What Is The Abuse Of Power In The Criminal Justice System

Introduction In today’s world when people discussing or simply thinking about the criminal justice system most of them will more than likely have nothing good to say about it. I say this mostly because right now the American criminal justice system has more than one flaw that is preventing it to run the way it should. Some of the issues the system currently faces are corruption/scandals and abuse of power. For as long as I can remember these are the two most popular topics that got brought up when someone would begin a discussion on what needs to change in our criminal justice system for it to be able to actually serve its purpose for the citizens of this country. Throughout the duration of this paper I will be discussing in depth some of
In the book Pollock defines the abuse of power as “involving officer misuse of the power and authority inherent in their positions (Pollock, Pg. 191). Abuse of power is also described in the book as being physical abuse, psychological abuse, and finally legal abuse. These are by far the most common forms of abuse of power within the criminal justice system, however they are not the only forms that exist. The author also describes a concept known as “professional courtesy” in the book. This concept refers to the practice of not ticketing an officer who is stopped for speeding or other driving violations when they are off duty. Professional courtesy in my opinion is a hard one to overcome mainly because it is hard to even prove that the officer is doing it because of the person being another officer. All officers have discretion as to whether or not they write someone a ticket or simply issue them a warning. The only way to prove they were doing this specific thing would be if everyone they pulled over received a ticket and then only the person that was an officer was let off with only a warning. If that is what occurs than there is a violation of the code of ethics and the police officer has now broken the rules as well as the law. One last form of abuse of power is on-duty use of drugs and alcohol by police
As sad as it is to think about sexual misconduct by the people that are supposed to be protecting us regular law abiding citizens is an all too real reality. Cases of sexual misconduct by police officers in the United States has been as serious as rape by on duty officers patrolling the streets as well as by jailors in police lockups and has even been covered up and protected by department supervisors. In the book forms of sexual misconduct are defined as things like rape, sexual harassment, deception to gain sex, and even viewing a victim’s photos or videos for prurient purposes (Pollock, pg. 194). In addition to that the author also points out that prostitutes and homeless women are usually the most vulnerable population to have some form of sexual extortion or misconduct from a police officer. Not on is sexual misconduct with the general public a problem for police officers, but sexual misconduct or harassment on fellow officers has also been reported as being a real problem in many police agencies or organizations. In a research study a whooping seventy percent of female officers reported some form of sexual harassment by other police officers they were working with. The scariest thing is that in a completely different study similar numbers were reported, however of those only a mere two percent said