Ethics in Criminal Justice
Assignment 1
Sydney E Vaughn
CRJU 1400 Ethics and Cultural Perspectives in Criminal Justice
Professor Stephen N. Knights Jr
October 22, 2016
Contents
Introduction 2
Police Ethics 2
Corruption 3
Police Corruption 3
Police Discretion in Ethics 4
Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement 4
Types of Police Corruption 4
Ethics in the Courtroom 5
Prosecuting Attorneys 5
Defense Attorneys 5
Ethics in Police Training 6
Closing 6
Introduction
Ethics by definition states that it’s the study of morality. Ethics are the basis of our criminal justice system. From the arresting officers who take an oath to serve and protect, to the attorneys and courts, we assume the behavior and rules are ethically and morally sound. We as the public should think we are in good hands when it comes to the Criminal Justice System. I think we should have people in the system with good morals and great values. We want to be assured that our laws and those enforcing them are supported.
Police Ethics
Police Ethics are always under constant scrutiny these days it seems. Police officers are held to a higher standard by the public and are expected to always act appropriately in the way they interact with the community or a suspect. Basically ethics is just doing the right thing. For example, a police officer is expected to stop and help a stranded person in a car, but sadly that sometimes doesn’t happen. Hopefully the police officer could not because they had a more serious call
Ethics are of a special importance to practicing professionals. Professions such as lawyers, teachers, doctors and engineers have a bigger responsibility as to making sure there jobs are done right and ethically. Though in order to achieve this goal individuals must understand what ethics really means. Ethics is basically the rules of conduct which is recognized in respect to a particular group, culture, or class of human actions. The decision to behave ethically is a moral one.
Ethics can have different meanings when contrasted to certain areas of life. Within the criminal justice system ethics has a little more in depth meaning. Criminal justice
Ethical Dilemmas and Inherent Difficulties Faced by Law Enforcement Today Tim Sullivan LETA 1034 Abstract Compare and contrast your knowledge of being a police officer before, and after you have attended the police academy. What are the ethical dilemmas faced by police officers and how technology as a social force, individualism, materialism and the alternate reality caused by media inundation affected policing and the public’s expectations and demands of a police officer? Growing up people quickly learn many different ways that a police officer represents a community. For the most part children learn that police officers and other municipal personnel are heroes, and the majority want to grow
Ethics is the demonstration of character. Ethics in law enforcement include values, norms, morals, conduct, and integrity. Law enforcement is taught
The world of Law Enforcement is something that often gets laughed at, especially in this day and age. People don’t respect Law Enforcement, or even care about them, as much as they actually should. After all, who comes to find the culprit if your home has been burglarized? Or what about a loved one being killed, who finds the murderer? There are so many things that everyday citizens forget about, things that happen more often than we’d like to admit, and we should be thankful that we have people to deal with all of it for us. Why would you let the action, poor judgement, or any mistake of one single person affect the way you see an entire group? That’s like saying every German is a Nazi, and they all hate Jews.
Ethics in the criminal justice system is of great importance. Unlike other professions the individuals working within the criminal justice field have to work with individuals who violate laws and social values. This paper will focus on normative ethics, which basically means what individuals ought to do in a given situation. Out of all of the professions within the criminal justice system ethical behavior within the police force is arguably the most important.
Ethics, or moral conduct, are of major importance in the Criminal Justice field today. If the police force condoned unethical behavior, there would be very little, if any, justice being served. Official police misconduct is any “objectionable actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties, which can lead to a miscarriage of justice”. (wikipedia.com). However, “police misconduct may include a broader range of misconduct, reflecting the high standards that we expect of police officers. Unlike official misconduct, police misconduct can apply to off-duty behavior as well as conduct on the job”. (clc.qld.gov.au).
According to Webster’s Dictionary, ethics is defined “as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation” (Merriam-Webster Online). This concept is prevalent in the world of police work since police officers are supposed to be the “good” in whatever is considered a “bad” situation. Many police departments offer training in ethics during the time in which a cadet is in the police academy and after officers are put on the streets, which is called in-service training. It is the hope that while this training is available to officers, that they hold a basic code of ethics within themselves which
As the lead executive of a law enforcement organization I would rather take over a department with very few policies and procedures. Although I opt to choose very few policies and procedures, they should be clearly defined and understood by those in the organization. There is no need to have a long extensive list of policies and procedures, as long as the goals, vision, and mission of the organization are addressed. One benefit of having fewer policies and procedures is less complications. When officers are given too many duties, policies, and procedures they are less likely to perform effectively and efficiently. Having too many policies and procedures can lead to officer losing productivity, complacency, and only aiming for the bare minimum.
Studies from Perez and Moore (2012) indicates that “The police were considered to be governmental agents who regularly abused their power, who often operated against the very principle of justice for they ostensibly stood, and who were not intelligent enough to grasp these realities” (p. 3). Police ethics is an important aspect of today’s professional police force. In the early days of policing in the United States, the phrase police ethics were indistinct and to countless Americans it was rather a joke. Police officers had a long history of being unintelligent, uneducated and incompetent.
Ethics are the “standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues.”
What are the standards in Police Ethics? By definition it is the Rules of conduct recognized in respect to police actions when dealing with a class of people, person or a particular group, culture, etc. In all the research I have done, books, articles and research papers I have read, I am hard pressed to find an ethicist without a political agenda or pure racist opinion, who believes that the policies should stand as written.
Police officers take an oath to protect and serve the community. The community looks to police as a leader. I believe leaders set the standards, so police officers should be held to higher standards than the general public. Police officers are considered to be at the top of the organization chart. A wise saying states, “If the head (brain) is not working correctly the other parts of the body is lost.” The police are considered to be the head and the community is the other part. How could they enforce the laws that have been set by the government if they had no ethics and morals? There would be complete turmoil through the country.
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the principles correlated to human behavior concerning the rightness and wrongness of specific conduct, and to the good and bad that influences and ends those actions (Ditonary.com, 2011). In other words, ethics is the choice people effect in regards to a decision they need to achieve. Without ethics directing the choice an individual makes, moral preferences of what should or should not be done becomes irrelevant. While ethical decisions are made every day there are two different regions in which these choices are made.
Ethics is defined as moral principles of conduct, which people usually agree with. Unlike in law there is no punishment involved in ethical values, if you don't follow according with the standards. There are many things that influence ethical behaviour. These can be personal reflection, religious beliefs, culture, experiences and family influences. If broadly speaking, ethics is the science or study of the morality of how humans act through the medium of natural reason.