Explain why the study of ethics is important for criminal justice professionals.
Ethics and the Criminal Justice System
Professional ethics deals with only those behaviors relevant to one’s profession. We make ethical judgments (what we consider right and wrong) using rationales derived from histor- ical and traditional ethical systems. These ethical systems will be described in Chapter 2.
The most important thing to remember is that we all encounter situations where we must determine the ethical or moral course of action among several choices. In the boxes throughout the book titled Walking the Walk, we will offer real-life examples of individuals who faced ethical dilemmas. It is clear that in many of these situations, the easier decision would have been to avoid responsibility, transfer blame, hide behind rationalizations, or refuse to stand up for what is right. By becoming aware of those who uphold ethics in their professional decision making, we can honor them for doing what is right.
This chapter closes with a chapter review, followed by study questions to answer in class or in a journal. These can be helpful to check your understanding of the issues. These are followed by writing/discussion exercises, which have no right or wrong answers and can be the basis for classroom discussions or individual writing assignments. Finally, ethi- cal dilemmas are presented to encourage the reader to practice ethical analysis.
C H A P T E R R E V I E W
1. Give examples of how discretion permeates every phase of the criminal justice system and creates ethical dilemmas for criminal justice professionals.
Discretion can be defined as the power and authority to choose one of two or more alternative behaviors. At each stage of the criminal justice system, professionals have such discretion: legislators make decisions regarding the creation of laws, police make decisions on the street in their enforcement of those laws, prosecutors make decisions about which arrests to formally prosecute, judges make decisions about which evidence to allow, and correctional professionals make decisions that affect the lives of offenders.
2. Explain why the study of ethics is important for criminal justice professionals.
First, we study ethics because criminal justice is uniquely involved in coercion, which means there are many and varied opportunities to abuse such power. Second, almost all criminal justice professionals are public servants and, thus, owe special duties to the public they serve. Finally, we study ethics to sensitize students to ethical issues and provide tools to help identify and resolve the ethical dilemmas they may face in their professional lives.
3. Learn the defi nitions of the terms morals, ethics, duties, superogatories, and values.
The terms morals and ethics come from Greek and Latin words referring to custom or behavioral practices. Morals refer to what is judged as good conduct. Ethics refers to the study and analysis of what constitutes good or bad conduct. Duties are obligatory acts (by law, practice, or morals). Superogatories are those acts that go above and beyond duties. Values are statements of worth or importance.
4. Describe what behaviors might fall under moral/ethical judgments.
Behaviors that can be adjudged under moral criteria are those that are acts (not thought), committed by humans (not animals), of free will (not by those judged as incompetent), and that affect others.
5. Explain the difference between ethical issues and ethical dilemmas.
Ethical issues are broad social questions, while ethical dilemmas are situations in which one person must make a decision that can be judged as right or wrong, and where what is right is diffi cult to decide or is hard to do for some other reason.
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C H A P T E R 1 | Morality, Ethics, and Human Behavior 19
K E Y T E R M S applied ethics discretion duties ethical dilemmas ethical issues
ethics imperfect duties meta-ethics morals normative ethics
professional ethics superogatories values wholesight
S T U D Y Q U E S T I O N S
1. Defi ne a public servant and why public servants should be especially sensitive to ethi- cal issues.
2. Discuss Felkenes’s reasons for why it is important for criminal justice professionals to study ethics.
3. Defi ne morals, ethics, values, duties, superogatories, imperfect duties, meta-ethics, nor- mative ethics, and applied ethics.
4. What are the four elements that specify the types of behaviors that are judged under ethical criteria? Which groups traditionally have been exempt from legal and moral culpability? Why?
5. What are the steps in analyzing an ethical dilemma?
W R I T I N G / D I S C U S S I O N E X E R C I S E S
1. Write an essay about (or discuss) a diffi cult ethical dilemma that you faced. What was it? What were the options available to you? Who was affected by your decision? Were there any laws, rules, or guidelines that affected your decision? How did you make your decision?
2. Write an essay (or discuss) whether public servants should be held to higher standards than the rest of us. Touch on the following questions in your response: Should we be concerned about a politician who has extramarital affairs? Drinks to excess? Gambles? Uses drugs? Abuses his or her spouse? What if the person is a police offi cer? A judge? Should a female police offi cer be sanctioned for posing naked in a men’s magazine, using pieces of her uniform as “props”? Should a probation offi cer socialize in bars that his or her probationers are likely to frequent? Should a prosecutor be extremely active in a political party and then make decisions regarding targets of “public in- tegrity” investigations of politicians?
3. Write an essay (or discuss) the issue of the medical use of marijuana. What do medical studies indicate regarding whether or not it is necessary or the best medical alternative for certain patients? What do critics argue in their opposition to the medical use laws? If you or a loved one were suffering and someone told you that marijuana could ease your pain, would you violate the law or not? Why?