Ethics in United States Legal System
Introduction
Laws in the United States are made at federal and state levels. According to the United States constitution, the constitution gives Congress the power to enact statues on various issues, and if any power is not given to the Congress then it is reserved to the state. Statutes are interpreted and enforced by the courts which are of two levels that are the trial courts and the appellate courts. Federal courts deal with federal cases while other types of cases are given to the state courts including criminal, civil cases among others.
U.S legal system in terms of ethics
In the United States, the legal system is also called the adversary system. Ethics basically implies the moral philosophy of defining what is wrong and what is right. It is very essential in everyone's life as it helps one to choose what course of action to take in a certain situation. Ethics contain some key elements including standard of value which helps one to compare the actual goals and achievement with the set ones (Dutelle, 2011). Also, ethics should not only consider the emergency situation but also the everyday activities. Generally, there are three major types of ethics namely Meta ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Meta ethics is a field within ethics that focus on how people understand, know about, and what they mean when they talk about what is right and what is wrong. Normative ethics is the study of what makes any action wrong or
Each state has their own specific unique laws established individually for their state. In conjunction with those laws that exist over the people in their specific state there are also federal laws that govern the states as well as the people who live in them. These laws that govern the people are known as state laws and federal laws. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land in the United States. “It creates a federal system of government in which power is shared between the federal government and the state governments. Due to federalism, both the federal government and each of the state governments have their own court systems (Comparing
In simple definition, the word “ethics” means; a system of moral principles, the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc., moral principles as of an individual, and that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions (Dictionary.com). Even the definition, as clear as it is, cannot begin to encompass what this word truly means to those who live in and work for our justice system.
First, it is important to define ethics and how its components play an extensive role in our society. The term ethics is defined as “Moral principles that govern a person 's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” (Oxford); ethical decisions are the ones that per se determine whether or not murder is wrong. Likewise, ethics consists of different ramifications and perspectives from many philosophers. Moreover,
Ethics are defined as “a set of moral principles and perceptions about right versus wrong and the resulting philosophy of conduct that is practiced by an individual, group, profession, or culture” (Barker, 2001, p. 159). In the field
There are many ethical dilemmas that occur daily in our hospitals across the world. Not everyone agrees with standards and policies that are required in hospitals or even with the law. If not everyone obeys the law, ethical cases form. In Springfield, Missouri, a holistic nurse got fired for fighting against Cox South hospital policies. Carla Brock has been a nurse at Cox South hospital and not only refused the flu shot, but also refused to wear a mask. She refused due to religious beliefs, she gets short of breath while wearing the mask, and she feels the mask is meant to intimidate and humiliate those who refuse the shot. The ethical question in this case study is to decide if Carla should have been fired for not wearing a mask after refusing the flu shot and what are other potential proposals. The four-way method will separate out what are the truths, consequences, fairness, and character, of this ethical case study.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, of right and wrong. It includes theories such as relativism and universalism. Virtue, Categorical Imperative, and the principle of utility are three ethical standards. Environmental ethics is the application of ethical standards to relationships between humans and nonhuman entities.
The federal government controls the entire USA country.The government dominates one state in the country and is intended to fit the needs of the people in that specific region. The reason why there is less number of laws than the state government is because the federal government wants it to be more convenient for the interests of the people depending on where they live.
In the legal system of the United States, there are many controversial topics and crises that have no one solution. Following suit, there is the question of ethics that exists within such an ideology. Some think that the current way of thinking is a sufficient way to run a country; others see changes that need to be executed immediately. The fact of the matter is as such, no one social institution is perfect. Therefore, the legal system is not expected to be flawless and the epitome of ethical conduct. Acting with morality is not the strong suit of the U.S. government, especially when it comes to the incarceration of dangerous criminals. Two of the issues that can be seen are the death penalty and the life sentence. Both controversial, it
The Federal Court system in the United States is used to interpret and make make decisions by the law. There are three main stages of the Federal Court system; the District Courts, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme court. District courts resolve conflicts by applying the facts and law together to determine who is right. They used things like the bill of rights, Constitution of the United States of America, and the 27 amendments. The next stage which is called the Court of Appeals, is used to see if the law was correctly used at the trial/district court. The last court which is known as the Supreme Court is the highest level of the Federal Court System. “Article III of the U.S. Constitution created the Supreme Court and authorized Congress
Officers in a Texas McDonald’s parking lot saw a black man and a white man in the process of exchanging seats on a road trip from Florida to California, while leaving the parking lot; the officer implied that the man driving did not use his right turn signal. The men alleged that their privacy was invaded when the vehicle was searched without a warrant or permission from the driver. When one of the men attempted to video tape the incident on a cell phone he was told to stop. The term “driving while black has been used to describe the practice of law enforcement officers to stop African American drivers without probable cause” (Weatherspoon, 2004). The United States Justice System is based upon a flawed designed through miseducation of students in the school system, maintaining of a slave mentally in the prison system, and the perceptions of African Americans in America.
The Justice system in the United States is flawed, and this book does a good at showing that. Like you I was pretty unaware about the biases of laws and how unfair they were to a certain group of people. Most people are unaware of how broken the system is, and they do not see how much hardship some people have to face. The problem with solving the issue of felons or ‘the box’ is that most people do not know of it, or are not affected by it. This book does a great job at bringing awareness to these social issues.
Statute laws are Federal laws approved by Congress and the President of the United States. While anyone can propose that Congress adopt a law, the bill must pass both Houses of Congress before being signed or vetoed by the President. If the President veto’s a bill Congress has the power to override that veto with a two-thirds approval vote. The bill then becomes law. Statutes are the primary source of authority. Federal Statutes outweigh local and state statutes. For example, even though Colorado, Washington, Orgeon and D.C. have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, under federal law it is still illegal.
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.
Sources of Law cover, Federal State-Relations, Statues and Regulations, Constitutions and The Judiciary. Federal-State Relations is an individual state having it’s own government and set laws. Although states differ in laws, each state is required to follow the laws the Central Government Constitutes. There are two sides, federal government and state governments. Statutes and Regulations is federal government and state governments organization is in correlation with a legislative branch, executive branch and judicial branch. These branches all pass different
Laws are made at the federal and state levels. Laws adopted by legislative bodies - Congress and state legislatures - are called "statutes." The federal and state courts implement statutes. They also create law. The Patent Law is one example of a statute adopted by Congress. Congress's power to enact the law stems from the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to establish laws "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings or discoveries" in order to encourage progress in the arts and sciences (Mallor, 2012).