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Criminal Justice Opinion
By Parman Johnson
Should I Revoke Him?
Discretion is a substantial amount of power given to the law enforcement personnel by our criminal justice system. Discretion is the intersection between power, control, moral beliefs, and past experiences. In the case of John Smith, I have used my best judgment to help him better himself by continuous counseling and use of discretion. With a non-violent history of serious drug use, three misdemeanor theft offenses, and one felony conviction for breaking and entering one may decide to give Smith another chance at “freedom”.
I have always believed that probation is a privilege taken for granted by the criminals of our society. I was recently educated on the 1970 Supreme Court case of United States v. Birnbaum which made it clear that probation is a privilege and not a right. Smith should have been thankful for his freedom, and demonstrated responsible, drug free behavior.
As a criminal justice student, police academy intern, and future law enforcement my opinion may be biased; however this is suppose to be about my opinion. In this case, a new-crime violation has occurred since drug use is considered a crime in our criminal justice system; therefore I would revoke John Smith’s probation and implement his 18 month prison sentence. Some may take my actions as harsh and unnecessary, but I have closely examined this case and believe that revocation is the best option for both Smith and our society’s safety.
Smiths two year probation sentence was a result of an auto theft and cocaine position charges. The first eight months went by perfect, however with his increased irresponsible behavior, loss of job, missed drug tests, “negative drug test”, and finally positive drug test after the ninth month one can conclude that he is back on his wagon of criminality. The book did not mention whether a urine or blood test was used to test Smith for drugs; however we know that traces of cocaine are almost undetectable in urine after 72 hours of using. I believe that when he tested negative in his 10th month of probation, he had been using and simply lucked out.
The fact that he missed two of his drug counseling sessions due to his loss of interest and desire to find a job can be understandable upon discretion, and that is why I had not reported him for any of the technical violations; however his positive drug test took away my trust and sympathy for him.
If Smith had only the drug charges on him, and did not steal to possibly support this alleged habit, then I would shift my focus on rehabilitation and intermediate sanctions to help Smith become a positive contributor to our society. Unfortunately for Smith, drug use is not his only problem. Cocaine is an expensive drug; therefore a cocaine user needs a lot of cash, or stolen good in exchange for this drug. On the other hand intermediate sanctions have been proven to cost less than imprisonment; yet we know that the best way to stop criminals from committing crime is to incarcerate them. Intensive supervised probation, house arrest, or Community Residential Centers may have been great options to keep Smith out of prison and within the community to avoid negative incarceration effects such as labeling. Sadly at the age of 32, Smith is already a drug user and a thief who had many chances to improve his life by using recourses provided for him, but he chose not to and he should learn a lesson.
When analyzing Smith’s past and present behavior, I noticed an increase of criminal behavior when focusing on theft. He is demonstrating a pattern of involvement with more and more criminal activity, which makes me predict he will not stop until we stop him. Starting with petty misdemeanor theft to burglary and finally to auto theft. In order to serve and protect my community, I will not take the chance of Smith increasing his criminal activity to armed robbery and/or even worse. With my probable cause of his positive drug test, I will begin my revocation process and recommend Smith to be imprisoned for his 18 months.
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May, 2012
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