Ethics of CJ

Acts that can be judged as ethical or unethical, moral or immoral, involve four elements:

(1) acts (rather than beliefs) that are (2) human and (3) of free will (4) that affect others.

In applied ethics texts, various authors set out the steps to take when facing ethical dilemmas. For instance, Ruggiero advises us to

(1) study the details of the case, (2) identify the relevant criteria (obligations, ideals, consequences), (3) determine possible courses of action, and (4) decide which action is the most ethical.

Superogatories

(good Samaritan) Actions that are commendable but not required in order for a person to be considered moral.

Most behaviors that might be judged as ethical or not for criminal justice professionals fall into four major categories:

Acts involving citizens. acts involving other employees. acts involving ones organization. acts involving people they supervise.

_______ should ensure that what happens to us is not determined by the color of our skin, our gender, nationality, or the religion we practice.

Equal protection

Wholesight

Exploring issues with one's heart as well as one's mind.

Socrates (469-399 BCE )

He believed that bad acts are performed through ignorance. The wisest man was also the most virtuous. He believed that all people acted in a way to serve their own interests, but some people, because they were ignorant, pursued short-term happiness that would, in the long run, not make them happy.

Plato

His writings included discussions of ethical and political concepts, as well as metaphysical and epistemological questions. Student of Socrates. Believed in 4 virtues- wisdom, courage , moderation and justice. believed in the concept of eudaimonia

In critical thinking, how to separate facts from concepts and identify underlying assumptions.?

Identify the facts. Identify relevant values and concepts. Identify all possible moral dilemmas for each party involved . Decide what is the most immediate moral or ethical issue facing the individual. Resolve the ethical or moral dilemma by using an ethical system or some other means of decision making.

what means wholeness in public and private life consisting of habits of justice, temperance, courage, com- passion, honesty, fortitude, and disdain for self-pity?

Integrity

values

Judgments of desirability, worth, or importance

What is the discipline that investigates the meaning of ethical systems and whether they are relative or are universal, and are self-constructed or are independent of human creation?

Meta-ethics

What are the branches or schools of ethics?

Meta-ethics. normative. applied. professional.

The term _____ also is used to describe someone who has the capacity to make value judgments and discern right from wrong

Moral

imperfect duties

Moral duties that are not fully explicated or detailed

What determines what people ought to do and defines moral duties based on ethical systems or other means of analysis?

Normative ethics

Who believed in the concept of eudaimonia?

Plato

ethical principles that should govern public servants:

Public service. objective judgment. accountability. democratic leadership

Duties

Required behaviors or actions, i.e., the responsibilities that are attached to a specific role.

______ recognizes a pre-moral sense in animals. Ex: shame or guilt in dogs, food sharing in bats, comforting and cooperative behaviors in chimpanzees,

Shermer

Aristotle (384-322 BCE

Student of plato. Believed bad behavior came from ignorance. believed some people had weak wills and did bad things knowing they were bad. Virtual theory

ethics

The discipline of determining good and evil and defining moral duties

Although the professionals discussed face different dilemmas, they also share the following common elements:

They each have discretion. They each have the duty of enforcing the law. They must accept that their duty is to protect the constitutional safeguards that are the cornerstone of our legal system — specifically, due process and equal protection. They are public servants.

In order to be a critical thinker, one must ask these types of questions:

What information am I using in coming to a conclusion? What information do I need to settle the question? Is there another way to interpret the information? What assumption has led me to my conclusion? Is there another point of view I should consider? What implication or consequence might be the result of this conclusion?

Discussions regarding the ethics of defense attorneys might include the following:

Whether to devote more effort to private cases than appointed cases • Whether to allow perjury • Whether to attack the character of a victim in order to defend a client

Discussions regarding the ethics of police officers, for instance, would concern issues such as the following:

Whether to take gratuities • Whether to cover up the wrongdoing of a fellow officer • Whether to sleep on duty

What is the application of ethical principles to specific issues?

applied ethics

Acts involving those one supervises:

arbitrary discipline, unrealistic demands, discouraging honest criticism

Ethical dilemmas

are situations in which one person must make a decision about what to do.

Concepts

are things that cannot be proven empirically but are relevant to the issue at hand.

Stoics

associated with the idea that man is a part of nature and the essential characteristic of man is reason. Reason leads to virtue and virtue and morality are simply rational action.

morals prescribe or proscribe _______.

behavior

One of the most difficult things to understand about human behavior is the disjunction between moral beliefs and ______

behavior.

As stated earlier, values imply a _______.

choice or a judgment

One of the most important elements of critical thinking is to separate facts from ____and identify underlying assumptions.

concepts

Messner and Rosenfeld's explanation of why the United States has a higher rate of violent crime than other Western countries, they propose that the U.S. value system, which emphasizes _____ over family and ____over honesty, creates an environment in which crime results.

consumerism; financial success

_____ is to be more cognizant of facts versus concepts, assumptions, or biases, and the use of objective reasoning to most effectively reach a decision or understand a problem.

critical thinking

The authority to make a decision between two or more choices.

discretion

What protects each of us from error in any governmental deprivation of life, liberty, or property?

due process

what are broad social questions, often concerning the government's social control mechanisms and the impact on those governened?

ethical issues

The term ____ refers to the study and analysis of what constitutes good or bad conduct

ethics

what are examples of laws based on public morality?

gambling, prostitution, drugs

Morals and morality refer to what is judged as _____

good conduct

Acts involving other employees:

harassment, gossip, lying

judgments of moral or ethical behavior are directed specifically to ____

human behavior.

Ethical discussions in criminal justice focus on______

issues or dilemmas.

Who has the power to define behavior as illegal and, therefore, punishable?

legislators

Examples of Acts involving citizens/clients:

misuses of authority, harassment, malfeasance or misfeasance

The criminal justice system can be examined using

political, organizational, or socio-logical approaches.

Morals

principal of right and wrong

What values hold special relevance to the criminal justice system and those professionals who work within it?

privacy, freedom, public order, justice, duty and loyalty

What is an even more specific type of applied ethics relating to the behavior of certain professions or groups?

professional ethics

What is the rationale for a number of laws, including those involving drugs, gambling, and prostitution?

public morality

`What is usually the reason given for criminalizing certain forms of behavior?

public safety

the Stoics simply saw two groups:

rational/virtuous and those who were irrational/evil.

Philosophers widely believe that only humans can be moral (or immoral) be-cause of our capacity to _____

reason.

Ethical issues for professional in the justice system include;

relationships with citizens and others over whom they have power over. relationship with their agency. relationship with one another

values indicate the ____ importance of these constructs

relative

Act

some act must be present to judge

Each of the three virtues is associated with the three classes of people Plato describes as making up society:

the rulers (wisdom), the soldiers (courage), and the merchants (moderation since they pursue lowly pleasures).

Acts involving one's organization:

theft, work ethic, filing false reports

What can be found in all ethical systems?

value of life and respect for the person

examples of ethical issues:

what laws to pass, what sentences to attach to certain crimes, whether to abolish the death penalty, and whether to build more prisons or use community correctional alternatives.

What are the 4 virtues of plato?

wisdom, courage , moderation and justice

Braswell (1996/2002: 8) explained the following five goals of a study of ethics:

• Become aware of and open to ethical issues. • Begin developing critical thinking skills .• Become more personally responsible .• Understand how the criminal justice system is engaged in a process of coercion .• Develop wholesight

What are just a sample of some criminal justice issues that have ethical implications?

• Decriminalization of soft drugs or drug courts for first-time offenders • Megan's Law and other sex-offender registry statutes• The death penalty • Mandatory DNA registries • Three-strikes legislation• Racial profiling• Law-enforcement corruption • Waiver of juveniles to adult courts • Citizen oversight committees for police departments • The Patriot Act and other challenges to civil liberties in the wake of terrorism • Immigration law reform