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What if criminal justice professionals had no discretion?

If there was no discretion by officers, it would be total chaos. There would be even more screams and cries of “defund the police” (of which, I am not a fan of that movement). 

What would happen to the juveniles? What about the judges, when sentencing people. How about the D.A. office?  For example, sometimes the D.A. ‘s office is willing to drop charges, take plea deals, give lesser charges. Another real life crime, the D.A. ‘s office might be willing to drop shoplifting charges, if they plead guilty to a drug charge they have. 

Personally, I think people would start to form a worst impression of the criminal justice system, especially with views on officers. Why, because they are the ones doing the arrest. Claims of police brutality would be record high. Then, that would lead to law markers trying to change laws. Which would lead to being more relaxed on crime, which would lead to higher crime rates. 

 What if police officers were required to arrest every suspect?

 If officers had to arrest every suspect, the criminal justice system would probably collapse. The courts would be so far backed up. The jails and prisons would be even more overcrowded then they are now.  People’s lives could forever be changed, if it was required to arrest them. 

What about when an officer is dealing with a juvenile. They aren’t treated the same as adults. If teens are loitering outside of a store, an officer probably would just tell them to move on. Now since they are technically committing a crime, now they have to be arrested. Then where does it go from there? What about truancy issues, teens can get into trouble for not going to school, but that isn’t going to affect adults. There isn’t a cop that is going to arrest an adult for not going into work. 

What if judges were required to incarcerate every defendant found guilty? 

If everyone who was guilty had to be incarcerated, the jails and prisons would be even more overly crowded than they are now. Now, with that being said if you commit certain crimes you should be locked away. 

However, if it’s something petty and non-violent there should be discretion on the judges behalf. For example a person steals a $5 hat from Wal-Mart, which is shoplifting. However, they have no priors and they now have to serve time in jail. Instead of paying a fine or community services, just because the judge has no discretion. 

In what ways would the criminal justice system change?

If there was no discretion for any criminal justice system, it would end up in total chaos. Personally, I think it would also lead to greater harm to police officers. If a suspect knew no matter what crime they commit, they would be arrested and incarcerated; it would drive up their flight or fight response.

 I also don’t believe that it would deter criminals from committing crime. They already know the outcome, if they commit a crime they will be incarcerated. Why would they not ramp up the level of crime that they are commuting. 

 Example: if carrying an ounce of weed on themselves will land them in jail, why not carry more. If stealing a $5 hat would lead them to have shoplifting charges, why not make it $5,000 worth of stuff. 

And most importantly what about the juveniles? With dealing with them the whole criminal justice system uses a lot of discretion because they aren’t adults. So, are we going to treat them like adults? What about when they commit crimes that adults don’t get charged with, do we no longer charge juveniles?  

There needs to be a balance in how much discretion is used in the criminal justice system. Too much discretion can lead to more corrupt cops, and more relaxed punishment on crimes. Too little discretion, we would end up in a military/ dictatorship style of criminal justice system.