DISCRETIONARY JUSTICE WITHIN LOCAL PAROLE SYSTEMS IN CALIFORNIA: A COMPARATIVE ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS BETWEEN LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO COUNTIE

The relationship between law and local bureaucratic application presents a rather paradoxical situation for social control in a democratic society. The exercise of discretion within agencies of social control reflects personal judgments in the interpretation of the law. The social processes within the local parole system provides an ideal research setting to examine the exercise of discretionary justice. Los Angeles County and San Francisco County parole systems serve as examples of how the exercise of discretionary powers contributes to the management and control of deviant populations.;The purpose of this study is to show how discretion is created, established, and exercised by parole authorities in order to meet agency goals and needs. For example, when the goal of an agency is to passively administer the laws governing that agency, discretion is exercised in the minimum application of the law as illustrated in Los Angeles County. Conversely, when the goal of an agency is to actively administer the law, discretion is exercised in the maximum application of the law as exampled in San Francisco County.;The tension between social control and due process objectives is reflected in these two divergent approaches to the parole function in California. Methods of data collection included field observation, indepth interviews, content analysis, case studies, and survey research. Through a comparative organizational analysis of Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, this study of discretionary justice has important implications in the emergence and maintenance of definitions of deviance through the discretionary powers granted to agencies of social control. Discretion within the day-to-day social organization of criminal justice administrations such as county parole can, under certain circumstances, reflect the increasing bureaucratization of the law. In an effort to contribute to the theoretical understanding of deviance and social control, this study tries to help explain the conditions under which discretion is exercised within two criminal justice agencies.