Discretion and the Law: A Psycholegal Overview

Abstract

Numerous examples of the clearly excessive discretionary powers that now saturate the American legal system are discussed. The dangers that these discretionary powers pose are explored with the aid of psychoanalytic discoveries, particularly concerning man's moral faculty or superego. These psychoanalytic discoveries are also employed in an effort to determine how such discretionary powers might be limited or structured so that the United States remains, as much as possible, a government of laws and not of men.