POLICE DISCRETION AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE

Abstract

Discretion is an important and inevitable characteristic of policing that raises several discussions among academics and practitioners in the field due to the significant impact that police decisions can have on citizens’ lives and on the credibility of police institutions. This controversial attribute of police power presents challenges to the exercise of policing in democratic societies. This essay argues that procedural justice upholds police discretionary powers. It also presents real-life examples of how the exercise of police discretion in policing diverse communities may be used to counter or endorse principles of equality and procedural justice.