Application Essay: Police Discretion, Use of Force, and De-escalation Assignment Instructions

Overview

The application essay assignments address topics integral to the criminal justice field and future criminal justice professionals from a biblical worldview. As societal change compels criminal justice reform, studying the effects of reform related to justice from a biblical worldview is essential. Rethinking law enforcement procedures, criminal sentencing, and law, overall, are just a few of the topics examined.

Instructions

This week you are presented with the body camera footage from two police officers in two unrelated incidents. Watch and listen to the officers in each incident. Be mindful of possible tactical skills and de-escalation skills that were employed or not exercised. Both incidents ended very differently.

 

Body Camera Footage 1

https://www.citizen-times.com/videos/news/local/2018/03/01/apd-chase-beat-man-they-say-jaywalked/110950514/

 

Body Camera Footage 2

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-villaronga-video-20171108-story.html

 

Before you write your essay, consider the following definitions and research findings:

 

Police discretion is the flexibility police officers have in deciding between multiple courses of action to resolve a situation in the course of performing their duties. Research identifies several factors that determine whether law enforcement officers decide to enforce or not enforce laws: (1) the officer’s personal feelings regarding the severity of an offense and the potential risk it poses to the public; (2) the specifics of a situation; and (3) supervisor expectations of how officers will carry out their job functions (Ishoy, 2016). Other studies find that if an offender is a resident in the community where the offense occurs, an officer is 18% less likely to arrest the offender, especially if the offender is under the age of 21 or over the age of 51 (McCamman & Mowen, 2017).

 

Use of force is the amount of police effort necessary to get a resistant suspect to comply. Below read the case Graham v. Connor (1989). The United States Supreme Court determined that the Fourth Amendment’s objective reasonableness standard should be the measure used in alleged excessive use of force cases.

 

GRAHAM v. CONNOR, (1989) [http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/490/386.html]

All claims that law enforcement officials have used excessive force – deadly or not – in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other “seizure” of a free citizen are properly analyzed under the Fourth Amendment’s “objective reasonableness” standard, rather than under a substantive due process standard.

Points of interest from this case:

1. If use of force is being questioned, it has to be based on a specific constitutional right infringement.  You have to judge this claim of constitutional right infringement by the specific constitutional standard which governs that right. What specific constitutional right is being infringed upon?
2. Claims that law enforcement officials have used excessive force in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other “seizure” of a free citizen are most properly characterized as invoking the protections of the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees citizens the right “to be secure in their persons . . . against unreasonable seizures,” and must be judged by reference to the Fourth Amendment’s “reasonableness” standard.
3. The Fourth Amendment must be the guide to judge law enforcement excessive force incidents in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other “seizure” of a free citizen.

 

De-escalation is when officers reduce the intensity of a potentially violent situation. It is the actions of the suspect (their level of cooperation or resistance) that impacts the discretionary powers of the police in deciding how to de-escalate the situation, if possible.

 

Based on the above information, respond to the following questions and instructions:

1. When reflecting on Body Camera Footage 1 and Body Camera Footage 2, consider the amount of police effort used to get each suspect to comply. Explain why the amount of force used by the officers in each incident was either reasonable or excessive.
2. Consider how the discretionary powers of the police can be beneficial to citizens from a biblical worldview.
3. Discuss whether either suspect posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers, himself, or the public. Consider if each suspect was actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.

 

Your 400-word minimum/500-word essay supports your views on this week’s required readings and study materials, demonstrating course-related knowledge. You must support your work with at least 3 scholarly citations in the APA format. Specifically, 1 citation will refer to the course materials, 1 citation will refer to the Bible, and the third may refer to a scholarly article published within the last five years. (Exclude assignment questions, title page, and reference section from the word count.)

 

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.

 

Ishoy, G. A., & Dabney, D. A. (2017). Policing and the Focal Concerns Framework: Exploring How its Core Components Apply to the Discretionary Enforcement Decisions of Police Officers. Deviant Behavior, 1-18. doi:10.1080/01639625.2017.1335537

 

McCamman, M. & Mowen, T. (2017). Does residency matter? Local residency as a predictor of arrest, Criminal Justice Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1478601X.2017.1420651

Rector, K. (2019, July 1). Body camera footage shows Baltimore police officer de-escalate standoff with Armed Man in crisis. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-villaronga-video-20171108-story.html

The Asheville Citizen Times. (n.d.). APD Chase, beat man they say jaywalked. The Asheville Citizen Times. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.citizen-times.com/videos/news/local/2018/03/01/apd-chase-beat-man-they-say-jaywalked/110950514/