1. Examine the various search patterns investigators can use to systematically search crime scenes for evidence.…
I honestly believe that being a ploice officer is very hard. There are some positives and negatives to it. It is obvious that we are all human and make multiple mistakes, and at times we do not agree on the selection of choices that ploice officers use upon the people. Some of the positives are that police officers have the right of arrresting someone who is using illgeal behavior. For an example, say you are at a plaza walking around with your friends, and suddenly you see someone had too much to drink and they are causing a sence; to which you can't avoid or control the persons actions, you will have to call the police and they will settle the situation so it doesn't lead to breaking a law. A negative discretionary decision, would be the…
Imagine innocently walking down the street in a city you’ve lived in your whole life, when all of a sudden you hear the dreaded “woop woop” and see those flashing red and blue lights. The police. They interrogate you, ask your whereabouts, and finally, they “frisk” you. Of course, they find nothing; they rarely do when they search people. Although it’s wrong and demoralizing, you know it’s something you’ll have to get used to as an African American living in New York City.…
Discretion plays an indispensable role in the criminal justice system (CJS). Discretion is the judgment or decision implemented through values, facts, and principles. In the CJS, it is the authority given to a decision maker to decide between alternatives or no alternatives. Discretion can be used by police in the area of the criminal investigation process. Its role is continuous from sentencing judgments to the point of detaining offenders in prison past their sentencing period. Discretion also allows individuals’ circumstances to be considered, as the law at times can be considered a blunt measurement in delivering an alternative. This demonstrates that discretion plays an important role in the CJS to enforce the law, whilst taking into account the rights of individuals.…
Police discretion allows officer the power to make decision to purse police procedure or to simply give a warning and let someone go. An example of police discretion would be if an officer pulls over a teenage driver for running a stop sign. Once the officer approaches the care he notices a roach “end of a joint” in the passenger seat. The officer then has the option to either let the teen slide with just a warning or to follow police procedure word for word. In my opinion police discretion is beneficial. Giving someone a warning allows you to explain what could happen to him or her if caught next time. If every person who broke the law or did something wrong was arrested or charged our jails would be packed and officer would have stacks of…
As said by the Fourth Amendment, " the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against an unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things be seized." In simplest terms the Fourth Amendment says that all searches are to be conducted under authority of a warrant( Barany). Many times this amendment is violated which can result in the dismissal of a case, release of a guilty suspect, or the arrest of an innocent individual that was not properly been given his or her rights. In this paper topics involving the violations and exceptions of the many prongs of the Fourth Amendment including: probable cause, Terry vs. Ohio, exceptions to warrantless search and seizures, racial profiling, rights we are awarded, and the Miranda Warning. The Fourth Amendment has many off shoots and I will try to cover the basics, so that you as a reader can more thoroughly understand your rights and privileges as well as the rights that you do not have in many circumstances.…
Police brutality occurs daily across America. Police brutality can come in various forms, counting lethal and nonlethal force. Comprehending the exact commonness of police brutality is complex, because of the inconsistency in describing police brutality. The trouble in differentiating among justified and unjustified force. Police interactions often can be misconstrued, or sometimes turned around against an officer.…
There have been ongoing debates about the guidelines for police officers when conducting discretionary searches. One police department that has been in the headlines for its practices of discretionary searches have been the New York City’s Police Department. New York City’s Stop and frisk policy allowed police officers to stop and search an individual on the street at their discretion based on suspicion of criminal activity. One of the most highly publicized cases of NYPD’s stop and frisk tactic was the 2014 death of Eric Garner in the hands of Staten Island Police Department. The Eric Garner’s case followed outpours from citizens calling for change in NYPD’s stop and frisk guidelines and other police departments as well. This week’s article…
Discretion is granted to police officers in order to maintain an upright society. If discretion did not exist and every single crime required a punishment, suddenly the population of jails and prisons would…
Patrol officers use discretion each and every time while on shift. They will respond to a variety of calls and have to make a decision on scene whether to charge a subject or arrest them. Patrol officers also work traffic and enforce moving violations and equipment violations. Try to imagine if officers did not have discretion and had to fully enforce the law each time a violation occurred. This would have a negative impact on community relations and would also completely saturate our court systems that struggle already with caseloads. However, discretion allows the officer to make a judgment in the field based on the totality of the circumstances to decide which offenders should be tried through the criminal justice system and which should…
Using discretion is doing what is right or wrong just as one does with their morals and ethics in their profession. Disparity is seen through the criminal justice system by all players even legislature (The Sentencing Project, Research and Advocacy for Reform, 2008). Police officers are usually the first persons to deal with criminals and that is where discretion starts in the physical presence. Discretion and disparity are under scrutiny and will remain so. Discretion must be used and there has to be a routine check on…
* The purpose of bail is to assure those arrested return for their required appearances in court; the adversial system assumes everyone is innocent until proven guilty…
By definition, discretion means freedom to act or judge on ones own. With this privilege, evolves both pros and cons. A major problem which may occur are inconsistencies with the law. The same type of crimes may be given different punishments by judges. This would create controversy and accusations of prejudice and bias would certainly evolve. If the law were emphasized on discretion, the power would be mainly in judges and government official’s hands. It would be their responsibility that our nation continues to follow the principles of democracy and equality. If this did not occur, discretion could end up marking the downfall of our great nation. However I believe the pros overrun the cons in when looking closely at our legal system, in regards to discretion. In too many cases in our nations recent history, has discretion helped in making the right decisions. Every crime has different scenarios and plotlines, making it impossible for the same punishment to fit all the same kinds of crimes. This is why that in our legal system now, murder has evolved into manslaughter and other types of crimes. I believe that the best legal system looks at every case as a separate entity, and is run by judges that have no bias and do not look at any other factors besides, what is true justice. Our country will continue to evolve if we continue to use the component of discretion in our legal system.…
Prosecutorial Discretion is defined as the authority of the Prosecutor to decide who to charge with a crime, what charges to file, when/if charges will be dropped, whether a plea bargain will be offered, and how to utilize prosecutorial resources such as preemptive strikes. Furthermore, in states where the death penalty is in effect the prosecutor ultimately decides whether one potentially lives or dies based on the charges they choose to file. With this, one can grasp the magnitude of the power at the finger tips of the Prosecutor and see how issues can arise as a result of: unintentional or intentional bias opinions, poor ethical decisions in regard to job responsibilities, and essentially the abuse of authority towards different races.…
Police discretion is the ability to choose a course of action because of broad limits of power. It "refers to the autonomy an officer has in choosing an appropriate course of action" (The Police In America, 113). It "includes authority to decide which of the various means of helping the helpless, maintaining order, and keeping the peace are best suited to particular circumstances" (www.worldandi.com/specialreport/1989/january/Sa15878.htm). The police need to have discretion since it is impossible to record everything on what they are supposed to do and not do. We can also understand that if you could record all the rules and regulations it would be too extensive for an individual to comprehend.…