Discretion in the Criminal Justice System

Making executive decisions in the miserable legal expert system is the underlying power of legal authority. law, correctional officers, judges and so on hold the ability to cast finesseary decisions based on the situation they are involved in. in that location are a variety of ways that authority use discretion but it may be different when involving different situations or even different people, i. e. , juveniles or adults. I strongly believe that the discretion employ in todays ordination is distributed in an appropriate manner.Shifting the amount of discretion in spite of appearance our justice system could be for better or worse, but why fix something thats not low-spirited? Although most police officers use discretion, Many police officers (and whole departments) prefer to focus on the justice aspects of police work getting wrongdoers off the streets, responding to emergencies, scoring big drug busts, and generally catching the high-risk guys. (Fuller, J. R. Pg. 6. ) No matter how much discretion you give an officer, its ultimately their choice to use it.Although it is common passim the criminal justice system, some authoritative figures dont use discretion in a way to guide punishments they stay in accordance with established guidelines. In my opinion, depending on the severity of the horror discretion should or should not be used. For example, discretion should be used for a first snip offender for speeding but should not be used for a first time offender of rape. The police are typically the first contact that young victims and delinquents have with the juvenile justice system. As with adults, law enforcement serves as the gatekeeper to the justice system. (Fuller, J.R. Pg 17. ) It is extremely important for a police officer to make the decision of introducing a juvenile to the justice system. The responsibility for authorities to use discretion is crucial for a juveniles future. With adults, less discretion could be used because they ha ve a greater sense of morals. In todays ordering I have personally seen adults expect leniency just because, for example, they have a police organic law bumper sticker. Enforcing the law for adults who are habitual offenders is necessary to uphold order. One can only push society and the law so far at some point you must face the consequences.As we talked about in class, the 3-strike rule is a fair method of deciding who should be held accountable. Three major studies were military commissioned to fancy police practices in detail and to update the 1931 Wickersham commission report (National Commission on Law observation and Enforcement, 1971). These include the report of the Presidents Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967) authorize The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society (1967), a report of the National consultative Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), and a report of the National Advisory Commission on culpable Justice Standards and Goals (197 3).Each of these commissions was a major undertaking by a large number of scholars and practitioners who focused on solving some of the problems in both policing and the criminal justice system as a whole. The commission reports include multiple proposals to tighten the controls over police discretion, including the use and abuse of force. (Alpert, Dunham. Pg. 11. ) Whether for good or questioning laws shape citizens views of beliefs, actions and character.Unfortunately not all systems of morality and discretion are used properly. Discretion should be used in moderation and to preserve order in society, not used in excessive amounts to adventure the laws purpose. In summary, I feel discretion is a necessity. With our overcrowded jails, police and judges need to use their training, shrewdness and experience to keep the public safe from individuals that have no regard for the law. Bibliography * Alpert, Geoffrey P. Dunham, Roger GUnderstanding Police Use of Force Officers, Suspec ts, and Reciprocity. West Nyack, NY, USA Cambridge University Press, 2004. p 11. * Hagan, F. (2011). Ch 1. Essentials of Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology (pp. 1-45). naked York, New York Prentice Hall, 3rd Edition. * Fuller, J. R. (2008). Juvenile Delinquency Mainstream and Crosscurrents. New York, New York Prentice Hall, 1st edition. * Owen, S. S. (2012). Foundations of criminal justice. Oxford Oxford University Press.