CJ 230 Module 6 assignment
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Module 6-2 Assignment: Discretionary Laws and Agency’s Culture Michaela J. Watts
Criminal Justice. Southern New Hampshire University
CJ-230-Q2962 Discretion in Criminal Justice 23EW2
Professor DeAngelis
12/3/2023
Module 6-2 Assignment: Discretionary Laws and Agency’s Culture
Summary of Statute
The Road Island Domestic Violence Protection Act is a combination of laws that were passed in 1988 in the state of Rhode Island that highlight domestic violence as a serious crime against society and assures victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from abuse which the law and those who enforce the law can provide (Domestic Violence Protection Act, 2017). This law is based on the victim's word regardless of who the offender is, be it a family member, partner, and so on. This law mandates that any law enforcement officer who responds to a domestic violence situation and has probable cause to believe a crime of violence has been committed is to arrest the alleged perpetrator without the consent of the victim or considering the
relationship between the parties. A domestic violence crime includes assault, bodily harm or injury whether it can be seen or not, kidnapping, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, or a violation
of a no-contact protection order. Statute and Discretion
Rhode Island’s Domestic Violence Prevention Act affects discretionary decision-making by law enforcement in domestic violence situations because the officer's discretion is used to determine if a crime has been committed. On the other hand, if it is obvious to the officer that a crime of violence has been committed, the officer is obligated to make an arrest, and therefore his discretion to arrest or not is removed. That being said, this Act both allows for and limits discretion at the same time. It is also up to the officer to use discretion in order to determine who the primary perpetrator of the violence is (State of Rhode Island General Assembly, 1988). Often
an officer will show up to a case of DV and one individual has signs of abuse, however, this ends
up being because the other party was acting out of self-defense.
Agency’s Culture
There are both positive and negative qualities of law enforcement agency culture that influence the discretionary decision-making process in domestic violence situations. Some of the positive attributes include empathy, support, care, teamwork, loyalty, and sacrifice (McCartney & Parent, n.d.). These attributes affect a law enforcement officer's discretionary decisions in a positive manner by allowing them to be more emotionally intelligent during the situation and not judge based on how something seems on the surface. Some negative attributes that officers may carry include cynicism, close-mindedness, bias, prejudice, and suspicion (McCartney & Parent, n.d.). Both of these sets of attributes impact discretionary decision-making in domestic violence matters because they directly affect how a law enforcement officer approaches, handles, and makes decisions during the situation. Therefore, affecting the outcome greatly. Law enforcement officers are often dispatched to DV calls with a partner, perhaps to heighten the chances that if one officer reflects a more negative culture, the partner may help to counteract it to ensure that the situation is resolved in the most moral and proper manner possible.
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References
State of Rhode Island General Assembly. (1988). Domestic Violence Prevention Act. Retrieved
from: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE12/12-29/12-29-3.HTM TITLE12
McCartney, S. & Parent, R. (n.d.). 8.1 Police Subculture - Ethics in Law Enforcement. Retrieved
from: https://opentextbc.ca/ethicsinlawenforcement/chapter/police-culture/
Domestic Violence Prevention Act. (2017). Criminal Procedure CHAPTER 29. Retrieved from:
https://www.courts.ri.gov/PublicResources/domesticviolenceunit/PDF/PreventionAct.pdf