Achieving cultural change through organizational justice: the case of Stop and Search in Scotland

Aston, Elizabeth; Murray, Kath; O'Neill, Megan

Abstract

In recent years, the scale, impact and legality of stop and search in Scotland has been subject to intense critical scrutiny, leading to major legal and policy reform in 2016. Based on these events, including an early unsuccessful attempt by Police Scotland to reform the tactic (the ‘Fife Pilot’), this paper presents original theoretical and empirical insights into organizational change in policing. Building on the theoretical perspectives of Chan (1997) and Bradford and Quinton (2014) on organizational culture and justice respectively, the paper set out a dynamic model of organizational justice in policing. While Scotland has seen significant legislative reform apropos stop and search, we conclude that real change in police practice and culture will require effective leadership and a strong commitment to organizational justice. We also suggest how insights from the analysis might be applied to other jurisdictions and policing fields, with a view to securing more citizen-focused, democratic policing.

Citation

Aston, E., Murray, K., & O'Neill, M. (2021). Achieving cultural change through organizational justice: the case of Stop and Search in Scotland. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 21(1), 40-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895819839751

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 27, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Deposit Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Journal: Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Print ISSN: 1748-8958
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-8966
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 40-56
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895819839751
• Keywords: Stop and search, police culture, cultural change, organizational change, organizational justice,
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1658029
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1748895819839751