City officials credited the program as one of the leading causes of new york citys low crime rate. A long debate has existed in criminal justice literature about the effects of legal variables and extra legal variables on sentencing. Lipsky 1980 further asserts that discretion among police officers will always be mandatory due to the inevitable lack of resources and the need for an efficient service. The court of appeals may affirm the trial courts ruling if it is sustainable on any legal basis in the record, even though it was not. The paralegal police prosecutor for how long 99 those dealing constantly with serious criminal cases, have been given the same label. This study examined legal and extralegal factors, specifically race, and their effects on processing and sanctions for 2,233 african american and caucasian males in virginias juvenile justice. As such, this chapter considers the role and responsibilities of the director of public prosecutions dpp, before turning to two key prosecutorial decisions. Additionally, it is important to examine police officers attitudes toward vice crime because the police have wide discretion available to them in how they enforce the law. Policing the police when does discretion become dangerous.
The exercise of police discretion is a decisionmaking process, as officers. Crim 203 quiz 6 chapter 11 and 12 flashcards quizlet. Given both extra legal factors in police behavior and the complexities in domestic violence, line officers as streetlevel bureaucrats cannot help but exert a substantial amount of discretion for. It is constructed on the basis of a complex interaction of rules and principles. The effects of local police surges on crime and arrests in. Judicial discretion legal definition of judicial discretion. Examining factors influencing police decision making.
The relationship between legal and extralegal factors. The whole process of dealing with the offender through alternative measures and extrajudicial sanctions has been downloaded onto police, relieving courts of the need to deal with it. In addition to research on the police, numerous studies have examined discretionary decisions at the intake and disposition stages of the juvenile justice system. Officers should be trained to remain objective when dealing with such offenders so that their own subjective views do not cause unfair and unequal treatment of citizens. Jun 19, 2017 police discretion is used for minor offenses such as traffic incidents or public urination. Officers were encouraged to conduct investigative stops in these areas. Some factors in police discretion and decision making.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Police discretion not to invoke the criminal process. Police officers decision making and discretion ncjrs. This creates a situation that allows police officers discretion in the way they think about what they see and how they handle those with whom they come in contact. Police discretion in contemporary america bernice b. The chapter also examines the impact of juveniles race and class as well as gender on police decision making.
The current study aims to identify legal and extralegal factors that might influence judges penal decision in criminal cases. We hope this research report will help inform the continuing debate over the proper exercise of police discretion in this new era of policing. Pdf legal and extralegal factors affecting minority. The research objective is to investigate the extent to which principles.
Beyond the influence of legal factors, the impact of extralegal factors on police behavior, such as race, age, gender, sobriety, and demeanor of the suspect. Constitutions fourth amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Police discretion allows law enforcement officials to effectively make decisions in the field when no clearcut solution is illuminated by law or a handbook. Department of justice, by the institute for law and justice, inc \mder grant no. While writing about police discretion, ho 2004 noted that discretion is a manifestation of selection bias, which rests upon many factors to include the individual exercising discretion. The victimoffender relationship and police charging decisions. Impact of race and ethnicity on charging and sentencing processes for drug offenders in three counties of washington state.
A comparative perspective gregory howard wiliams introduction in the heat of the moment, we are often critical of decisions without fully comprehending the factors which influence them. Even more studies have been devoted to sentencingthe decision about what penalty to impose and for how long. The police prosecutor in fact, tends to leave behind the investigative mentality and through time adopts the role of officer of. Available data also suggests that there are racial disparities in prosecutors exercise of discretion in seeking sentencing enhancements under threestrikes and other habitual offender laws. We tested the effects of operation impact on reported crimes and arrests. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of extra. Moving beyond arrest and reconceptualizing police discretion. The new york police department nypd under operation impact deployed extra police officers to high crime areas designated as impact zones. Improving police efficiency challenges and opportunities. Long term impact considers the strategic and financial effect of.
Learn by example and become a better writer with kibins suite of essay help services. Much of the debate over the proper scope of police discretion centers on reforming the criminal code to decriminalize or eliminate minor crimes. Wortley 2003 examined two views on the durability of discretion. What effect, if any, are these xpfs having in the exercise of discretion by criminal justice. Even greater discretion is exercised in dealing with juveniles the number of juveniles who are formally charged and referred to juvenile court is relatively small in comparison to the total number of juvenile police encounters.
Extralegal factors include variables such as neighborhood. Only few studies have examined the officer s decision making in domestic violence despite its impo rt on the discretion issue. Causes of pretrial injustice our research has shown that a wide range of factors combine and conspire to bring about injustice at the pretrial stage. It is important to note that such ideological objections to prostitution are extra legal objections. Among extralegal factors, only the demeanor of suspects has emerged as a fairly consistent predictor of police action. In short, the suspect population is a police construct. Pdf police officers make decisions at the street level in a variety of situations.
Finckenauer associate professor school of criminal justice rutgers university newark, new jersey 08903 abstract this is a study of the exercise of police discretion as indicated by the responses of police recruits to a series of ambiguous, but common incidents. In these situations, the officer has a choice to finearrest the offender, or give them a written or verbal warning. A state may not pass a statute that allows the police to search any persons residence at any time for any reason, because that statute would clearly violate the u. Oct 05, 2019 definition from wiktionary, the free dictionary. Still, much of the recruitment and selection of police personnel is done by civilians with varying degrees of input from police administrators. Given both extralegal factors in police behavior and the complexities in domestic violence, line officers as streetlevel bureaucrats cannot help but exert a substantial amount of discretion for.
Office of justice programs o g d p b j s national institute. Public law and legal theory research paper series research paper no. If you have questions about this material, please contact our office or seek legal advice from. We ground this research in the police discretion and implicit bias literature to. If you need to print pages from this book, we recommend downloading it as a pdf. Legal advisors from the bar association and the court provided free consultations at the event and noted keeping key evidence, such as hospital records or communication history, is crucial in legal proceedings. What many officers might not be aware of is the longterm effects of chronic fatigue and the relationship between stress and fatigue. Legal and extralegal factors that influence charging decisions show all authors. Another critical factor in sexual assault case attrition is the in.
Although police referrals were increasing, factors such as police knowledge of the act, police attitude towards the act, and the police officers personal opinion of the young. Thomas mcewen and lou mayo ncj 122025 ncjrs may 16 19911 i acqursrtjons prepared for the national fnstitute of justice, u. This trend in police work has many advantages such as allowing officers the flexibility to handle each situation in a manner that best fits its individual needs. Home probation and parole officers and discretionary decision. The legal factors of the seriousness of the offence including its criminal code. Written submission of the american civil liberties union. Legal and extralegal factors influencing judges penal. Answer to which of the following is not an extralegal factor in police discretion.
Uniform crime reporting incidentbased survey user manual. The effect of rape myth factors on prosecutors decisions to charge suspects in penetrative and non. Practitioners and other stakeholders suggest that police practices in relation to cautioning and conference referrals could have been influenced by extralegal factors. Drawing on judicial opinions, appellate records, trial transcripts, police periodicals, and other archival materials, this article tracks the presumption of police expertise from its origins outside the courtroom. Factors that affect police officers discretion legal beagle. The study also indicates that legal and extralegal variables have differing effects on men and women. The implication is that police decisionmaking varies, and is, to some extent, case dependent. The discretion of legislatures is also limited by the u.
Police discretion is used for minor offenses such as traffic incidents or public urination. For example, it is illegal to give a harsher sentence or arrest someone solely on the basis of his or her race. Identifying and responding to bias in the criminal justice. The anatomy of discretion an analysis of prosecutorial. Sep 30, 2016 in this article, i defend the justifiability of both concealed uses of executive prerogative as consistent with the end of selfpreservation for which government is constituted by the people and its disobedient disclosure as consistent with the rational interest of the citizens of the constitutional state in nonsubordination. The information brief may also be useful to police administrators contemplating or conducting a racial profiling study, as well as to community advocates. Restrictive policies for highspeed police pursuits by hugh nugent edward f. A study of forgiveness, hardship, gooddeeds, apology, remorse, and other such discretionary factors. As the nation reels from a series of highprofile fatal shootings of black men by police officers, many have decried the lack of readily available data on how racial bias factors into american.
Police discretion police discretion plays a large role in determining if a person is released without action, cited or arrested for an alleged infraction of the law. They arise simply from the discretion which the police enjoy. This is especially true when united states citizens analyze the operation of foreign criminal justice systems. Jan 31, 2016 yes, discretion may be inevitable for effective policing, but in excess it leaves the police unfettered to follow their own objectives, bend the rules to meet targets and apply their own personal. Research has consistently shown that legal factors such as offence seriousness. Situational factors affecting police discretion department of. Study 18 terms unit 3 outline the legal and extralegal. This entry approaches the study of police discretion from this decisionmaking perspective. Most of the research on juveniles and the police has focused on the criteria used by the police to makes decisions about whether or not to arrest or release with only a reprimand or warning juveniles who are suspected of violating the law. Indeed, i argue both prerogative and disclosure are justifiable. This essay argues that the debate over the proper scope of police discretion should instead focus on the real source of that discretion.
It the same time, it intends to determine how the imposed penalties effect on prisons overcrowding, on ensuring public safety protection, as well as on solving related problems faced by offenders. Pdf arrest and referral decisions in sexual assault. Pdf legal factors, extralegal factors, or changes in the law. The anatomy of discretion an analysis of prosecutorial decision making. It the same time, it intends to determine how the imposed penalties effect on prisons overcrowding, on ensuring public safety protection, as well as. Coercive authority is central to the police role, and the discretionary use of police authority is a decisionmaking process, as officers evaluate the situations in which they intervene and choose a course of action from among a set of alternatives. Being fatigued onduty causes many issues such as poor decision making and other cognitive task difficulties. Home probation and parole officers and discretionary. A legitimacybased analysis explains this phenomenon.
Police managers should communicate to their officers that such extralegal factors should not. Not getting enough rest and not eating properly in order to fuel the body can increase the effects of fatigue. Browse essays about extralegal factors and find inspiration. Prior research suggests that police officers may use more than one style of law therapeutic, conciliatory, compensatory, penal and that the quantity of law applied may also vary within an encounter in order to maintain order. Legal and extralegal variables in sentencing outcomes. Recommended citation goldstein, joseph, police discretion not to invoke the criminal process. Publications national criminal justice reference service. It points out that judges conceptualized their legitimacy under the influence of both legal and extralegal rules, thus making it apart from the legality. The impact of stress and fatigue on law enforcement. Courts recognition of domestic violence improved, making spousal abuse a mitigating factor in crimes committed in selfdefense. Jeremy travis director national institute of justice. Forming suspicion and making a stop abstract most police activity occurs in private, away from the publics view.
Long term impact this is one of thirteen pay factors used for pay determination purposes. Issues and methodology page 4 fund or undertake such a study, or who may need to understand and critically evaluate the findings of such studies. What the data really says about police and racial bias. When prosecutors knew what judge would hear a case, they sometimes tailored screening, charging, and plea offer decisions to fit the judges expectations. Discretion is the capacity an individual police officer possesses to make a choice among a number of possible courses of actions. There is a need for empirical based studies of police behavior in order to determine which factors, if any, influence the behavior of police officers, the use of discretion, and whether if police departments can control for these behaviors by emphasizing the hiring of women, minorities, and college educated officers national research council. The debate centers on the importance of each type of variable and the effects produced on the length of sentence handed down by judges in the trial process and district attorneys through pleabargaining. Extra legal factors are factors that are not governed by law and therefore are not permitted to be taken into consideration in the decisionmaking process. Pdf much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the. Yet, the established and apparently accepted fact of discretionary law enforcement has raised questions of its legal, ethical, and moral propriety this generated the. In people admin, the university will be asking managers and supervisors to focus their performance management outcomes by basing employee work plans on smart goals written to measure performance in each of the functional and behavioral competencies.
A difficulty here is that the term discrimination has two quite different positive and negative connotations. Without discretion the police, and indeed the whole criminal justice system, would become overwhelmed with cases, resulting in public displeasure mclaughlin, 2009. Our results show that legal, extralegal, and case processing factors matter for the. Exploring sexual harassment in a police department in taiwan. Some relate principally to the law and policy on pretrial decisionmaking and. Police and juveniles 101 chapter highlights the police and juvenile crime police roles and responsibilities policejuvenile relations police discretion race as a factor in juvenile arrests alternatives to police arrest and custody t he first contact that a young juvenile offender has with the juvenile justice system is with a police officer. These are police rules and principles, rather than legal ones. Start studying unit 3 outline the legal and extralegal factors influencing discretion with juvenile delinquents. Police men have made decisions on whether to arrest or charge of fenders since the inception of the first organized police force.
Of note in this research literature is a 2003 paper, neighborhood context and police use of force, that suggests police are more likely to employ force in highercrime neighborhoods generally, complicating any easy interpretation of race as the decisive factor in explaining police forcefulness. The research was guided by the following questions. Legal and extralegal determinants of declination and charge change decisions. Abstract police officers legitimately have broad powers of discretion to enforce the law. The victimoffender relationship and police charging decisions for. Apart from general exhortations to report fully and fairly, officers are given little formal guidance on such.
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