Introduction / Loraine Gelsthorpe and Nicola Padfield -- Youth justice : discretion in pre-court decision-making / Vicky Kemp and Loraine Gelsthorpe -- Judicial discretion in sentencing / David Thomas -- Prison officers and the use of discretion / Alison Liebling and David Price -- Discretion and the release of life sentence prisoners / Nicola Padfield and Alison Liebling, with Helen Arnold -- Discretion in access to forensic psychiatric units / Adrian Grounds, Marie Howes and Loraine Gelsthorpe -- Discretion and the release of mentally disordered offenders / Katy Holloway and Adrian Grounds -- Decisions to detain asylum seekers -- routine duty or individual choice? / Leanne Weber -- Order, rationality and silence : some reflections on criminal justice decision-making / Keith Hawkins.