Sociology 2267A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Restorative Justice, Squeegee, Racial Profiling
15 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Police have discretion in their decision-making: refers to the decision making power of police to make decisions with minimal legal requirements. In cases of youth crime, police have a number of options in what to take when dealing with a young offender. Issue a warning (formal or informal) and let the youth suspect go. 1: arrest the youth and hold in custody, question the youth suspect, write up a report and release the youth suspect a. Most common forms of police discretion are: verbal warnings, referrals to community programs/agencies, formal cautions, or formal referrals to programs/agencies were most common. Police discretion includes both legal and extralegal factors. Legal: legal requirements or things considered relevant or pertinent in criminal justice matters: have they been charged before, been to jail/arrested before, caused trouble before, from a rough family known to cause trouble. Extralegal: means outside of the formal legal process (courts, jail, etc. : race, family and poverty, ethnicity.
