NCJ Number
107168
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 47 Issue: 4 Dated: (Autumn 1984) Pages: 185-223
Date Published
1984
Length
39 pages
Annotation
In addressing the institutional and operational aspects of police discretion in West Germany, this study examines who makes decisions on police actions, how the choice is made among alternative actions, and whether and by whom a police action may be challenged.
Abstract
In the administrative practice of a West German federal state, in this case Baden-Wurttemberg, where bureaucratic acts are subject to internal and judicial review to a greater extent than in the United States, shifting responsibility for decisions within the administrative hierarchy may constitute the functional equivalent of discretion. Viewed as a jurisdictional contest among various governmental organs, shifting responsibility for the entry-level decision channels the subsequent review functions. This shifting comes to rest at the operational level of policing, where enforcement is subject to individual decisions. The guiding premise of this study is that discretion stands in a peculiar relationship to accountability in legal systems strictly adhering to the principle of the rule of law. Implications are drawn for police discretion in the United States. 155 footnotes and appended charts relevant to police decisionmaking in Baden-Wurttemberg.