Discretion In Domestic Violence

“Nearly 25% of women have been victims of domestic violence at some point in their

Lives, and more than 40% of these women sustained physical injuries from these

assaults”(Grover, Paul & Dodge, 2011, P.619). Police have the power to use discretion whenever

they want. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, “discretion is the quality of being

discreet”(Merriam Webster Dictionary). In other words, discretion is when a person has the

power to make decisions in certain situations. Police officers use the discretion power a lot in

their job. They tend to use discretion in many different situations, for example, domestic

violence. Domestic violence is when you harm a person who is emotionally close to you and

cause them physical
Discretion can be used in many

situations and it can be used differently. Domestic violence has a mix of discretion being used

highly and discretion being used on a lower level. There are many reasons for why discretion is

used in different levels when it comes to domestic violence. One reason why discretion is used

on a high level is because of the stress they get when handling a domestic violence call.

“Researchers have noted that the law enforcement officers view their work as being stressful and

report frustration when responding to domestic violence call”(Gover, Paul, Dodge, 2011, P.620).

Since police officers say that it is a lot of work to handle a domestic violence call, they would

rather use their discretion on a high level to avoid dealing with the problem. Women are in even

more danger because of the negligence. It takes a lot of guts for a women to call the police when

getting physically harmed at home by a loved one, especially if it has been happening for years.

It is wrong for police officers to even use discretion in domestic violence problems because
Behind closed doors many things can happen because

of the privacy.

Police discretion is used towards domestic violence. According to Johnson and Dai,

“Police officers generally have a great deal of discretion in decisions regarding arrest, especially

for minor misdemeanor offenses”(2016, P.189). Another example of discretion being used on a

high level is how domestic violence is a misdemeanor offense, however, this offense should have

a greater charge than a misdemeanor. Discretion towards domestic violence also depends on the

officer. “Arrest decisions at domestic violence calls are based primarily on the attitudes and

preferences of individual officers”(Johnson and Dai, 2016, P.186). The way you react and handle

certain situations will always depend on the type of personality you have. A police officer has to

think about many factors when going to make a decision and when making the decision to use

discretion. They have to think about things like “legal factors such as the seriousness of the

offense, number of witnesses, victim injury, weapons involved and a complainant willing to sign

a statement”(Johnson and Dai, 2016, P.189). Police officers have to think about a lot of