NCJ Number
169892
Editor(s)
R Reiner
Date Published
1996
Length
612 pages
Annotation
The essays collected in this volume explore police discretion and accountability, based primarily on police research conducted in North America and Great Britain.
Abstract
The volume is organized according to five parts, the first of which examines police discretion. The focus is on police decisions not to invoke the criminal process, low visibility police decisions related to the administration of justice, ideal versus actual police discretion, the issue of privacy in police administrative practices, police encounters with juveniles, causes of police behavior, policing skills, and consequences of compliance and deterrence models of law enforcement for the exercise of police discretion. The second part of the volume considers policing and politics, with emphasis on historical developments in the "deradicalization" of police agencies, the police and law and order politics, and the policing of political activities. The third part of the volume covers the legal control of police power, with particular reference to police street powers, police discretion and law reform, police culture, and police powers. The fourth part of the volume discusses complaints against the police, while the fifth part of the volume reviews police governance and accountability. References, footnotes, and tables