The Role Of Ethics In Criminal Justice

The role of ethics is very important in the field of law enforcement and criminal justice because of the required quick response to criminal activity, the ability to make life or death decisions, and the ability to collect correct legal evidence. The basic definition of ethics is the moral principles that govern a person's behavior of conducting an activity. There are many cases in today's law enforcement where decisions are made using insignificant ethics or morals. Children from a young age need to start understanding appropriate ethics and morals, they should be taught the difference between right and wrong. As children grow, some may begin a career in law enforcement and criminal justice, these children will have foundational knowledge

To restore ethics, first would be to teach it so students can have a better understanding. At the college level, professors, “either take an abstruse "high road," a mundane "low road," or at best an incomplete "middle road."(Chilton) Professors teaching the high road includes literature that enriches all inquiry of ethics. This course can be very overwhelming not only for the student but the professor as well. Colleges that insist their professors teach the high road of ethics should make several prerequisites in philosophy so the undergraduates would have a better base understanding of the topic of ethics. The more vague low road of ethical teaching “is composed of rather unsystematic micro-level case studies of particular decisions to be taken in particular circumstances”(Chilton). The low road focuses exclusively on developing a moral sense for the right decision in particular circumstances. Which seems vague for someone who needs to have an excellent understanding of ethics and morals. However, there could be an almost perfect balance in teaching morals and ethics to undergraduates in the criminal justice and law enforcement fields. The middle road is “is usually represented by the "professional ethics" paradigm, which bridges the gap between the excesses of abstract theory and mundane case studies. It is considered successful in the

“A police officer has an ethical responsibility to make non-biased, non-discriminatory, law-abiding and justifiable judgment calls to protect innocent citizens.”(Writer) In 2012, a New York City Plainclothes Officer stopped an African American teenage boy named Alvin. This was the second time Alvin had been stopped in a matter of blocks. The officer's reason for stopping Alvin was simply that he looked suspicious. When Alvin questioned the officers they proceeded to “put him in a hold, a sergeant threatens to break his arm and punch him in the face. They call him a “piece of shit.”(Heuvel) Acts of discrimination such as these should not be occurring, a person's morals and ethics play a big role in discrimination. If officers are trained to not discriminate against certain races, gender, or religion then we would see problems such as Alvin's case