The police are faced with a uniquely important role in the initiation of a process of justice. Through a framework of distributive justice, which examines both processes and outcomes of police encounters and the concrete and symbolic resources at their disposal, this paper seeks to analyse data from three policing projects over a 16-year period. The findings indicate a remarkably consistent story of barriers to justice which preclude the opportunity to access justice or of a satisfactory outcome or indeed any outcome at all. The lack of allocated concrete or symbolic resources was evident in complainants receiving limited time, investigation and voice. This paper argues that there is evidence of an unfair and inequitable distribution of resources to victims and potential victims of crime which is enabled by police discretion, justified by focusing on deservedness and personal choice and encouraged by the cultural language of stigmatisation of people and place.

在启动司法程序中，警察面临着独特的重要作用。通过一个分配正义的框架，该框架检查了警察遭遇的过程和结果以及可供其使用的具体和象征性资源，力求分析16年期间来自三个警务项目的数据。调查结果表明，司法障碍的故事非常一致，排除了诉诸司法的机会或取得令人满意的结果，甚至根本没有任何结果的机会。投诉人收到的时间，调查和发言时间有限，显然缺乏分配的具体或象征性资源。本文认为，有证据表明，警察的酌处权会导致向受害者和潜在犯罪受害者分配不公平和不公平的资源，