As individuals move throughout the course of their lives, situations arise in which specific decisions need to be made. Unfortunately, not all of these decisions are black and white and require individuals to rely on their morals to ensure the right decision is made. These are considered ethical dilemmas as they are strenuous choices because the morally right decision is unclear or has negative consequences (Pollock, 2015). Individuals on their own without any prior education in ethics, may be unaware of what their moral principles are and could interfere with their ability to determine what is right. It is incorrect to state that without prior education individuals are unable to consciously identify their moral standings; however, the extent …show more content…
The same can be said for individuals within the criminal justice system; furthermore, the skills and framework received are crucial to the successful conclusion of ethical dilemmas. Generally, there are no set rules or timetables associated to these dilemmas someone must abide by as everyday citizens. Their dilemmas may have underlining emotions or other factors which may present unforeseen difficulties, nevertheless, their decisions made can be alleviated due to the personal relationships, open timetables, and in most cases, individual impacts as a result. On the other hand, justice personnel are placed in diverse settings and situations with little to no personal relationships to the individuals involved. In addition, these decisions that must be made by justice personnel are normally given a specific timetable or must be made in a split second with no leeway. Coupled with these decisions comes the burdened of fact that every choice made will influence another human’s life, whether positively or negatively. For example, individuals may use their personal relationships and other factors to arrive at a decision and since these dilemmas are personal, negative outcomes typically impact that specific individual. Instead, justice personnel are crippled by the lack of elements utilized by everyday citizens, as well as their determinations could drastically alter someone’s life. The study of ethics is essential to individuals in the field of justice as it provides a framework of critical thought and reasoning processes to deal with the ethical
At times in a person’s life, they might come across a few situations that leave them with a major decision between two or more options that challenge what they believe or what they might think is wrong or right. These are known as ethical dilemmas. Be it seeing a friend steal something and choosing between being honest and speaking up or letting it go. It can also be getting paid more than you earned and deciding if you’re going to be greedy and keep the money or return it. We run into these situations in our lives, some bigger and more influential on our destiny’s while others are small with no real consequences.
Each position in criminal justice holds power and responsibility, and therefore, it is very important that said people in those positions do not abuse it. Unethical behavior in the criminal justice system takes away trust and respect from authority, and as a consequence, the law is more easily disregarded if the people lack faith in the system. It can, also, contribute to crime and/or cause citizens to not report crimes. Society should have indubitable confidence in the men and women of the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officers violating even the smallest rule could lead to more serious infractions. Syed (1997) states, "Every instance of corruption bends or violates a rule or law and, similar to the granting of impunity, may contribute to an officer's perceptions of the law as applying differently to different people and increase the ease with which violations can be rationalized." Having less than ethical persons in our criminal justice system can lead to a weakened society, the ruining of lives, and even add to crime.
This essay is examining an ethical dilemma I may encounter as a Police Officer. The New Zealand Police (n.d.) have stated that the police officer’s main roles are to seek to prevent crime, advance public safety, find offenders, and uphold law and order. Due to the role of maintaining law and order, a Police Officer should not be rebelling against the law. This relates to the ethical dilemma I am researching; Whether or not a Police Officer should report illegal activity by friends or family. In this assignment, I will be analyzing both of the arguments this dilemma holds; what happens if I report the illegal activity, and what will happen if I do not report the illegal activity? in relation to virtue ethics.
Ethical decision-making is the process of weighing out your options of what outcome you would prefer. Ethical decisions both have positive and/or negative outcomes. When weighing out your options, you try to elimination unethical and ethical options, trying to choose the best alternative. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s courage plays a huge role in his ethical decision-making. In HOUSE, unethical decision-making is critical for saving relationships. “The process of making ethical decisions requires commitment, consciousness, and competency. In commitment you have the desire to do the right thing regardless of the cost. Consciousness is the awareness to act consistently and apply moral convictions to daily behavior. Competency is the ability
Police ethics are extremely important because ethics are the typical of “fair and honest conduct” (pg 460). People may have a different definition of what is fair and what is honest, and there are different circumstances where officers may not be able to be honest; such as covert investigations. Society in general determines what our ethical standards and moral principles are. Individual morals vary among all of us as they are what we as an individual consider to be right or wrong. We also have morals that are set by society. These are what we as a society consider to be right or wrong and may go hand in hand with individual morals. Morals change as society and people change, therefore we as a country have to adapt to what the changing morals are.
Learning about a broad range of philosophy and ethical decision making, I believe making the best or correct choice does not solely rely on the type of ideology or the situation but rather a combination of both. Unfortunately, every case is different and many of the ideologies are applicable in some aspects but has a hard time in some particular
In the criminal justice system psychologist play several roles, but in the jury selection process they serve as a consultant. This essay will provide three instances of psychological concepts and illustrate how they are applied to the determination of juries. The essay will also address a common ethical obligation confronting psychologist in the areas of corrections, law enforcement, court systems, and academia.
Many ethical dilemmas are philosophical in nature, an ethical issue can be described as a problem with no clear resolution. In order to solve the issue or dilemma a consensus between the parties involved must be reached. There are several reasons to come to an agreement over an ethical dilemma, it is the basis for all aspects of personal and professional dealings. Each one of us is part of a civilized society and as such it is our responsibility to be rational, honest and loyal in our dealings with others. (Alakavuklar, 2012) states that individuals make decisions for different situations in business life involving various ethical dilemmas. Each time either consciously or unconsciously individuals may follow some ethical approaches
Ethics play a huge role in a police officers line of work. Since police are given such a high degree of trust and authority, it can unfortunately be very easy for an officer to fall into some unethical behavior. This can range from just minor acts that are frowned upon, to actual downright illegal activity. Even though there are a countless number of acts and behaviors that can be considered unethical, in the following paper I will focus primarily on those incidents involving police officers who steal for their own personal gain, and discuss my position on the issue.
Ethics in Criminal Justice -.
Ethics is defined as rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad by the Merriam Webster Dictionary. D. H Lawrence once said, “Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar.” (Worth, 33). This quote means that one’s ethical values remain the same, no matter what changes around them. When asked to interview someone in the Criminal Justice field, a Police officer came to mind. Within law enforcement ethics plays a major role. Law enforcement officer are expected to be ethical. Meaning they should be responsible, impartial, trustworthy, honest, and honorable. I had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Glenda Sacaza. As a family friends, she was person that I enjoyed learn about law enforcement
No decision procedure – moral decision making is too complicated to have a single criterion for decision
In this assignment we will be identifying an ethical dilemma an individual has experienced. We will begin with a short introduction of what an ethical dilemma is, moving on to providing brief details of the dilemma an individual has experienced. We will then go on to selecting one ethical theory, to show how it can help an individual understand and deal with the situation when placed within, followed by a conclusion.
Criminal Justice professionals make decisions everyday and they have to be able to recognize when an issue involves ethical considerations. Therefore, in order to recognize these issues and make appropriate and correct decisions, it is important that the criminal justice professional study ethics. In order to make a good ethical decision the professional will have to have the ability to apply knowledge of ethics, know the ethical terminology and the concepts needed in making a good ethical decision.
Some decisions we make, and the resulting actions we could take, have a higher moral value than others. Rather than teaching a particular set of values, we would be better serving our participants if we helped them understand the process of making reasonable moral decisions . . . We may not all agree on the philosophic orientation used to determine just and unjust acts, but we should agree that some system will probably be better than...