Within this essay, I will explain the three principles linked to the standards in the area of criminal justice. I'll explain the "slippery slope" and its connection and effects on the police department using some examples of each. There are three main principles that are concerning public crime: society-at-large hypothesis, structural or affiliation hypothesis, and rotten apple hypothesis.
The meaning of "slippery slope”in criminal justice is a concept or plan of action which will point to anything unacceptable, illegal, or unfavorable (Delattre,2011). The slippery slope theory says that police taking money or rewards begins from taking trivial things and police officers admit it. It is believed that if police officers take small rewards for their service that it will lead them to other officers involved in corruption. An example of a slippery slope would be when a police officer takes a free cup of tea or coffee, then free meals from someone, he will look
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They may have experienced some bad influences during their childhood. The police officer who corresponds to this theory may be involved in any kind of criminal activities, such as robbery, selling drugs, murder and others (policecrimes.com). It is said that this theory on corruption is when hired officials are not qualified enough for doing their job. One example of the rotten apple hypothesis is when officers are involved in police shakedowns. A shakedown is when the police extort a business owner for protection money. Shakedowns are common with strip bars, prostitution rings, drug dealing, illegal gambling, and even construction projects. Most shake downs involves gay bars because they are easy targets. Officers then threaten bar owners with violations if they do not make payoffs to them, and they promise to fix any violation reports that may have been processed through department channels against the
Bender, L David, and Bruno Leone. Criminal Justice: opposing viewpoints. St. Paul, Minnesota: Greenhaven Press, 1981. Print.
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
It is not uncommon for citizens, particular store or business owners to show their gratitude to officers by offering free cups of coffee, free meals, or discounts in exchange for their attentiveness and presence at the store. While the giving of a free cup of coffee may be an innocent gesture and certainly is not the sole contributor to ethical violations, or police corruption, the expectation, by the storeowner, of something in return is what establishes a “slippery slope” (Cheeseman, 2011). What makes a gift a gratuity is the reason it is given; what makes it corruption is the reason it is taken. The acceptance of even the smallest “perks,” such as free coffee, is problematic because it changes the mindset of officers. The slippery slope is corruption that begins with harmless, well intentioned practices and leads, over time, to all manner of crimes-for-profit (Delattre, 2004). If the reason the gratuity is given and taken leads to favoritism, impartiality, and prejudice, then this begins the downward spiral of unethical behavior.
Akers, R, & Sellers, C. (2009). Criminological theories: introduction, evaluation, and application. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.
Lilly, Robert J., Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context And Consequences. 5th ed. California: SAGE.
Martin, Rich. "Police Corruption: An Analytical Look into Police Ethics." The FBI Enforcement Bulletin May 2011: 11+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, Application. Akers Ronald L., Sellers Christine S. 2013. Retrieved from http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199844487/guide1/study_guide.pdf
Lilly, J. Robert, Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
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.
The first of the four categories, Loyalty, is the ethical dilemma officers face when seeing other fellow officers commit offences during their course of action. These types of action can be as minuscule as officers abusing sick leave, all the way to physical abuse and corruption. At the lower level, abusing sick leave typically occurs when officers want a certain amount of time off, these types of sick leave usually happen on workdays and especially on the days they get denied vacation. On sick leave police officers still get paid, when in reality the offending police officer is not actually ill. Other police officers in the workforce may know of this abusive method, however, they do not want to report these offences to the upper officers as they would then lose their friendship and loyalty to the police officer. The offending group would then exclude them socially and it could escalate to physical violence. On the lower level these type of offences do not seem like they affect society, however, the offending officers here are taking money from the government budget for task enforcement with no noticeable increase in the effectiveness of the police taskforce. On a higher level, physical abuse and corruption are also neglected by other police officers. When an offending police officer commits
Bentham, Jeremy. "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation." Jacoby, Joseph E. Classics of Criminology. Illinois: Waveland Press, INC, 2004. 105-109.
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
The Classical School of Criminology generally refers to the work of social contract and utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the enlightenment in the 18th century. The contributions of these philosophers regarding punishment still influence modern corrections today. The Classical School of Criminology advocated for better methods of punishment and the reform of criminal behaviour. The belief was that for a criminal justice system to be effective, punishment must be certain, swift and in proportion to the crime committed. The focus was on the crime itself and not the individual criminal (Cullen & Wilcox, 2010). This essay will look at the key principles of the Classical School of Criminology, in particular