Criminal Justice Ethics Paper

“Ethical issues regarding corruption and off-duty behavior have become an increasing challenge in criminal justice” (Writing, 1999-2013). Within the criminal justice system, ethics can be complicated by the moral implications of actions. Differences in cultures and different circumstances can affect the individual moral compass. However, all departments of criminal justice operate by a certain code of ethics and by certain standards. But those standards and ethics often become challenged due to issues relating to police brutality, off duty conduct and corruption that we hear about all of the time through the media.

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, 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).

Professions are guided by codes of ethics to aid them in performance of their duties and to ensure maintenance of high standards of conduct. Police officers are faced with a maze of obligations in the performance of their official duties. The “Law Enforcement Code of Ethics” and “Canons of Police Ethics” were created to make explicit the conduct considered appropriate for police officers and to guide them in the performance of their duties. Although police have these guides, many are faced with ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas. This mean the officer is challenged to make a decision which sometimes conflicts with societal and personal ethical morals and values and provide no

Ethics in the criminal justice system is customary when the administration measures are sometime virtuous and imperfect, attractive and unattractive and the ideas of production values are perceptive that this may be right and wrong. Working in the criminal justice system, every decision and results must meet the needs of the citizens and the law enforcement in regards to the balancing concern. The concerns are from prosecuting the guilty and respecting the right of the accused, protecting the victims, and creating a safe community. This paper will give analysis of the critical thinking concerning the relationship between ethics and professional behavior role of the law enforcement

Ethics determine what is considered decent and acceptable behavior in society and it is a key aspect of life, whether it is at work, home, or in society. As bizarre as it seems, some things may not be illegal, but can be extremely unethical. Yet in the same sense what is unethical varies by the person. The purpose of this paper is to expound the differences between the three main ethical theories in criminal justice. While elaborating on how an agency can be improved when applying the correct theory to the problem.

It is important that police officers be ethical especially while on the job. An officer’s

These types of misconduct arise throughout police jobs that include routine procedures such as traffic stops, ticket writing, directing traffic, and discouraging potential threats to those in their community. What often go unnoticed, though, are the undercover works and the corruptions that go on within a department. The four terms associated with these conflicting values are deviance, which is behavior inconsistent with the norms, values, or ethics, corruption, which is forbidden acts involving misuse of office for gain, misconduct, which is the violation of departmental procedures, and favoritism which is unfair “breaks” to friends or relatives.

As each new member of a police department officially becomes a sworn member, friends, family and other members of the public gather as they speak an oath. The oath these officers take, promises their commitment to ensure the safety of the public they serve. This means more than protecting civilians from individuals who may stray from the law, but to also ensure the protection of basic human rights. Police and other public servants are given a great deal of trust and power, what they do with it is based on the ethics they choose to uphold. In this paper we will look at why it is important for these justice professionals to study ethics.

Police “officers work and live in a constantly changing environment in which they are exposed to a myriad of ethical conflicts. When either unprepared or unaware, police officers are more likely to “go with the flow” than they would be if they were adequately prepared to face potentially ethical risks.” (Gilmartin & Harris, 1998) Most ethical violations are committed because the officer is exposed to a situation in which he was inadequately prepared. The lack of time to think about the situation before committing an ethical violation has detrimental life changing consequences. Police work can be very exciting and very rewarding but if not properly prepared and trained an officer can easily find himself involved in an ethical violation. Understanding the issues and being mentally prepared will help police officers become more responsible and make better

Alonzo is by no means a soft hearted police officer, feared by the neighborhood in which he lives, officer Harris is known to have the power to bring down anyone who opposes him. At one point, he enters a private resident using a Chinese menu as a ploy for a fake warrant, steals what he knows is drug money. All this in order to pay off city officials to get a warrant on a large drug distributor he had

The relationship among ethics and professional behavior in the direction of criminal justice is one, which is very vital. The point of the matter is that these individuals who are in places of power entails that he or she must equalize a balanced of business professionalism in accordance with the laws alongside a code of ethics that live inside and for the law along with their individual private morals and ethics. Numerous could dispute the battle among the ethics of a lawyer on behalf of somebody that they know to be guilty and they would have a usable disagreement in regard to what way ethical it is. A lawyer has the decision to not defend an individual if they feel so motivated to do so. Still, in this state one has rules in one’s laws that

• Integrity: each police officer is presumed to do the right thing, at all times, regardless of the matter at hand, those involved and any other influences. Officers are held to a higher lever of integrity and expected to perform above all else, at all times (Baker, 2011).

In order to answer this scenario, I need to look at the underlying ethical system and the moral rules leading to my judgment. As in many scenarios, there are conflicting moral rules that could justify different judgments. While police officers are supposed to enforce laws, they are also primarily expected to protect life and property (Nakate, 2011). Public safety is the primary concern of police officers. Therefore, unless a law involves mandatory reporting, then an officer is expected to exercise some discretion involving those laws. The theory behind requiring permits in order to hold a rally is that some rallies can lead to dangers for the public. Therefore, in this scenario, I would have to determine whether there was a reasonable likelihood that the rally might become violent. It is important to realize that even if the sponsoring group would not advocate violence, any rally about a controversial issue has the ability to become violent. Whether or not the tipster is providing accurate information is not of critical importance, because planning to hold a rally without a permit is not illegal; holding a rally without a permit is not illegal. As a police officer, I could ethically respond to the tip by going to the head of the group and ask if they were planning to hold a rally the next day and remind him of the permit requirement. I could do this without neglecting my

Law enforcement officers deal with criminal offenders, some who are more dangerous than others . Officers may be sometimes assigned to field work that has a high crime ratio or even assigned to institutional settings, where there may be a high risk of violence. Results of working as a law enforcement agent can be very stressful and risky at times. Ethics in criminal justice provides us with the knowledge to get resources to help us make moral choices during challenging situations involving ethical issues in everyday operations.Moral rules and ethics are a very import concept in the criminal justice field.