Addressing Unethical Behavior in the Criminal Justice System

To understand the ethical challenges in the criminal justice system, I took a look at the three parts of criminal justice, Policing, Courts, and Corrections. In doing so I found that this is quite a large topic. The areas I would like to touch on are; those areas in which the newly hired police officer, lawyer, and corrections officer my face. Having only the training he/she was given in their respective academy’s or in the case of attorneys Law School, and with the Oath of office they had just sworn to, hopefully still in, and the men and women they are placed with to guide them; above all their own sense of ethical behavior and morality. Ethics is a very personal thing; it means many things to many people.

There is the mind set of “do unto others as you would have done to you”, the golden Rule, most of us learned early on in life. But as we go through life we start to get our own sense of ethical and moral behavior. We see others acting in a manner in which we would like to act, and wonder how to become more like that person, more times than not, this starts with a parent or sibling, or close family friend. At this early time we are developing our ideas of right and wrong, as well as healthy and unhealthy behaviors.

Another area in which some are given a great deal of their ethical and moral values are religion, there is always a reward for doing the right thing, and a punishment for the wrong. Ethics and morality go hand in hand. The ethical and moral values we gather in the early stage of life stay with us though out our adult life. This is where the training in ethics and morality stops. For most of us we go on to live good l...

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... solemn oath has a long lasting history, and is held in high regard by many, but few know its meaning.

"A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with an appeal to God for truth of what is affirmed. The appeal to God in an oath implies that the person imprecates his vengeance and renounces his favor if the declaration is false, or if the declaration is a promise, the person invokes the vengeance of God if he should fail to fulfill it. A false oath is called perjury."(Webster Dictionary 1828)

Works Cited

Dr. Frank Kardasz “Ethics Training For Law Enforcement: Practices and Trends. (2008) Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag

Richard W. De Shon “ Police officer’s Oath of Office a Question of Knowledge” Eastern Michigan University. March 31, 2000

Available at:

http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Unsorted/OATH%20&%20ETHICS.pdf