NCJ Number
202489
Editor(s)
Loraine Gelsthorpe,
Nicola Padfield
Date Published
2003
Length
240 pages
Annotation
This book contains essays that attempt to explore the importance of discretion in understanding the nature of the making of justice in theory and practice beginning with the wide discretionary powers used by those in the criminal justice and related systems.
Abstract
The exercise of discretion in the criminal justice system and related agencies often plays a fundamental part in decisions which are made; a concept central to the meaning of justice. However, the definitions of discretion can be murky, and regardless of its importance, it can be a highly arguable concept with significant controversy surrounding its nature and legitimacy. Through a collection of essays, this book attempts to add to a descriptive understanding of the uses of discretion in contemporary criminal justice and other related circles. Many of the decisions explored are difficult in their nature. The eight chapters in this book, from several contributors, focus on exercising discretion within the criminal justice system and cover juveniles, courts, and corrections and include: (1) youth justice and discretion in pre-court decisionmaking; (2) judicial discretion in sentencing; (3) prison officers and the use of discretion; (4) discretion and the release of life sentence prisoners; (5) discretion in access to forensic psychiatric units; (6) discretion in the release in mentally disordered offenders; (7) decisions to detain asylum seekers -- routine, duty, or individual choice; and (8) order, rationality, and silence and some reflections on criminal justice decisionmaking. References