We examine consensual and coercive police–citizen relations in São Paulo, Brazil. According to procedural justice theory, popular legitimacy operates as part of a virtuous circle, whereby normatively appropriate police behavior encourages people to self-regulate, which then reduces the need for coercive forms of social control. But can consensual and coercive police–citizen relations be so easily disentangled in a city in which many people fear crime, where the ability to use force can often be palpable in even mundane police–citizen interactions, where some people fear police but also tolerate extreme police violence, and where the image of the military police as “just another (violent) gang” has significant cultural currency? Legitimacy has two components—assent (ascribed right to power) and consent (conferred right to govern)—and consistent with prior work from the US, UK, and Australia, we find that procedural justice is key to the legitimation of the police. Yet, the empirical link between legitimacy and legal compliance is complicated by ambivalent authority relations, rooted in part in heightened cultural expectations about police use of force to exercise power. We finish the paper with a discussion of the theoretical and policy implications of these findings.

中文翻译：

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巴西圣保罗的恐惧与合法性：高暴力、高恐惧城市中的警察与公民关系

我们研究了巴西圣保罗自愿和强制的警察-公民关系。根据程序正义理论，大众合法性作为良性循环的一部分运作，规范适当的警察行为鼓励人们自我调节，从而减少对强制形式的社会控制的需求。但是，在一个许多人害怕犯罪的城市里，即使在平凡的警察与公民互动中，使用武力的能力往往也很明显，有些人害怕警察，但也容忍极端行为警察暴力，宪兵“只是另一个（暴力）团伙”的形象在哪里具有重要的文化价值？合法性有两个组成部分——同意（赋予权力）和同意（赋予治理权）——与美国、英国和澳大利亚先前的工作一致，我们发现程序正义是警察合法化的关键。然而，合法性和法律遵从性之间的经验联系因矛盾的权威关系而变得复杂，部分根源于对警察使用武力行使权力的文化期望的提高。最后，我们讨论了这些发现的理论和政策含义。合法性和法律遵从性之间的经验联系因矛盾的权威关系而变得复杂，其部分根源在于对警察使用武力行使权力的文化期望的提高。最后，我们讨论了这些发现的理论和政策含义。合法性和法律遵从性之间的经验联系因矛盾的权威关系而变得复杂，其部分根源在于对警察使用武力行使权力的文化期望的提高。最后，我们讨论了这些发现的理论和政策含义。