Skipping straight to the punishment: criminal infringement notices and factors that influence police discretion
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis Group
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 2023, 35, (1), pp. 100-117
- Issue Date:
- 2023-01-01
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| Filename | Description | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skipping straight to the punishment criminal infringement notices and factors that influence police discretion.pdf | Published version | 1.54 MB |
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The Australian criminal justice system has witnessed a shift towards out-of-court justice in the form of police-issued penalty notices. The exercise of police discretion in such instances has largely escaped critique, in part due to insufficient executive and judicial oversight of this early stage of decision-making. This article sheds light on factors that influence police decision-making regarding whether to issue a penalty notice for suspected criminal offending. It critiques a unique dataset of interviews conducted with Western Australia police officers to inquire into how police structure their discretion around considerations that include: alleged offender characteristics and attitudes, the purposes of punishment and concerns about resourcing, efficiency and productivity. The article advances scholarly understandings of how the legal and policy structure governing police-issued penalty notices encourages police to differentiate between suitable and unsuitable candidates for fines.
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