Self-legitimacy of Police Officers and Prison Officers in Slovenia over Three Time Periods: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The dialogical nature of legitimacy is unstable and changing, and depends on the specificity of place and time. In this article, we focus on the perception of one's own legitimacy, that is, the self-legitimacy of police officers and prison officers in different periods of time. The purpose of the study is to highlight the factors influencing the self-legitimacy of police and prison officers, to expose the differences and similarities in the perception of their own legitimacy, and to verify the "stability" of legitimacy over a longer period of time. The results of statistical analyses showed that relations with colleagues, supervisors' procedural justice and audience legitimacy are associated with the self-legitimacy of police officers, while relations with colleagues are associated with the self-legitimacy of prison officers. In both groups, the perception of one's own legitimacy was influenced by the time component, which was reflected in the changing factors influencing self-legitimacy in different time periods. The findings of the study confirmed the unstable nature of legitimacy over time and highlighted differences in the perception of one's own legitimacy among different representatives of the criminal justice system.