The use of force is one of the most severe and controversial types of police discretionary actions. It is defined as the amount of coercion required to control an unruly subject. Discretion is the ability to decide a course of action or inaction, and it is used in the criminal justice system when deciding how to intervene in certain situations and deciding what level of force to use in these situations (Wilson, 1968). The use of force an officer uses varies based on legal mandates, an officer’s experience, and departmental policies. Sometimes force that is not technically legal, or accountable in legal terms, is employed as a natural response to certain situations. Jennifer Hunt (1985) defines this as “normal” force. How does this factor
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Police officer discretion is also learned informally through the socialization and police subculture. There are four distinctive socialization processes in which one must go through to become a police officer. Van Maanen (1974) identifies these processes as choice, introduction, encounter, and metamorphosis. Choice is when someone decides to pursue policing as a career and the introduction process is when a recruit enters the police academy. During these two processes, recruits learn the didactic style of policing and what it means by law to employ force or exercise discretion. A recruit enters the encounter process after leaving the academy and is paired with a higher-ranking police officer and put out on the street. It is this process in which a rookie police officer is introduced to the reality of what it is like to be a police officer. During this process new police officers learn from experienced officers and what constitutes the “normal” use of force and ways to justify or excuse their discretionary actions. During the encounter process, new police officers are introduced to the police subculture, and only during the metamorphosis process do they become acclimated with their peers and conform to the same level of thinking (Van Maanen, 1974). It is this subculture socialization process that makes controlling discretion incredibly difficult at an …show more content…
As evidenced by the 1965 survey conducted by the American Bar Foundation, the criminal justice system is in fact a system. It is a “series of discretionary decisions about individual criminal cases by officials working in a set of interrelated agencies (Walker, 1992, pg 47).” The key word in this phrase is “discretionary decisions”, but the phrase also implies there is more to the system than just the police. The system consists of judges, juries, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, all officials with their own discretionary powers. To give police less or more control would upset the balance of this courtroom workgroup, and past attempts at controlling police discretionary powers have been tried and failed (Klockars, 1988).
Discretion is a set of choices, and each choice can have major implications, both good and bad. Police exercise discretion with caution, and it is limited administratively through policy and informally through police subculture interactions. The use of force is one of the most controversial types of police discretionary actions, and will remain to be. What is important is that police regulate the use of force through informal peer control. This informal control limits the abuse of power and reduces corruption among police, and allows citizens have trust in their
Police officer discretion is also learned informally through the socialization and police subculture. There are four distinctive socialization processes in which one must go through to become a police officer. Van Maanen (1974) identifies these processes as choice, introduction, encounter, and metamorphosis. Choice is when someone decides to pursue policing as a career and the introduction process is when a recruit enters the police academy. During these two processes, recruits learn the didactic style of policing and what it means by law to employ force or exercise discretion. A recruit enters the encounter process after leaving the academy and is paired with a higher-ranking police officer and put out on the street. It is this process in which a rookie police officer is introduced to the reality of what it is like to be a police officer. During this process new police officers learn from experienced officers and what constitutes the “normal” use of force and ways to justify or excuse their discretionary actions. During the encounter process, new police officers are introduced to the police subculture, and only during the metamorphosis process do they become acclimated with their peers and conform to the same level of thinking (Van Maanen, 1974). It is this subculture socialization process that makes controlling discretion incredibly difficult at an …show more content…
As evidenced by the 1965 survey conducted by the American Bar Foundation, the criminal justice system is in fact a system. It is a “series of discretionary decisions about individual criminal cases by officials working in a set of interrelated agencies (Walker, 1992, pg 47).” The key word in this phrase is “discretionary decisions”, but the phrase also implies there is more to the system than just the police. The system consists of judges, juries, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, all officials with their own discretionary powers. To give police less or more control would upset the balance of this courtroom workgroup, and past attempts at controlling police discretionary powers have been tried and failed (Klockars, 1988).
Discretion is a set of choices, and each choice can have major implications, both good and bad. Police exercise discretion with caution, and it is limited administratively through policy and informally through police subculture interactions. The use of force is one of the most controversial types of police discretionary actions, and will remain to be. What is important is that police regulate the use of force through informal peer control. This informal control limits the abuse of power and reduces corruption among police, and allows citizens have trust in their