NCJ Number
188857
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: 2000 Pages: 179-194
Date Published
2000
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this Denmark study was to investigate the background for police decisions made on the spot, and to determine whether or not police discretion amounted to discrimination.
Abstract
The data were collected during the course of approximately 800 hours of participant observation over a period of eight months, conducted in a relatively large police department in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Informal interviews and discussions played a large part during the observations since the aim was to study the background for decisions made on the spot. Police discretion was analyzed as two distinct forms of power, namely the power of definition/suspicion and the power of procedure/prosecution. There were three types of indicators used by patrolmen in deciding whether or not to stop someone: incongruity, prior information, and appearance. The officers reacted to signs that -– to them –- spelled “criminal type.” The stops were based on social information gathered from the appearance and behavior of suspects. The power of prosecution is the possibility to take, or not to take, legal steps toward prosecution if there is evidence of a breach of the law. The conclusion of this study was that in some instances police discretion did lead to discrimination. The officers in the study used stereotypical, social information as a guideline for both forms of discretionary power. It also seemed that a person who fit the police stereotype of a typical criminal would often receive less lenient treatment than did the decent citizen. Although police cannot avoid use of the power of suspicion/definition in a way that is discriminatory, it is both possible and desirable to treat all citizens equally. 17 references.