Why is Healthy Discretion a Critical Tool When Working in the Criminal Justice System?

There are numerous reasons why healthy discretion is a critical tool in the criminal justice system. Here are a few of the reasons I think healthy discretion needs to be used in all decisions made in the criminal justice field whether it's officers, lawyers, courts or corrections facilities. The most visible and possibly most important is police discretion or an officers ability to decide to arrest or not arrest someone purely on the basis of …

…discrimination instead of healthy discretion. When this happens it becomes things like police brutality and other such acts. An example would be an officer prone to giving blacks or hispanics more tickets than whites in similar instances. This unhealthy discrimination can cause the public to lose faith in the justice system in which case chaos could follow. In conclusion there are many reasons why healthy discretion is a critical tool in the criminal justice system.