Dont waste Your Time Searching For a Sample, The Role of Discretion in The Criminal Justice System, An Argument in Favor of Healthy Discretion in Criminal Justice, Honesty and Justice in the Criminal Justice System, Punishment vs. Both politicians and the public, through their interactions with one another and with the criminal justice system, influence its operation. Every person, no matter how minor their offense might be, would get arrested and taken to court to face charges without this presence of this principle. Prosecutorial discretion is one of the most important aspects of our criminal justice system. That means there could be times when an offender might not receive a ticket or detainment because of the circumstances involved in their situation. Diversion of a juvenile offender away from the criminal justice system to community support services is the optimal response to the problem of juvenile crime. The choice to engage in a high-speed chase or not attempts to balance the need to capture a suspect against the potential for an injury because of pursuit activities. Disparity in this framework takes on a different meaning, and refers instead to the fact that individuals with a given characteristic are over- (or under-) represented in the criminal justice system relative to their representation either in the population or in the commission of a type of crime. Click to reveal Recommended for all readers. In recent years, law and policy reform in relation to the offence of sexual assault has proceeded along two key axes. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 36(1), 53-61. 6. It allows each person to interpret applicable laws and then act upon them based on the choices made in that moment. As a result, the objective ideal gives way to individual personal judgment, both in a collective sense and in an organizational sense. It permits the use of force when necessary to keep a community safe. An effective and workable criminal justice system relies on police discretion. Disparities can be the product of biases in the exercise of discretion by system actors, including police officers, prosecutors . police officer, lawyer or judge etc. Law enforcement behavior is monitored and evaluated by almost every citizen. That means fewer kids get charged with a crime because of this principle. Please subscribe or login. The document is also notable for its consideration of police, courts, and corrections (chapters 4, 5, and 6) in the context of crime control. Some police officers see discretion as being a form of unlimited authority. When a police department decides to put limits on discretion, then they can do so through a process of administrative rulemaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Because of the definition of police discretion, these issues can get written off without a beneficial outcome. Creating specific procedures for officials to follow provides consistency for officers when they are on the job. With our overcrowded jails, police and judges need to use their training, insight and experience to keep the public safe from individuals that have no regard for the law. The investigation process relies heavily on discretion. 11. ) requirements? The underlying value of prosecutorial . The capacity to control and gives viable authority to officers, who have more prudence and self-sufficiency than the administration, raises genuine ramifications for police administrators. While capital punishment is quite a step separate from punishments handed out for theft of a loaf of bread, that these two examples help to illuminate how discretion can be used in a way that improves society, as well as acts as a detriment. assume youre on board with our, https://graduateway.com/discretion-in-the-criminal-justice-system/. us: [emailprotected]. No matter how much discretion you give an officer, its ultimately their choice to use it. Discretion begins with the decision to label certain acts as criminal and is followed by a series of subsequent decisions made by police officers, judges, prosecutors, and others. 1. Discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, age, religion . In a law enforcement context, discretion only concerns decisions that are made in a legal setting. An important source of discretion is the widely-framed or vaguely-defined offence. You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers. Discretion plays an indispensable role in the criminal justice system (CJS). against a particular race, sex, religion, ethnicity, etc. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. I am currently continuing at SunAgri as an R&D engineer. For example, the utilization of discretion in arrests can prevent the criminal justice system from being overwhelmed by defendants who committed petty offenses (Pond, 1999, p. 94). Discretionary restriction is to be employed when a certain threshold has been crossed; there are limits to when individuals should be allowed discretion, to when situation and circumstance have any right to be considered. All through this exposition, I will examine what discretion is and how it can and ought to be utilized to upgrade, not decrease, the criminal justice system and the majority of its parts. The principles of police discretion make this possible while also allowing for a higher level of force to get applied when necessary to prevent future injuries. Perhaps the easiest to understand and most apparent reason is the inherently diffuse nature of the criminal justice system. Its major drawback is that such decisions are essentially unreviewable and have a significant potential for being arbitrary and capricious. Allowing judicial officers to decide sentences on a case by case basis and thus permitting them to . Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia? Several different decisions may require the use of police discretion simultaneously. Discretion should be used in moderation and to preserve order in society, not used in excessive amounts to threaten the laws purpose. Police discretion relates to a police officer's ability to make a crime scene decision. In the CJS, it is the authority given to a decision maker to decide between alternatives or no alternatives. Prottas, J. Discretion involves the power of Judges and magistrates to determine the most appropriate sentence for a case. While do further reading, I had reasons do doubt why discretion may become problematic in some cases. . For example the police come across two young girls in a park smoking marijuana. Instead of applying a specific statute in a standardized way, it becomes possible to serve and protect in ways that the law might not envision based on its wording. Prosecutorial Discretion. 2 : the quality of having or showing discernment or good judgment : the quality of being discreet : circumspection especially : cautious reserve in speech. While using prudence, the individuals who work in the criminal equity framework regularly result in the casual equity process. Although most police officers use discretion, Many police officers (and whole departments) prefer to focus on the justice aspects of police work: getting offenders off the streets, responding to emergencies, scoring big drug busts, and generally catching the bad guys. Juvenile Delinquency Mainstream and Crosscurrents. If discretion here was restricted to the utmost possible level, these two individuals would receive the same punishment, although the outcomes of these same punishments would vary wildly. Graduateway.com is owned and operated by Radioplus Experts Ltd circumspection, care, carefulness, caution, wariness, chariness, guardedness. If a police officer doesnt carry out their duties with diligence, then there is an opportunity for some offenders to avoid prosecution because of cronyism. The discretion they use when interacting with young criminal offenders gives them the option to handle delinquencies and minor offenses in a constructive way. If the plaintiff or the defendant thinks that the trial court judge has abused the discretion, the party can appeal the case. Although this advantage places limits on how individuals can use their experience and training to benefit others, it also creates more communication lines between them and the public. Discretion in the Criminal Justice System. The titular example of why discretion is necessary would, to me at least, seem to be Jean Valjean, and his theft of a loaf of bread (Hugo, 1908). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. The following sections will discuss the above mentioned issues in deep insight in a bid to set forth recommendations for the continued use, modification, or discontinuation of these issues through the various governmental programs and policy and more so within the police force. Discretion also gives police the ability to take alternative action with some minor matters such as public disorder offences. It limits burnout in law enforcement because it gives officers an opportunity to issue warnings instead of either charging people or letting them off the hook. Our law is written very clearly as to what is a crime and its related consequence. An example of discretion is the ability of a juror to determine a verdict. Discretion enables practitioners to use their expertise in training to determine how they should perform well on the job. Discretion can be used by police in the area of the criminal . Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a14efeb6bc31cd4 I believe that restriction of discretion is necessary and would reduce the aforementioned perception of discretion bleeding into arbitrariness; I qualify this because there the restrictions that would improve the system would be conditional and limited. examples of discretion in the criminal justice system. Discretion means the power and ability to make decisions. Each jurisdiction has its own criminal justice system and federal laws are often enforced and sentencing generally occurs at a state and territory level. Courts, judges, and legal scholars often use the. I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done . Retrieved from https://graduateway.com/discretion-in-the-criminal-justice-system/, Give examples of how discretion permeates every phase of the criminal justice system, Paper on the Internal and External Mechanisms That Control Police Discretion, Pros And Cons Of Criminal Profiling Criminal Cases Criminology. Discretion is the judgment or decision implemented through values, facts, and principles. Discretion, as defined in Canadian Criminal Justice: A Primer, is merely the freedom to choose among different options when confronted with the need to make a decision. 6. (1972). As with adults, law enforcement serves as the gatekeeper to the justice system. It is the judges role to take all relevant factors into account and give a right and just sentence for the offender, the victim, and the community. The use of discretion allows the police officer the flexibility necessary to perform his job. It is a disadvantage that is known as the power model, leading to inequities in enforcement for different demographics. Vol. In fact discretion can be found in all stages of the criminal justice system. There are some departments that give their officers . Whether for good or bad; laws shape citizens views of beliefs, actions and character. Officers can use lethal force with this advantage if they believe a potential offender is threatening the life of a civilian, themselves, or a fellow officer. The discretion limit as to the reduction of inappropriate discretion comes for more serious crimes. 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