Police Discretion Essay

A police officer, also known as a law enforcement officer is one of many careers one can take in the criminal justice system. There are various amount of duties and assignments they do in their everyday lives. The countless amount of training and schooling in order to achieve the goal of becoming a better difference in society. Police officers face an immense amount of situations which they must deal with each day resulting in discretion. It is narrowed down to pure opinion on wether or not the police force makes a positive or negative impact in society. Law enforcement officers is a significant career that is crucial in today’s society. While the work of a police officer may appear glamorous and exciting on T.V or in movies, it is actually

There has been a constant dilemma between enforcing the law to the latter and/or to the spirit of the law. In an article written by Simon Bronitt and Philip Stenning, Understanding Discretion in Modern Policing, some officers believe that politicians enact laws to make symbolic statements and that they do not desire full enforcement of the laws. Age, race, income, attitude toward the officer, gender, and income status are all factors of how police respond to a situation. Police tend to exercise more discretion in misdemeanor offenses than in felonies. If the police were to follow the laws to the latter, they will be perceived to be unfair by the society and hence rejected. The other merit of police discretion is that it promotes realistic goals. In this regard, discretion takes into account the fact that the police are presented with unique situations on the ground that requires personal judgment depending on the situation.. If the cops were to follow the law to the latter, then the criminal justice system would be overwhelmed with the number of cases presented before them. Discretion can also be said to promote autonomy in the sense that the cops and the community at large are not enslaved by the written rules. They are under particular circumstances allowed to route the way for the law. Finally, the discretion promotes job satisfaction for the officers in which they are allowed to