A finished CJ 105 Unit 3 policing and discretion paper: discretion located at named decisions, with the constraints on each reported from assigned research. Searches like "cj 105 unit 3 assignment example", "cj105 unit 3 sample" and "cj 105 unit 3 example" land here.
What a finished CJ 105 Unit 3 policing and discretion paper looks like
The paper works from a list of decisions rather than from a general claim that officers have latitude. It opens by naming the points at which judgment enters patrol work: whether to stop, whether to investigate further, whether to cite or arrest, and whether to refer a matter somewhere other than the criminal process. Each decision is then described with what constrains it, and the constraints are separated by kind: departmental policy, supervision and reporting requirements, legal limits set in the jurisdiction the paper names, and the practical pressure of workload and time. Research from the assigned readings sits with each constraint rather than in a block. A short section covers how a decision is reviewed afterward. The closing states what the cited evidence does not settle.
How a CJ 105 Unit 3 example is structured
The decisions come first because discretion described in the abstract produces a paper about attitude rather than about a system, and the criterion here is a system criterion. Each decision is paired with its constraints immediately, so the reader never meets a claim that officers decide freely without meeting what bounds that decision in the same breath. Constraints are sorted by kind rather than listed, since policy, supervision, law and workload operate differently and a paper that mixes them cannot say which one is doing the work. Jurisdiction is stated wherever a legal limit is mentioned, because arrangements differ between states and between departments and an unlocated rule cannot be checked. Review mechanisms come near the end, as they answer the question the earlier sections raise. The closing marks the limits of the cited research rather than reaching a policy verdict.
Discretion located at specific patrol decisions
The paper names the stop, the investigation, the citation or arrest and the referral, rather than describing latitude in general terms.
Constraints paired with each decision
Every decision arrives alongside what bounds it, so no claim about officer freedom stands anywhere in the paper unaccompanied.
Four kinds of constraint kept separate
Policy, supervision, legal limits and workload are treated as different mechanisms, because a merged list cannot show which one actually binds.
Jurisdiction named wherever law appears
Any legal limit carries the state or department it belongs to and the source it came from, since these arrangements differ.
Research attached to the claim it supports
Findings from the assigned readings sit beside the specific constraint they back instead of gathering in a separate literature block.
After-the-fact review given its section
How a decision is examined later, through reporting, supervision or an oversight body, answers the question the earlier sections open.
Where marks go in CJ 105 Unit 3
Discretion papers lose points by becoming opinion about policing. A paper arguing that officers have too much latitude, or too little, without naming a single decision or constraint, has left the survey for a debate it never supports. Discretion described as a general quality rather than located at decisions gives a marker nothing to check. Legal limits stated with no jurisdiction attached misreport arrangements that differ between states and departments. News coverage used as the evidence base for a mechanism claim usually arrives compressed past the point where the original finding survives. Papers that never reach review mechanisms leave the system half described. A paper instructing a reader on what to do during a stop has left coursework and become advice.
Get a CJ 105 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
What we need for Unit 3 is the instructions, your CJ 105 rubric and whichever readings your section assigns on police decision making. We write a custom example that names the decisions first, pairs each with its constraints, and locates every legal limit by jurisdiction. First custom sample free, back in 24 to 48 hours.
CJ 105 Unit 3 questions, answered
Can I write about my own experience on patrol?
Your sense of how the work runs is genuinely useful for choosing which decisions to examine, and nothing stops you using it that way. What does not belong in the file is a specific stop, arrest or call you handled, the people involved in it, your department's internal policy documents, or anything you know because of your access. Build the paper on published research and keep any example constructed.
Should the paper take a position on reform?
Only as far as the instructions ask and the cited work supports. A survey unit usually rewards description of the mechanism over advocacy, and a recommendation that runs ahead of the evidence in the paper costs more than it gains. Where your section does ask for a position, state it once, ground each part of it in a source, and keep the descriptive sections neutral.
My department has a policy manual. Can I quote it?
Check with your department rather than with us, because internal manuals are usually controlled documents and releasing one into a graded file is your employer's decision and not yours. Many agencies publish policy summaries or model policies openly, and those can be cited without difficulty. If you cannot verify that a document is public, describe the kind of constraint it represents and cite published material instead.