Beyond ‘police discretion’: The need for a new conceptual vocabulary

2024/11/25 by Edward Raymond Turner, Mike Rowe · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Policing Practices and Perceptions

paper · doi:10.1177/13624806241297311

openalex publication_date 2024/11/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

What are we talking about when we talk about police discretion? The concept is ubiquitous yet ambiguous and amorphous. In analytical terms it is redundant, but its continued use remains (for some) convenient and politically expedient. References to police discretion, connote as much as they denote, and in so doing they reproduce politico-legal structures that legitimise, enable, and may even embolden, discriminatory policing practices. We conclude, therefore, that policing scholars ought to move beyond discretion, developing a new conceptual vocabulary for making sense of police power.

Discussions

• A rewarding read on the problematic concept of police discretion from Liz Turner and @mikerrowe.bsky.social, @liverpooluni.bsky.social (No $$) Beyond 'police discretion': The need for a new conceptua [bsky, 7 points, 0 comments]

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