The Antecedents of Obligation to Obey and Cooperation With Police: The Views of African Immigrant Women in the United States

Assessing immigrant attitudes toward the police is becoming increasingly important because of increased migration from African nations to the West. Thus, this study examines the impact of procedural justice and other cognate concepts on the obligation to obey and willingness to cooperate with the police in a sample of African immigrant women domiciled in the United States. To have a better understanding of the antecedents of obligation to obey and willingness to cooperate with police, we analyze data collected in 2019 from African immigrant women living in the United States (N = 478). Our results show that participants who believe that the police practice procedural justice and distributive justice, participants who believe that a high number of African immigrant women experience intimate partner violence, and participants who believe that, compared to the police in Africa, U.S. police officers do a good job responding to intimate partner violence have a stronger sense of obligation to obey the police. In addition, participants who believe that the police are procedurally just are more willing to cooperate with the police. We point out the implications of our findings for police-immigrant relations, future research, and public policy.