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45, 398–428.
Xu, Y., Fiedler, M. L., & Flaming, K. H. (2005). Discovering the impact of community policing: the broken windows thesis, collective efficacy, and citizens’ judgment. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42(2), 147–186.
Funding
This study was funded by the Korean Institute of Criminology (Grant Number: KIC 17-B-02).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
All participants provided informed consent.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Park, Sm., Lu, H., Donnelly, J.W. et al. Untangling the Complex Pathways to Confidence in the Police in South Korea: a Stepwise Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Analysis. Asian J Criminol 16, 145–164 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-020-09321-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-020-09321-4