Target actors: Law enforcement, state legislators.

In every state, law enforcement officers are authorized to issue citations in lieu of arrest for certain categories of charges.National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL),Citation in Lieu of Arrest (Washington, DC: NCSL, 2018), https://perma.cc/7NA8-CSR5. Most often, citations are permitted for low-level misdemeanors and traffic charges, but some states permit law enforcement officers to use their discretion to issue citations for some or all felonies. However, local agency culture and internal policy can mean that law enforcement officers do not issue citations as often as they are authorized to under the law. To address this, law enforcement can change internal policy to require citation release for certain charges, and state legislatures can also establish a presumption for citations for certain categories of charges.

Learn more:

• Citation in Lieu of Arrest: Examining Law Enforcement’s Use of Citation Across the United States (International Association of Chiefs of Police)