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Discretion in the criminal investigation process. (1 Viewer)

Mdzabakly

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Apr 16, 2012
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HSC
2013
"asses The effectiveness of the role of discretion in the criminal investigation process in achieving justice."

how am i supposed to approach this question ??
can someone please give me some direction...
 
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Nov 11, 2012
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First off, I would define discretion, as according to former DPP Nick Cowdery, it's applying principles and values to a set of facts within the legal system. I would then talk about areas such as discretion of the public in choosing whether or not to report crime, discretion of police in using their powers to search suspected offenders, and discretion to grant bail or remand, talking about some of the issues with each area. Bail's a pretty good one, and make sure you include lots of statistics, cases and examples. There's a recent report from the NSW Law Reform Commission that you could check out. Good luck! :)
 

funstudy

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Discretion means the choice to do something e.g. police powers= discretion to issue fines etc., the public have discretion in reporting a crime, judges have discretion in issuing sentencing. You must link this to the key terms of the question, e.g. the fact that the public have discretion in reporting a crime can limit the justice of the criminal justice systemm as often domestic violence and sexual offences are underreported due to fear of retribution
 

RedDeadMaddie

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A case I'm using for my discretion essay that highlights judge discretion is R v Daniela Dawes, who purposefully killed her 10-year old son and got away with a five year good behaviour bond. Her husband was very upset about the apparent lack of justice, that his son had died and she didn't receive any jail time. Judicial discretion can leave victims feeling dissatisfied. I had to use my state library card to find some articles for the information but I'd be happy to send some to you if you wish :)
 
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