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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 12 page paper provides an overview of questions about ethics in criminal justice, including issues like the slippery slope and the issue of discretion. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
12 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MH11_MHCrimJEthics.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in itself seems to foster images of corruption and definitions of discretion support this view. For example, Richard Wortley (2003), in a study of police attitudes regarding discretion, described
discretion as the selective enforcement of the law." Any process that would allow for the selective enforcement of laws that are created to be applied in all situations suggests
the potential for inappropriate use. But the question asked is whether corruption is an UNAVOIDABLE result of discretion. Police discretion takes into consideration the fact that laws are
made with a definable set of parameters that cannot be applied in every single situation. Police are the mediator between the law and the activities of the citizenry, and
so they must be able to determine the application of law and its appropriateness. In Elizabethan England, theft of anything was punishable by death, and the application of this
law was equally distributed regardless of the nature of the crime. Standing side-by-side on the gallows, then, could be the starving mother who stole bread to feed her family,
alongside a man who stole a wristwatch he liked from a shop window. No allowances were made for police discretion or for a differentiation in the purpose of the
crime, and once policing agents were called, the legal process was started. Police discretion, then, was initiated with the belief that ethical police officers might be able to
tell the difference between criminal behavior and a misstep. Factors that might come into consideration include age, type of crime, and factors influencing the situation (e.g. home pressures, poverty,
etc.). Discretion can be applied in a number of situations, from the person driving 10 miles over the speed limit to the person involved in an altercation who claims
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