the role of discretion in criminal justice

Overview

In this assignment, you will explain the role of discretion in criminal justice. You will also describe the roles integrity, authority, discretionary power, and morality play in discretionary decision making.

Prompt

In Modules One and Two, you learned about discretion in criminal justice decision making, and about the relationship between integrity, authority, and discretionary power. In this module, you learned about the role morality plays in the decision-making process. You will now apply this knowledge to an instance of discretionary decision making you have seen in the media, which was the focus of the Module One discussion. This application of knowledge will help you prepare for Project One in Module Five, in which you will be creating a written internal justification statement for a discretionary decision you make in response to a scenario.

First, explain the role of discretion in criminal justice.

Next, describe the instance from the Module One discussion in detail, providing background information surrounding the discretionary decision. (You may use your initial post from the Module One discussion board to help you with this.)

• Then, choose one element and describe the role it plays in the discretionary decision-making process in general:
• Integrity
• Authority

Discretionary power

Morality

• Last, explain how that same element chosen above (integrity, authority, discretionary power, or morality) may have affected the discretionary decision made in the instance provided.
• Specifically, the following rubric criteria must be addressed:
• Explain the role of discretion in criminal justice.
• Describe an instance of discretionary decision making you have seen in the media.
• Describe the role one element (integrity, authority, discretionary power, or morality) plays in discretionary decision making in general.

Explain how one element (integrity, authority, discretionary power, or morality) may have affected the discretionary decision made in the instance provided.