What Is Discretion?

Improved Essays
Discretion
What is discretion? A liberty or privilege allowed to a judge, within the confines of right and justice, but independent of narrow and unbending rules of positive law, to decide and act in accordance with what is fair, equitable, and wholesome, as determined upon the peculiar circumstances of the case, and as discerned by his personal wisdom and experience, guided by the spirit, principles, and analogies of the law. Black’s Law Dictionary 126 (9th ed. 2009). The quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information for example…
• "she knew she could rely on his discretion"
• "it is up to local authorities to use their discretion in setting the charges"
I do not feel that law enforcement

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    The prosecution office at work was a method used by the prosecution team to highlight certain photos and children’s accounts about alleged sexual abuse at the McMartin preschool to gather more evidence to convince the jury that defendant Ray Buckey was a sexual deviant, and that his family was guilty of similar actions. There are several examples or prosecution at work: the prosecution team using photos of the McMartin family with the alleged victims, the photo of a woman receiving oral sex kept by Buckey beside his bedroom window, and the interviews of different children about their stories involving devil worshipping at the McMartin preschool. 2. How does discretion fit…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The criminal justice system often is examined using political, organizational, or sociological approaches [or lenses] (Pollock, 2010). Asking [simply] whether something is legal [or illegal]…is not necessarily the same question as asking whether something is right [or wrong] (Pollock, 2010). The term “ethics” or “ethical” refers to something “being in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession.” In the case of police officers, use of discretion, or a lack thereof, in the application of force has direct ethical consequences to which the objectivity of the police officer on scene is subjugated by the subjectivity of a review board after the fact. Actors at every stage in the justice process…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prosecutorial discretion suggests that the government prosecuting attorneys have the opportunity to choose to bring criminal charges and any other charges. Prosecutors are one of the most powerful officials, which, “also provides a significant opportunity for leniency and mercy in a system that is frequently marked by broad and harsh criminal laws, and, increasingly in the last decades of the twentieth century, by legislative limitations on judges ' sentencing discretion.” The prosecutor has a great amount of authority, stated in the case Bordenkircher v. Hayes, “ as long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statue, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Laws influence police behavior and how officers handle some situations. Officers are rarely supervised while on patrol and if they are, it is by a fellow officer rather than a superior officer. Because of this, officers are left with discretion in almost every situation they encounter. This discretion for the law also influences how things are handled in the police subculture. This same law is used not only by police officers but also against them when there is suspicion of wrongdoing.…

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What was once an adversarial adjudicative process controlled by judges and juries has been reduced to an administrative mechanism dominated by prosecutors through the exercise of unbridled discretion. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials are not supposed to use their power to rack up guilty pleas or convictions, because they are not advocates for one side in an adversarial process; they are public officials charged with pursuing justice (Graham,…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone speaks a language, but some people speak more than one language. To learn and understand a new language can be troublesome when first starting to learn said language. Both Amy Tan and Barbara Mellix experience these struggles. Tan’s multicultural Chinese- American life explains why Tan worries about the misunderstanding and stereotypes about the Chinese language.…

    • 1504 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police Discretion Essay

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The discretion in the criminal justice system is placed to protect society from injustice in the abuse of power. Discretion is a judgment that is exercised by applying principles and values and facts, which can be explored through the police discretionary role, judicial discretion in punishment and sentencing and the effectiveness of the diversionary schemes applicable to the young offenders. Although the role of discretion within the criminal justice system has many advantages, it can lead to many conflicts in the process of conviction. Primarily, this is due to the misuse of powers the police and judge have been given in order to carry out their discretionary role to protect society.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police Discretion Thesis

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Therefore, it cannot be used in every aspect of law enforcement as strict guidelines are in place and must be followed by officers. For example, a woman claims she has been the victim of domestic violence and has been severely wounded, there is very little space for discretion in this situation compared to if the woman had no physical evidence of the abuse. Traffic violations are where police discretion is most commonly used. In order to come to a rightful decision, likelihood to commit given infraction again as well as impact to a persons life are taken into account when an officer is exercising discretion.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although the creation of judicial review was a significant victory for the Supreme Court, it is also much more complicated than what meets the eye. Judicial review can also be more accurately described as “constitutional review” due to the controversial methods that judicial reviews is carried out (“Judicial Review | Law”) . Such views included what is referred to as “judicial restraint approach” and “activist approach.” In judicial restraint approach, judges are believed to be able to decide cases only on the basis of the language of the laws and the Constitution. However, when looking at the activist approach, judges are able to recognize the principles of the laws or the Constitution and use them in response to circumstances of moral or…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mandatory Sentences Analysis

    • 2283 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Cole (2004) explains, “…the prosecutor is able to exercise his discretionary powers only within the network of exchange relationships” (p.188). Advocates associate power with judges, but not with prosecutors. If it assumed that prosecutorial discretion is also an issue, why is there a pavement being carved for more? Would there not be an addition of unlimited power in the courthouse…

    • 2283 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    but in this case I feel that they would not truly know enough information for the state’s attorney in order for them to bargain with in order to get a lesser sentence. Therefore, he or she should not use discretion in this situation because it will not truly help…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Judicial Activism Judicial activism is the idea that the view that the Supreme Court justices can and should creatively (re)interpret the texts of the Constitution and the laws in order to serve the judges ' own considered estimates of the vital needs of contemporary society when the elected "political" branches of the Federal government. Judges should not hesitate to go beyond their traditional role as interpreters of the Constitution and laws given to them by others in order to assume a role as independent policy makers or independent "trustees" on behalf of society. judicial restraint and judicial activism are two opposing philosophies when it comes to the Supreme Court justices ' interpretations of the United States Constitution; justices…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dworkin on Judicial Discretion in “Hard Cases” Lu Zhao Boyu (Bozy) | A0127866R In the standard courtroom, one could reasonably expect the judge to be the one responsible for the holding of a case. However, does and should the judge exercise his own discretion when deciding cases? Prominent legal theorist H. L. A. Hart claims that judges do exercise discretion, especially in “hard cases”, where there is no pre-existing or unambiguous rule. To this matter, Hart’s brilliant student Ronald Dworkin offers an alternative theory, which argues that judges do not have discretion and should follow principles instead of rules, even in “hard cases”.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Lon L. Fuller’s purpose in “The Problem of The Grudge Informer” is to show his readers the various relations between the nature of law and morality. In his article, he tells his readers to hypothetically imagine that they have been elected Minister of Justice for their country. He makes his readers imagine a perfect country that then has been ruined by a political party or society that called themselves the Purple Shirts. The way they were elected was by giving false promises and by intimidation. They had no interest in abolishing the constitution, Civil and Criminal Codes, and the Code of Procedures.…

    • 2082 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As already stated, judicial discretion encompasses the freedom that judges are assigned by the legal apparatus within a given jurisdiction. The allowances provided by the law to practice discretion mean that personal opinions are usually injected in the making of judgements in the legal system. As such, discretion leads to unpredictability and discrepancies in the issuing of sentences for similar criminal offences. Discretion is a double-edged sword that carries advantage and disadvantages. The advantage of judicial discretion is that it allows for the consideration of the unique circumstance of each case and apply the legal provisions according to these guidelines.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays

Related Topics