The Uses of Discretion [Paperback]

Discretion is a pervasive phenomenon in legal systems. It is of concern to lawyers because it can be a force for advancing the broad purposes of law and subverting them. For social scientists this phenomenon is an important form of decision-making behavior, one in which legal rules are merely one force in a field of pressures and constraints that drive certain courses of action or inaction. This book presents a variety of analyses of legal discretion by lawyers and social scientists who have made discretion and its uses a central part of their scholarly concerns.

This book is now the standard for inquiry on discretion and the law. No legal scholar will be able to ignore its challenge to the conventional wisdom, nor will any social scientist want to begin research on the subject without it. --The Law and Politics Book Review

Rarely...is the concept of discretion examined thoroughly. The 11 essays in this volume are a valuable exception. --The Iarca Journal