Draft:Police discretion
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Police discretion refers to discretion exercised by police in making decisions, including decisions as to whether to invoke the criminal process or not in a particular situation [1][2][3]. As police routinely face both non-criminal situations and serious public safety problems, both of which require considerable judgment beyond the application of criminal law, discretion is an unavoidable and ubiquitous part of policing. it has generated considerable debate[4]. Yet, haphazard use of police discretion can result in unduly limiting the extent of law enforcement, a power not explicitly assigned to them officially[1].
Joseph Goldstein who initiated a discussion on the topic in the beginning of 1960s, observed that police discretion is often of very low visibility and proposed that discretionary decision making by police should be under some subsidiary rules and the compliance to rules should be reviewed by an official agency[3].
Police discretion is intimately related to discretion in criminal justice and has considerable bearing on the operation of rule of law. Even as discretionary decisions in criminal justice, such as the judicial decisions, are subject to review, police decisions are often of low visibility and not available for institutional reviews. It is argued [1].
Police discretion can be deliberate, planned and transparent or it can be haphazard.
Studies have studied the impact of the characteristics of officer and organisation[5], the situational factors(such as the race and demeanour of the suspect, location of the stop, and other contextual factors)[6] on officers’ discretion.
How police discretion might be effectively regulated to reduce the influence of illegitimate considerations such as suspect-race on police behaviour[7]
Researchers have also explored how police officers and organizations should be held accountable when problems such as excessive use of force and biased policing exist. Some such scholars emphasize the limited capacity of regulators to anticipate the complexity of the situations officers will encounter, and argue for a more carrot-oriented approach to police regulation that draws on officers’ expertise and experience to develop flexible guidelines[8]
The implications of police discretion are many. Stemming from the breadth of criminal law or over-broad legal authority[9].