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Principles of police discretion
Principles of police discretion
Principles of police discretion
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Discretion is usually described as a choice of options or actions one can take in a situation. People exercise discretion everyday. Discretion is like when you want to watch a movie and you are contemplating whether you want to watch a scary movie or a comedy movie. Discretion involves making a judgment and a decision. Although everyone experiences discretion, not everyone makes the same choices or decisions when it comes to discretion. There is a massive amount of discretion in the United States Criminal Justice System. The reason behind why there is so much discretion in the Criminal Justice System is because we tend to treat people as individuals. So one person can commit a robbery and that isn’t the same as someone else who committed …show more content…
He was pulled over and asked if he had his license on him. Samuel didn’t have his license on him. The officer Ray Tinsing asked him several times for his license. Then the officer tugged on the door handle. These events then led to Samuel Dubose being shot in the head. The officer Ray Tensing then tried to lie about the about the events leading up to Samuel being shot and killed. Ray Tensing was wearing a body camera, which showed the truth of the events that happened that day. This police officer didn’t use discretion. He did not take into consideration how minor the situation was that lead to the death of Samuel Dubose. Uncontrolled discretion is what caused this cop to shoot this unarmed citizen. If this officer would have took a second to think about what actions he was going to take next rather then just acting out of anger because the man didn’t answer if his license was suspended or if he even had a license. The law enforcement officers are supposed to be trained and taught how to go about certain …show more content…
Possibly sit in a circle around each other and hear one another out about how they would have such a simple situation and discuss whether that’s the same way others would handle it, or if there should be another way to go about the problem. Either way something has got to give, too many innocent people’s lives are being taken away for unnecessary reasons. I think we need to spend more time getting to know the people we are allowing to be sworn in to become law enforcement officers. Do they really know the title and role of their job? Was either of those people trying to harm people? No, so why was Sandra arrested for a simple stop, why was Samuel shot in the head for a simple stop? It’s the questions that rise that have no good reason or answer besides uncontrolled
On October 20, 2014 a young male teen was fatally shot in Chicago, Illinois. The shooting occurred in the middle of the road and the suspect that was fatally shot was named Laquan McDonald. McDonald was just 17 years old and was the suspect after initial reports placed him in the scene of a possible car jacking. It was reported that Laquan McDonald had a knife and was also seen slashing tires of a police cruiser. When police had finally had him surrounded in the middle of the road, one officer opened fire and released 16 shots into his body. Another deputy on hand said the use of force was not needed because Laquan was not in any way trying to attack the officers present. The officer who fired the 16 shots into Laquan is named Jason D. Van
Criminals in the United States often get an unfair prison sentence due to the current imperfect system. The laws and guidelines that are used to determine an offender 's sentence are greatly flawed. Some crimes are much more severe than others; therefore using the same rules and regulations for all crimes as if they are all the same is unfitting. A drug dealer, a murder, and a fraudster could receive the same amount of prison time which is clearly unfair and unreasonable. Changing the guidelines that are followed would be lawful and the morally right thing to do.
The American people rely on the justice system set up by our founding fathers to uphold certain standards of fairness and equality. Society is brainwashed into believing that the justice system is to flaw and bad people are supposed to go to jail. However, this has not been the case for many years due to corruption in the Supreme Court followed by the Federal Courts and other inferior state courts. The American justice system has taken on a life of its own, following theories of fairness that are no longer connected to the needs of a free society. Instead of a justice system that weeds out the good from the evil, power has been given to the prosecutors, finding a good lawyer is harder than it seems, and rules have become unconstitutional.
In the Ferguson article (2015), there was an example given about an African American man claimed that he was standing outside of of Wal-Mart, an officer called him a “stupid motherf****r” and a “bastard.” According to the man, a lieutenant was on the scene and did nothing to reproach the officer, instead threatening to arrest the man (p. 80). This demonstrates that the police in Ferguson had no respect for the civilian and even though the lieutenant was present, they did nothing. The officer was not suspended nor held responsible for this incident. By failing to hold officers accountable, it sends a message that officers can behave as they like, “regardless of law or policy, and even if caught, that punishment will be light.” (Ferguson, 86). This message serves to excuse officer wrongdoing and heighten community distrust. This is also to say that police can possibly get away with murder because they are higher officials and work for the
Discretion is a useful tool within many situations within society; however, it can also act as a double edged sword. Dictionary.com (2017) identifies discretion as the power to decide or act based on one’s own judgement. Where the difficulty exist is having no discretion can handcuff organization or staff into only being able to follow exactly what is outlined with no ability for adjustment based on different situation. Conversely, having too much discretion provides little to no guidance for individuals and give the subjective nature, the outcomes could vary greatly. Within the Urinalysis Testing CD, there are element of protocols and procedures where the use of discretion is present, as well as absent. Where discretion is absent is within the procedures of random selection testing, as a specific list is generated and the staff must abide by the procedures exactly. There are however exceptions to straying from
Discretion is defined as the authority to make a decision between two or more choices (Pollock, 2010). More specifically, it is defined as “the capacity to identify and to document criminal and noncriminal events” (Boivin & Cordeau, 2011). Every police officer has a great deal of discretion concerning when to use their authority, power, persuasion, or force. Depending on how an officer sees their duty to society will determine an officer’s discretion. Discretion leads to selective enforcement practices and may result in discrimination against certain groups of people or select individuals (Young, 2011). Most police officer discretion is exercised in situations with individuals (Sherman, 1984).
It seems that all we hear on the evening news is something about a shooting. Whether it be about an officer being shot or firing his gun, the unnecessary violence needs to stop. Officers in large cities, and sometimes even small ones, are getting a little too power hungry. They do not care about who they fire at anymore simply because they themselves are officers and, in the words of several people, they are above the law. Too many people are being killed for unlawful reasons by officers and not getting the justification they deserve.
All police officers should be required to wear a body camera and a microphone that should be turned on at all times. These body cameras and microphones would eliminate lies told by police officers, and would create a true picture of the crimes. Court systems should not just provide any public defender to those who cannot afford a lawyer. Social status should not interrupt the due process of law. Public defenders should be trained to be adequate lawyers and provide adequate service to their clients. As Muhiyidin D 'Baha stated, we need a citizens’ review board that has subpoena power, so as a community we can monitor officers and review their actions to prevent events such as the death of Walter Scott from happening. The biggest thing that should occur is trust should be restored with our community and officer. Somehow we have to make sure that officers respect our communities and our people, and in return we must trust them to protect. We have to erase the idea of officers fearing black men because of the color of their skin, and we have to not fear officers due to other officer killings. There has to be some balance and understanding between officers and communities, where they trust us and in return, we trust them. Finally, we should honor and protect the fourteenth amendment, which states equal protection. Obviously, we do not have
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday, forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have when to use force or when to use lethal force.
The similarity between confidentiality, privilege information, anonymity, and protected health information is small when comparing their differences. Although they all protect clients in some extent, they are distinct from one another regarding their boundaries. Confidentiality focuses on protecting information shared between a client and social worker. To keep confidentiality between a social worker and clients, the social worker must keep the information away from the media, and away from court unless they must report it under law. Privilege information is any information that cannot be disclose, and cannot be part of a testimony in court. Anonymity is when the clients’ identity is kept a secret. Protected health information is any information
...s of Business Ethics are saying that people typically use three different ways to base their decision. These three ways are the actions, agents, and ends. Some people look at the actions and if that action was a good choice. Others may look at how the decision will affect the person or their character. There are some people look at the how the decision will affect their goals in life, specifically the consequences.
It says in the Guardian article, “Salt Lake officials have claimed that the killing of Harmon was legal because the officers feared for their lives, even though the video, released the local media, revealed that Harmon was not advancing toward them.” If it’s not racial profiling then why did the police officers have to lie about the situation, when clearly their body cameras don’t show Patrick going after the police? In the report, if the officers had to lie about the shooting of Patrick, then they know that shooting him was
A few issues are the police officers themselves, the court system, and simply knowing what to do in certain situations. I have three recommendations that help these issues such as body cameras, a special court system, and retraining police officers. First, the body camera idea has been floating around the news lately. As previously stated, President Obama has funded these cameras and they will be implemented soon, however, I would like to recommend on how to use them. The camera could be on the waist of the officer along with their utility belt. The cameras must be turned on during their shift and turned off at the end. At the end of the day, someone will review the camera footage and write reports on the officers. The pros of this recommendation is the feedback and seeing the actions of the police officers to be used in the courts, while the cons could be people inferring with the footage or the officers blocking the camera somehow. The cost of these cameras is the consequence, because there are an abundance of police stations and for every cop to have a body camera would cost millions of dollars. My second recommendation would be establishing a special court system that handles murders committed by police officers. The judge could review the body camera tape, hear both sides, and then make his or her decision. It could reduce rioting and uproar within communities. A pro of this court system is simply
Police discretion by definition is the power to make decisions of policy and practice. Police have the choice to enforce certain laws and how they will be enforced. “Some law is always or almost always enforced, some is never or almost never enforced, and some is sometimes enforced and sometimes not” (Davis, p.1). Similarly with discretion is that the law may not cover every situation a police officer encounters, so they must use their discretion wisely. Until 1956, people thought of police discretion as “taboo”. According to http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/ 205/205lect09.htm, “The attitude of police administrators was that any deviation from accepted procedures was extralegal and probably a source of corruption. When it was finally exposed, people like the American Friends Service Committee (1971) called for its abolishment, and police administrators sought a clampdown on discretion (administrative rulemaking).” The use of discretion is not necessarily an unpleasant thing as long as it is used properly and it is not being abused. “Adequate mechanisms for control of the exercise of that discretion are also a requisite for more rational decision making. If discretion implies a lack of control – that is, the freedom to choose from among available alternatives completely unfettered by constraints of law or policy – then the idea of controlled discretion may seem to be a self-contradiction” (Gottfredson p.276). Discretion can be used in many different situations. I will be discussing discretion used in dealing with the mentally ill, drunk driving, disorderly conduct, the use of force, and domestic violence. If a police officer uses his/her discretionary power correctly, not only will it help the police officer in their situation, it will help the general community as well.
Discretion has the right to make or initialize decisions in the claim of normal rules and can be seen as “individualizing discretion." Openness to fill in spaces in ordered authority in order to execute assigned administrative functions may be called "executing discretion." The power to take action to further collective goals is "policymaking discretion. This is the reason why administrative is necessary and desirable for implementing public policies because of discretion they are giving.” Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.” Proverbs 2:11-12 NLT. Discretion shall preserve thee, Which wisdom or the Gospel gives, or the Lord by the means of it; for the Gospel makes a man wise and discreet in the business of salvation, and in his conduct and deportment; and the discretion it gives him will put him upon his guard, and direct him to watch against every error, and every false way. And so the words may be rendered, "discretion will watch over thee"; to keep thee from everything pernicious in doctrine and practice (Gill’s