Internal and External Discretion Situation

Running head: DISCRETIONARY POWER
DISCRETIONARY POWER OF POLICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

DISCRETIONARY POWER
1
Discretionary
Decision
Laws and
Discretion
Agency’s
Culture
Amount of
Discretion
Internal and
External
Discretion
Situation
1
The police officer
takes the
discretionary
decision to warn
the husband for
hitting her wife,
which is an
offence under the
General Laws of
Rhode Island. The
police officer had
the power to
arrest the
husband for
violating R.I. Gen.
Laws § 12-29-3
(b), however, he
chose not to as
the couple had
reconciled and the
husband showed
repentance.
The General Law
of Rhode Island
[R.I. Gen. Laws §
12-29-3 (b)] calls
for an arrest in
case a person as
assaulted another,
showing bodily
hurt or not, the
police officer is
entitled to make
the arrest.
However, in this
situation, the
officer chose to
avoid the arrest
as the couple had
no history of
domestic violence
or criminal
history. Moreover,
the couple
mutually informed
that they have
reconciled. The
husband
apologized for the
trouble to the
neighbors as well.
Therefore, the
officer could rely
upon his sense of
Petty cases of
conjugal
difference and
quarrels are
common for the
law enforcement
agencies.
Therefore, they
follow their
instinct and
discretionary
power to decide
the cases to be
taken cognizance
of, and the others
to be given the
benefit of doubt
(Bass, 2001).
The law
enforcement
agencies
especially the
police officers
have been vested
with limited
discretionary
power, which only
allows them to
ignore cases that
does not involve
serious crimes,
including cases of
domestic violence.
However, in this
case, the husband
showed sign of
repentance and
acknowledged his
mistake of hitting
his wife. The wife
too informed that
there has not
been any situation
like that before.
Therefore, it was
right for the
officer to exercise
his discretionary
power in this
situation.
Internal
peculiarities like
the gesture of the
husband, wife’s
response, physical
condition of the
wife, overview of
the house,
condition of the
child if any, record
of the couple’s
marital life are
certain internal
factors that police
officers take into
account whenever
domestic violence
cases are
reported. These
factors help the
officer to decide
whether or not to
make the arrest.
The internal
discretion heavily
influences the
external
discretion which
includes active
inquiry and
investigation of
the case along