Police Discretion example essay topic

Term Paper Police Discretion Discretion, uncertainly, and inefficiently are rampant and essential in criminal justice. Nobody expects perfection. That would neither be good nor fair. Justice is a sporting event in which playing fair is more important than winning. Law enactment, enforcement, and administration all involve trading off the possibility of perfect outcomes for security against the worst outcomes. Policing is the most visible part of this: employees on the bottom have more discretion than employees on the top.

Philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin and H.L.A. Hart have referred to discretion as "the hole in the doughnut" (doughnut theory of discretion) and "where the law runs out" (natural law theory). In perspective, discretion is the empty area in the middle of a ring consisting of policies and procedures. And remember Davis' definition - the making of choices from among a number of alternatives? The freedom of being able to make choices is called a strong sense of discretion. In the weaker sense we would consider cases in which not only the rules don't apply, but the officer makes individualized judgments.

In both sense, it's the problem of loose definition. Some discretion terms may be helpful to analyze. Discretion-as-judgment-discretion is the opposite of routine and habitual obedience. It brings knowledge, skill, and insight to bear in unpredictable ways. Police are not solders who must blindly follow orders. Police must be more than competent than applying the rules; they must adapt those rules to local circumstances in a rule-bound way.

Discretion-as-choice-discretion is not just a matter of realizing when you " re in the hole of the doughnut, or a "grey area". It involves making personal contributions, judgment calls, exercising autonomy, and individual solutions. It's about the courage to make your own decisions, to have personal input, following your conscience, even if those decisions are reversed later by a superior. Discretion-by-discernment-discretion is not just about making "safe" choices, or being "soft".

It's about making good, virtuous choices by habit or the wisdom that comes from age. Prudence, foresight, the ability to size up people, arguments, and situations. Tactfulness, tolerance, empathy, and being discreet are all forms of discernment. Discretion-as-liberty-discretion is not where the law ends, nor is it the same as intellectually deriving principles from rules. It's about permission to act as a free and equal agent, and using that permission in extending the rights and duties of office toward a vision of liberty, inalienable rights, and the kinds of things that no majority, rule, or principle can ever take away. Discretion-as-license-discretion is the opposite of standard expectations.

It's the privilege to go against the rules, disobey your superiors, be less than optimal or perfect all the time, all without degenerating the rules or eroding the trust between you, your superiors, or the public. License involves a sense of accountability that does not have to be formally recognized or structural. Discretion is not doing as you please. Discretion is bounded by norms. The future of policing as a profession depends upon whether discretion can be put to good use. Two problems impending police professionalization, however, in that there are few uncontroversial areas in police work, than in other professions.

Sometimes the public wants no enforcement, and other times they want strict enforcement. Citizens will scream false arrest in the first case, and some groups may file a write of mandamus in the second case. Decision elements are grouped into three categories and summarized below: Offender variables-police take adult complaints more seriously than those made by juveniles. Arrest and force is more likely to be used against African Americans. Citizens who show deference (good demeanor) toward police are treated more leniently. People in middle upper income brackets receive more and better service from police.

Gender and mental health status affect how police handle many incidents. Police sympathize with and only lecture some offenders. Situation variables-police give serious (crime) matters more attention than minor (non crime) matters. The presence of weapons or acts of resistance often results in police overreaction.

The type of property involved in a property crime determines police thought and investigation effort. Activities initiated by police are followed up more than activities initiated by citizen complaint. Visible of vice is a major factor in vice enforcement. System variables-police tend to become lenient when the court and correctional systems are clogged. Police tend to become strict when the city needs revenue. Size and structure of the department controls individual discretion.

Communities that have sufficient social service resources, like detox and mental health facilities, allow officers to use more no arrest options. The way in which officers are summoned plays a role in how they will act when they get there. Domestic violence has been one area where police have been more than willing to ask social workers, social scientists, and academicians for help. Instead of just locking up husbands who beat their wives, police have always appeared more interested in doing nothing, and more recently, experimenting with alternatives such as meditation, counseling, cooling-off periods, social service referrals. There were four reasons found for police inaction with this crime: domestic violence was seen as a private matter, female victims were often uncooperative, and arrest of the breadwinner would hurt the family, and make officers would side with the male assailant. Drunk driving-although we are accustomed now to toughness with this crime, toughness was not always the case historically.

There have been some studies three kinds of officers who do make DUI arrests: (1) rate busters; (2) moralists, or drunk-haters; and (3) bounty hunters, who wish to collect the overtime pay. The following reasons are why police don't make DUI arrests: laziness- to avoid work, visibility, court dates, paperwork, and overtime. Opinion that DUI is not serious-a low priority, something they " ve done themselves. Lack of faith in utility of arrest- no point in it; better to follow the person home or have someone else drive. Hate crime-we are currently in a societal phase where the primary law enforcement action regarding hate crime is documentation.

The principle behind hate crime legislation is that even the most minor offense undercuts the very heart of a community, but police have widespread discretion in deciding which acts, which individuals, and which groups in the community are minor nuisances or community threats. In addition, the police are accustomed to protecting every group's right, regardless of belief or ideology. Mental illness-for the most part, homelessness, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental illness are intermingled. Some 8-11% of police calls for service involve the mentally ill, and an unknown additional amount involves malingering by poor people who do not have access to private care so they call the police to forcibly obtain care for family members.

Calls about panhandler can constitute as much as 25-35% of all calls. If facilities are not available, the police generally allow the homeless to stay on the street, or they forcibly relocate them. The following are problems associated with this: conflict over the proper uses of available public facilities, public demand for actions that are only marginally criminal. Use of force- along with high speed pursuits, use of force is an area where there has been recent administrative control and structuring of discretion. The amount of force to be used by police officers is usually described in police manuals as no greater than necessary and reasonable in a given situation. Unquestionably, the use of force must be controlled and confined to protect the department from civil liability, but the following factors are also worthy consideration: police offers' rights to protect themselves, precedent set by the past behavior of police officers, need to build security for future police officers.

Vice crime-vice is crime against the public order or morality (e. g., prostitution, nude dancing, gambling, pornography, illegal sale of alcohol, narcotics). Such crimes are also "victimless" in the sense that participants are involved consensually and willingly. There are a number of reasons why vice enforcement is uneven, sporadic, and ineffective: the laws are almost unenforceable. Most police departments can't afford special vice units, and such investigations are costly and time-consuming. They go after it when opportunities avail themselves. Vice enforcement encourages illegal police activity, like wrongful searches, planted evidence, entrapment, corruption, and organized crime infiltration.

In summary, police discretion appears to be a double- edged sword. It can be used for good or bad. It's not as simple as it being right or wrong. Certainly if the sources of discretion included individual police officer prejudice, whim or caprice, this would be completely wrong, but there are other more important causes of discretion, as we have discussed.