The Police Are the Gatekeepers
The police are often called “the gatekeepers” since they are an integral part of the criminal justice system that is given the right to make the first step in stating a violation had taken place.
The police are one of the core elements of the criminal justice system. The police are said to be the “gatekeepers” of the criminal justice system since they witness a crime first hand and they are the ones who decide whether a violation had taken place and whether a case is to be further taken into consideration. The police take the responsibility of first contact with the accused and decide what is to happen to the individuals. The police are the ones who are empowered to “open the gates” to the justice system, hence the name assigned to them, the “gatekeepers” (Kappeler n.p.).
There are said to be 3 components that help to determine what decision is to be made by a policeman. First and foremost, social approach that stands for the structure of the situation when an arrest is about to take place. Secondly, it is also about legal factors that include the evidence available to the officer as well as the seriousness of the offence. Finally, there are certain extralegal factors that contribute to the “decision to open the gates”. They are said to include situational characteristics, such as suspect’s behavior, race, level of wealth etc (Law.Jrank.Org n.p.). Therefore, there are numerous factors that contribute to the policeman’s decision to start a criminal case.
The police are said to be the gatekeepers since they are empowered to make a decision to start a criminal case based on the factors that characterize a specific situation.
Works Cited
Kappeler, Victor. "What Is The Place Of Police Within The Criminal Justice System? | Police Studies Online". Plsonline.Eku.Edu, 2012, http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/what-place-police-within-criminal-justice-system.
"Police: Police Officer Behavior - Explaining Police Behavior". Law.Jrank.Org, 2017, …
