Discretion

The Role of Discretion in Policing As a law enforcement officer, every situation will be handled differently. Everything is not always black and white. In fact, when it comes to policing, there are a lot of grey areas. This is where discretion plays an important role. An officer will use discretion in almost every situation he or she encounters; however there are times when an officer’s discretion is limited. There are many different factors that come into play, some that limit an officer’s

In any civil society, some degree of executive discretion is unavoidable for two reasons: 1. the written law cannot foresee all potential circumstances, or accidents, that may occur and 2. the law may have to be modified on account that various situations may arise before the legislative can be assembled to provide laws for them. During these instances, according to Locke, good judgment is necessary in order to maintain society’s best interests and to continue to protect society’s natural rights

Prosecutorial Discretion comes from the Bordenkircher v Hayes (1978) case. The Supreme Court ruled “ so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion.” (Whitebread, Slobogin, 2008, p591) Some states require the prosecution to give them a detailed written reason as to why they chose to dismiss a case

Discretion In The Criminal Justice System Discretion is the eminence of once behavior or the way of speaking in order to avoid any offensive occurrence or speaking up any private issues or information in public. It is the self-determination for someone to choose or think what should be better to be done in particular circumstances. Especially for a judge, a public official or other private party has the authority to make decisions on any legal matters or other big official subjects. Thus, a person

Police discretion is a unclear term that has an appropriately vague explanation. It is stated as the decision-making ability given to police officers that permits them to determine if they want to engage in police procedure or just let someone go with a word of warning. How it seems in drill is altered from situation to situation. Police discretion is a extremely essential aspect in acts relating criminal justice. There has been a daily predicament regarding the enforcement of the law. Discretion

Police discretion is the authority granted by law to officers and agencies to exercise their freedom in deciding whether of not an arrest should be made, a traffic stop should occur, or other law enforcement action should be initiated (CMRJ 302, 2018). Police discretion is used by officers and other law enforcement agencies in making responsible and legal decisions in certain situations. This discretion is left up to officers in the field and when making the decision the officers use their judgement

Police discretion and how its properly and improperly used  Police discretion is defined as a vague term that police officers have the decision-making power to decide if they want to pursue police procedure. It is the officer's freedom to decide on what should be done in that particular moment. The officer must make a judgement call during different and many situations.   Now, with police discretion, it gives the officer a lot of power. There are proper ways to handle situations and then also, improper

One way to better understand the concept of discretion is to explore how police use it. Guyot (1991) examined how officers use discretion and found that officers, in order to apply discretion correctly, should possess certain qualities. First, officers should be curious. They must have the will to inquire into situations, especially those that are unusual or suspicious. Second, officers must be able to perceive danger. The ability to evaluate a situation in terms of dangerousness is critical to the

The use of Ethics and Discretion in the Criminal Justice Field In the criminal justice field, discretion is extremely important. Discretion ensures the safety of the individuals involved, and is defined as the power or right to choose or art according to one’s own judgement. Ethics are the foundation of the criminal justice system, and it helps us develop good moral reasoning, helps us define criminal activity, and what tell us what society deems as suitable punishment for actions we carry out,

identifying alternative solutions and the use of discretion. In regards to “law enforcement, there are two alternative solutions to a criminal offence” (Arcaro, 2009, p.27), the first being to lay an information and charge the offender, the second is to not charge them. The difference between the two solutions depends with who solves the problem. Generally, if an offender is charged, it is up to the criminal justice system to use their discretion when sentencing the young offender.