Free Responses To Posts Essay Sample

Angela Adams

Indeed “discretion is the exercise of individual judgment rather than formal rules” (Bohm and Haley 2014, p. 243) is very true, especially in policing. This is the very same reason why I disagree with the poster that discretion should be reduced to formal rules. Law enforcers do not operate under formal environment, but in the real world where predictability does not dominate the scheme of things. I do agree, however, that abuse of discretion exists and there are abusive policemen. The concerns of the poster are legitimate, but it is not discretion itself that is at fault but the person exercising the discretion. This is why effective and continuous training and education of policemen are necessary to hone their skills and knowledge in dealing with cases, as well as effective supervision by law enforcement superiors (Haley and Bohm 2014, p. 247). With respect to minor offenses, however, I agree with the Haley and Bohm’s (2014, p. 243) that full enforcement is impossible because of resources issues. Not every person found committing infractions, especially minor ones, can be arrested and locked up. The police should have the discretion to decide whether to arrest or not because not only the country’s jail system cannot afford arresting everyone, but also because some people need second chances.

Sean Posey Post

I agree with most of the points made by this post, which is why I need not spend a lot of time commenting on it. This is especially true with the part that states that discretion is necessary to ensure the safety of law enforcers and that, in effect, bad policemen exercise poor discretion, but good policemen make good judgment calls. Despite the bad publicity about the police, I think that most police exercises discretion prudently and appropriately. It is just that bad apples in the force usually stand out and the public immediately notice it. As the post emphasized it is the ability to make good judgment calls that make the police effective and relevant in their line of work.

References

Haley, K. & Bohm, R. (2014). Introduction to Criminal Justice (8th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.