<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In the legal system, discretion is often defined as the ability of a judge to choose where, how and with what severity to sentence a person who has been convicted . A person chooses to utilize his or her options and decides which to use, whether this is a police officer arresting a person on the street (criminal) or evicting someone from an apartment (civil) or anywhere in between . There are some arguments that implementing discretion overrules or weakens the rule of law . However, laws cannot be written without using discretion and therefore the rule of law serves to guide discretion towards societal expectations, norms and, at least in part, public interest </P> <P> The term "Crime is defined as an action that is by law, banned or restricted and enforced via Punishment . But, where law ends and discretion begins lies in implementing those laws . The enforcers, police officers, are tasked with enforcing these regulations, but they often have the discretion of when to file charges and arrest . For example, a traffic violation, the police officer may simply issue a warning . In fact discretion can be found in all stages of the criminal justice system . The victim, has the discretion to use self defense and to report the crime given the opportunity . The Dispatch officer decides the priority of the call, an officer responding has discretion to take statements from witnesses as well as detain potential suspects . The suspect / the accused has the discretion to obtain a lawyer, how they will plead and to accept a plea bargain . The prosecutor has the choice to prosecute a case or drop the charges as well as suggesting plea bargains . The judge has discretion every time an objection is raised or evidence is given . The jury has discretion over the final verdict . These examples are only a small cross section of the chain of choices that is criminal law . </P> <P> One article shows that when officers respond to a call for service, if an area has a high rate of Black or wealthy citizens then it significantly affects the officers' decision to downgrade a crime or incident reported . Officers' experience in different surroundings affect the way they react to service calls . The economic status, poverty level, race and ethnicity influence the officer and how he sees and reacts to his surroundings . Scholar Michael Banton stated that "In different neighborhoods police provide different services". This is a good example of how and why police are able to use discretion in the performance of their duties . Different environments and neighborhoods provide different levels of dangers and greater levels of crime taking place than others . Which is why an officer might choose to downgrade a crime in a wealthy neighborhood compared to an economically unstable one . The article also states that merely being in a different environment from the one the officer lives in or is accustomed to forces the officer to treat it differently . </P>

Discretion in the criminal justice system has been compared to what kind of process