The Necessity of Ethics in Criminal Justice

Williams, C. R., & Arrigo, B. A. (2012). Ethics, crime, and criminal justice (2nd ed.). Upper

The history of Police Brutality for minorities; especially people of color has left America wondering have times changed. Police brutality has deemed the opportunity for socioeconomic advancement or access to good and services for many Black/African Americans dating back as far as 1955. The system of Police brutality has affected many realms of society for minorities’ employment and family life. After some scholarly research, police brutality is still prevalent in the Black/African American community; moreover, it comes in many different forms and fashions. Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Excessive use

There are many important elements of organizational behavior in a criminal justice or security agency. These elements of organizational behavior are guidelines to organization hire valuable employees with values, morals, and ethnics. Commitment to ethical behavior one of the elements among others that will be discuss in this paper. Commitment to ethical behavior is when unethical behavior and illegal business practice in an organization is publicized. This is element that is use in the criminal justice and security agencies because the public and businesses trust the agencies to perform their duties with professionalism, morality, and diligence. The public sees through the media about police officer who have been caught breaking the law

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.

The majority of cases reported about police brutality involve minorities. This problem of police brutality against minorities and non minorities is a problem which must be addressed but the problem is not as large as the media would portray it to be.

Often police officers build up negative feelings towards certain races, sexes, or religions. Officers tend to get the idea that if one or a few people treat them with disrespect, then other people of that same sex or creed will behave the same. Race consistently plays a key role in police brutality in the United States. Law enforcement has exposed minorities to discriminatory treatment and has many times physically abused minorities. Mistreatment is not always physical but sometimes non-violent harassment and

There have been adjustments that have been made to change to inner workings of the system regarding the creation of laws and regulations to address crime and to keep citizens safe. However, research demonstrates that often times men of color are treated punitively, which advances the development of negative perceptions held by police officers. The recent shootings that have occurred in the areas of Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights, and Dallas have subjected many people and their families to incidents of police brutality (Anderson, 1995). These types of incidents remind us that, as a society, there is effort that needs to be put into consistently improving the relationship between police and community. Incidents involving police brutality have been

No matter what job you have in the criminal justice system there will always be ethical dilemmas that arise. As a person who’s job is to enforce the law there is always a way to step over the boundaries whether it be unfair treatment to citizens, inmates or agencies. There is always areas of the career to consider and in order to make everyone happy there are steps that need to be taken. From the police officer on the street to the parole board there is always something that could come up which could have consequences for either decision so which is the right one?

Police brutality is defined as “excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians,” and this has become more prominent within the United States throughout the years (Danilina). There has many cases where police brutality has been seen via news channels, and it has dismantled the unity of trust between the civilians of the United States and the law enforcement who are supposed to protect the everyday people from harm. The issue is if the law enforcement is actually right within their means of protection, or have they gone too far with using excessive force in any situation that may or may not be harmful to them. There is, also, the question of whether racial profiling is the biggest contributor to police brutality.

Actions and inactions all have moral implications; they are either right or wrong depending on the individual and what s/he believes or feels is right or wrong. Each person’s conduct can and does have implications and ramifications. For every action there is an equal and/or opposite reaction not only for the average person but also for professionals; especially in the area of law enforcement, criminal justice, and criminal procedure. Just discussed is known as moral philosophy.

Ethics are very important in the Criminal Justice Field because it keeps up community and department moral and ensures that the right person will be charged with the right crime. It also ensures that justice will be served. If an officer has shown unethical behaviors in the past, who is to say that they won’t do it again? This loses faith and trust in the entire system and justice can never be fully served. Because of this, we must all do our parts in order to make sure that we, and our fellows, are practicing good ethics.

When people think of police misconduct, they immediately think of police brutality. While police brutality is a form of police misconduct, the term is much broader. Police misconduct is any conduct that is outside the ethical code that officers are sworn to follow.

The crime control model supports that crime control is best accomplished by having an efficient justice system that is unhindered by legal controls and hands out tough punishments to criminals (Siegel & Worrall, 2013). As a result, many believe that having an unhindered justice system could potentially lower crime rates (Siegel & Worrall, 2013). However, there are ethical dilemmas that can arise from such a method. One such dilemma is known as, noble cause corruption, which according to Bayley (2010) says that, “law enforcement professionals will utilize unethical, and sometimes illegal, means to obtain a desired result” (Bayley, 2010). In other words, an officer will break the law, such as lying on reports or in court, and planting or

Introduction: In today's societies, the government and criminal justice systems very much related to ethics because they both establish and carry out definite rights and duties. They also attempt to prevent and/or hold anyone accountable that deviates from these standards. (Wright 2012)

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.