Criminal Justice, Definition of Police Discretion - Essay Example

Hirby presented a definition of police discretion as “the decision-making power afforded to police officers that allow them to decide if they want to pursue police procedure or simply let someone off with a warning” (par. 1).

From the definitions, it could be deduced that some common factors or elements exist to qualify police officers as applying discretion in their conduct or undertaking of responsibilities: the exercise of authority (as law enforcers), provision of powers to decide, and options or alternative courses of action that could be applied to violators of the law on a case to case basis, depending on the situation or the perception of the police officer on the profile of the offender. In the article written by Bronitt and Stenning, the authors cited the work of Goldstein who reportedly described “police discretion as applying to the following areas: (1) choosing objectives; (2) choosing methods of intervention; (3) choosing how to dispose of cases; (4) choosing investigative measures; (5) choosing field procedures; and (6) issuing permits and licenses” (95-100).

Contemporary Practice of Police Discretion
The controversial nature of police discretion has been discussed in terms of apparent manifestations of discrimination. As emphasized, “the exercise of discretion, finally, inevitably involves discrimination. A difficulty here is that the term “discrimination” has two quite different (positive and negative) connotations: on the one hand, the term may be applied positively to a particularly refined person as a person with “discriminating taste”; on the other hand, the term “discriminatory” may be negatively applied to improper or prejudiced race-based decision-making” (321).

On the positive side, police discretion was noted to be beneficial in terms of facilitating decision-making processes, when urgently needed. As such, when law enforcement officers have consistently applied courses of action that adhere to ethical, moral, and legal standards, then, the perception of the public on the use of police discretion would be highly commendable. In addition, the nature of police work that operates within the criminal justice system necessitates the application of police discretion based on economics or resource allocation (The Rynard Law Firm). As expounded, “There just are not enough police, jails, courts, prisons, or community-based correctional programs to handle all of those who would be processed through the criminal justice system, if the police officer did not exercise discretion in his or her daily decision-making” (Goldstein 1977; cited in The Rynard Law Firm: Benefits par. 5). The favorable outcome in enforcing the law and in maintaining peace and security within the society affirms the positive image projected by police departments.

Overall, depending on the application of discriminatory practices within a local police department, district, or the policing profession, in general, a positive or negative image is deemed to be reflected. This information was corroborated by Hirby who noted preponderance for tendencies to consider the term police discretion as analogous to racial profiling, to wit: “Police discretion is also one of the reasons behind what some people see as racial profiling, as police officers are trained to use their discretion in line with statistics or perceived statistics. It is often perceived that people of certain races are more likely to be guilty of crimes, and this may factor into policy choices.

While this is technically illegal because discretion is not an exact science with specified, codified rules, it is very difficult to prove this in court” (par. 4). Thus, the exercise of discretion in some cases involving minority groups or people from diverse cultural, racial or ethnic orientation has led to various complaints asserting abusive police practices (Young).
The important thing to consider is the amount of discretion that should be applied should remain consistent and cognizant of the legal laws, rules, policies, and jurisdiction of authority delegated to law enforcement officers. Any application of excessive force, bias, unfair advantage, or uncontrollable control would give a negative image to the application of police discretion in the policing profession, as a whole. Read More