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Module 3-2 Assignment
Taylor Heger
Southern New Hampshire University
CJ 230: Discretion in Criminal Justice
Nathan Mutter
03/19/2023
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Elements in Discretionary Decision Making
As stated in (2018), discretion is Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice,
the authority to make a decision between two or more choices. Discretion is particularly vital
among criminal justice professionals, as they “have a great deal of discretion regarding when to
enforce a law, how to enforce it, how to handle disputes, when to use force, and so on” (Pollock,
2018, p. 126). Why is this significant? Because every circumstance is different, discretion is
fundamental in the criminal justice system. Discretion permits criminal justice professionals to
make enlightened decisions contingent on distinct circumstances of each individual situation.
The instance of a discretionary decision I chose is that of the case of Nurse Alex Wubbels
and former police officer Jeffrey Payne. Officer Payne came to University Hospital and was
demanding blood be drawn from one of Wubbels patients. The patient at the time was
unconscious, therefore, Wubbels explained the hospital policy to Payne, which directly stated
