Police Corruption And Discretion In The Criminal Justice System

There are many forms of police and correctional officer corruption, that affects not only the effectiveness of our criminal justice system; but also society. Police corruption can be best explained as actions which “exploit the powers of law enforcement in return for considerations of private-regarding benefit and that violate formal standards governing his or her conduct” (Arrigo & Williams, 2012). Corrupt acts can consist of: corruption of authority, kickbacks, opportunistic theft, shakedowns, fixes, protection of illegal activities and direct criminal activities. In any order or fashion, all of the above mentioned is unethical and in many cases illegal (Arrigo & Williams, 2012). As for correctional officer corruption, it can share many of the same characteristics as for policing. Instead of external, correctional officer corruption is in most cases internal; which is notable difference between the two (Arrigo & Williams, 2012).

Police in America began as the night watch system that protected cities from crime, fire, and disorder. Of course early policing was influenced by the British, and so was American Law which derived from English common law. This would also form a correlation to American policing policies that diverged from the English’s Magna Carta and as well the French. The French established a centralized government that entailed men to take an oath of loyalty. The police in America started as night watch groups, then employment changed to police officers being political appointed which was very corrupted, but throughout the years things changed again to serve the public. Instead of a political selected police force that earns it’s pay through bribes and

In order for a Police agency to prevent and deter Police misconduct, there must be a definition to what actions and behaviors that the term will encompass. The term ‘police corruption’ has been used to describe many activities: bribery; violence and brutality; fabrication and destruction of evidence; racism; favoritism or nepotism. Many different scholars differ in their own examples of the definition. Before attempting to the question of whether a precise definition is possible, it is worth examining the range of activities that might be included within a broad discussion of corruption. In (Bayley and Perito, 2011), it is defined as police corruption is a contested phrase with narrow and broad meanings. Narrowly

Today, police discretion is a very important aspect to the criminal justice field. There are different substances where discretion is not discipline enough or not monitored enough even though having discretion is not always bad. There are still ways to abuse it and today police officers have their own way of using police discretion for different situations. Discretion can be defined as someone having the power or authority to make a decision based on what they feel should be done in a certain situation. Police officers are taught how to handle certain situations according the law. But when the officer is on duty no one is there to make sure that they are making the right decisions that follow the law and according to the law, there are not set guidelines in the law for police discretion which give the police officer an advantage. Discretion is used by police officers when they are facing a decision with a bunch of results that could handle the situation but the officer has control to pick which result they would want to choose.

After the rise of groups like Black Lives Matter in response to the shootings of African-Americans, police departments are being forced to take a second look at the way they interact with minority communities. The problem in many communities is that law enforcement officials do not mirror the communities that they police. In cities like South Houston, the population is 90 percent Hispanic. The police in this area are almost 75 percent white.

Criminal justice system has three main subsystems: police, courts and corrections. Each subsystem has its particular duties, but they work together to meet the goals: doing justice, controlling crime and preventing crime (Cole, Smith, & DeJong, 2015). Although this system had been built for a long time ago, continuously, some of its policies need to be reconsidered and reformed to suit the society with various situations. One of the characteristics that exercised by different levels in the criminal justice system, from police to correctional officials, is discretion. This characteristic also receives both supports and oppositions. In this paper, I will focus on an aspect of discretion in police. I believe that police discretion is very important, hence, it needs to be reformed by expanding its level.

Alexandra, I enjoyed reading about your take on this discussion question and how you added to it. I agree with you that many of the struggles African Americans face within our nation are due to the corruption of our societal system, and the difficulty they are faced with when trying to better themselves. As a white male who has grown up as a middle class citizen, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for me to be able to identify on a personal level with some of these issues. For instance, growing up, I had always been under the impression that police officers, and our criminal justice system as a whole, were only there to protect us. I couldn't possibly understand the ideas of corruption and hatred that could be perpetuated by a system

Justice System. It is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. Our Justice System is not effectively punishing and rehabilitating criminals to the right punishment of their crimes. Our justice system have three parts to it; which are police, courts, and corrections. Ethics are the foundation of the criminal justice system: It’s what helped us develop the moral reasoning we use, how we define criminal activity, and what we as a society deem as acceptable punishment. It’s an important because our criminal justice system is most effective when it’s operating in an ethical

In the justice system today, there are three corrupt issues: the evidence, the jury, and the attorneys. There are still more issues to all of it, who is keeping it in check? Why does the United States have these laws, if none of them are able to be enforced on the lawyers and jury? These are all the little problems and questions that have led to the wrong outcomes in our check and balance law system. It comes to the point that the justice system enters a tunnel and doesn’t hear any outside facts until the conviction comes in. It’s the rush for evidence that fuels them all.

Police discretion is a unclear term that has an appropriately vague explanation. It is stated as the decision-making ability given to police officers that permits them to determine if they want to engage in police procedure or just let someone go with a word of warning. How it seems in drill is altered from situation to situation.

It is obvious that police officers are using their jobs as law enforcers to obtain illegal items and are shamefully betraying their police departments. The policemen who were involved in this drug smuggle were veterans. When people think of veterans, whether it be a veteran of war or a veteran of a police department, we think of someone who has devoted many years, served and been loyal to the service. People have admiration for veterans and recognize them for being committed to the service as well as being faithful to every year they have been involved in it. Now the four veteran police officers from Chicago will be spending time in prison instead of adding more years to the service of policing. Those years that the veteran police officers were dedicated to the policing is now history, they could have helped lower crime rates in Chicago, but instead they are facing prison time.

The criminal justice filed is huge, people who have a career in criminal justice they must have a mature discretion to make a right choice at a right time. There are stereotypes of branches in criminal justice system, but all requires a mature discretion, authority and power to serve the nation and to provide the equality and rights for all citizens. Criminal justice professionals ought to make an ethical, lawful decision because they rule many citizens’ life; they have the right to take off freedom of individual. Criminal justice has diverse positions such as police, Judicial, and lawyers. These positions require a mature discretion as well.

This essay aims to provide the reader with an in depth analysis as to what is police corruption, the ethical dilemmas that police face and what is the nature and causes of police corruption from both a national and international perspective. This essay will also provide the reader with an in-depth analysis as to what is police accountability and why it is needed and upon conclusion, this essay will also provide the reader with strategies for managing police integrity.

We have many concerns about having one entity providing all law enforcement in the United States. The separation of power throughout the task force could cause corruption. A single Chief of police could potentially have more power than the President of the United States. They can look over certain crimes, hire biasedly, and be politically active which, can cause even more corruption. If we had a national police force, our taxes would go to other counties with higher crime rates such as Detroit or Memphis instead of going to our own country. This new police force would change the way our country handles crime, the local police now, know what areas to patrol and have a chance to stop potential crimes but with a national force wherever the crime

Police corruption has been something which has been going on in the U.S for quite a long time. It’s been something we hear or see on the news since we were children and we are continuing to see it even our modern daily lives today. The most Common forms of police corruption we hear every day are theft of money and stolen drugs.