What is the state of police discretion today? Discuss thediscretion police officers have. Some say you can substitute thewords Power and/or Authority for discretion, they literally meanthe same in police practice. What do you think? What are the prosand cons of discretion? Some say that discretion is used to justifydiscrimination. They would argue that discretion is nothing morethan justification for discriminatory acts like those leading intothe professional era of policing; these folks would like to limitpolice discretion. There is precedent for limiting police discretion:In California law there is no police discretion allowed in domesticviolence calls. If the responding officer sees signs of trauma, abloody lip, a black eye, bruise, etc. California law say that theresponding officer shall arrest the other party, in legal parlanceshall means must. If both parties are bruised, the officer mustarrest both parties; the officers discretion has been taken away inthese situations. The law was changed to reflect the rights ofbattered women do to their intense lobbying.On the other hand, think about this. If we were to limit policediscretion, every time an officer pulled you over for an allegedtraffic violation, she would be forced to write a ticket. Nodiscretion means no warning. We have taken away the officersability to apply mercy, because we were afraid she would abuseher authority, so now everything, whether a minor infraction, orsomeone's first time misdemeanor violation, has to be dealt withas a strict violation of the law, zero tolerance policing in otherwords; is this what we want? Should discretion be removed, whyor why not? And, if we keep police discretion how do we defendagainst biased officers? Consider your answer carefully.

Answered: What is the state of police discretion…

Social Psychology (10th Edition)

10th Edition

ISBN:9780134641287

Author:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers

Publisher:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers

Chapter1: Introducing Social Psychology

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1RQ1

See similar textbooks

Related questions

Question

What is the state of police discretion today? Discuss the
discretion police officers have. Some say you can substitute the
words Power and/or Authority for discretion, they literally mean
the same in police practice. What do you think? What are the pros
and cons of discretion? Some say that discretion is used to justify
discrimination. They would argue that discretion is nothing more
than justification for discriminatory acts like those leading into
the professional era of policing; these folks would like to limit
police discretion. There is precedent for limiting police discretion:
In California law there is no police discretion allowed in domestic
violence calls. If the responding officer sees signs of trauma, a
bloody lip, a black eye, bruise, etc. California law say that the
responding officer shall arrest the other party, in legal parlance
shall means must. If both parties are bruised, the officer must
arrest both parties; the officers discretion has been taken away in
these situations. The law was changed to reflect the rights of
battered women do to their intense lobbying.
On the other hand, think about this. If we were to limit police
discretion, every time an officer pulled you over for an alleged
traffic violation, she would be forced to write a ticket. No
discretion means no warning. We have taken away the officers
ability to apply mercy, because we were afraid she would abuse
her authority, so now everything, whether a minor infraction, or
someone's first time misdemeanor violation, has to be dealt with
as a strict violation of the law, zero tolerance policing in other
words; is this what we want? Should discretion be removed, why
or why not? And, if we keep police discretion how do we defend
against biased officers? Consider your answer carefully.

Expert Solution

Introduction

Policing is a powerful tool for social control in a community. Sociologists view the police as distinct representatives of social control. Sociologists also examine the connection between conflicts and policing practices. Therefore, the police are crucial to society as social control agents. Let's continue to talk about this.