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Police Discretion With Respect To The Juvenile Offender, Department Of Public Safety, Multnomah County, Oregon, Muriel Bridges, Monty Merritt

Dissertations and Theses

This is an exploratory study which focuses on the types of information that deputies assigned to the Department of Public Safety, Multnomah County, Oregon, consider important when making a decision regarding the disposition of a juvenile offender.

This empirical study developed as a result of participant observation. The authors spent one year working with deputies as part of police-social worker teams. During the course of the year it became apparent that police use a considerable amount of discretion when determining the disposition of a juvenile offender.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate systematically:

1. the types of information …