In this essay, I will examine the ethical issues surrounding police corruption and discretion in the criminal justice system. I will also define legality and equity and how they relate to police corruption and discretion. Police corruption and discretion are ethical issues that have been negatively impacting the criminal justice system for years. Police corruption weakens the public 's confidence in law enforcement officers. It also hinders the effectiveness of law enforcement officers whose job is to serve and protect. I will also define police corruption and discretion and the reasons behind police misconduct. Keywords: legality, equity, police corruption, police discretion
Police Corruption and Discretion in the Criminal Justice System
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There are several ethical issues that surround police corruption and discretion. Police corruption is defined as police misconduct. This occurs when police officers break their social contract by abusing their authority for personal advantages, department advances, or both. According to social contract theory, police officers are obligated to follow the code of ethics and moral standards of the criminal justice system. Police discretion is defined as the power to make decisions as to whether or not to follow police procedure and protocol, or give someone a …show more content…
This may be difficult due to corruption within the criminal justice system. When police officers and administrator successfully operate within the law, the public feels safer. This is important to police systems, administration, and practices because in order to enforce the law, you must first abide by it. The deontological ethical systems relate to legality when it comes to police corruption and upholding the law. According to the deontological ethical systems, the nature of one’s action must be morally right, adhering to the rules of their position. Referring back to the ethical dilemma in the introduction, as a police officer you have a duty and moral obligation to following police procedure and protocol. Although pulling the Chief of Police over is a good act and is for the greater good of the people, it would still have bad consequences. “When the consequences of a decision are bad, the teleological or consequentialist ethical system does not support it” (Miller,
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.
Dempsey, J. S., & Frost, L. S. (2012). Police Ethics and Police Deviance. An Introduction to Policing (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
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.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles Country Sheriff officers use of mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles Country Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program. There are several ways police departments could take to reduce police corruption. The three areas I think should change are the training officers further in how to diminish abuse, improving personal character of officers, and incentives program.
In this paper, the ethics of police management is examined in the framework of organizational justice and how management strategy effects police corruption through employee perception and proper employment strategy. Organizational Justice as studied by Muchinksy (2008) and cited by Crow, Lee and Joo (2012) is the concept of how employees perceive their treatment by management. (Crow, Lee, & Joo, 2012)
Martin, Rich. "Police Corruption: An Analytical Look into Police Ethics." The FBI Enforcement Bulletin May 2011: 11+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can lead to the denial of citizen rights. Strategies that control the use of discretion are, therefore, very important. The benefits and problems of police discretion and controlling strategies are the focus of this essay.
Police misconduct has been in existence since the 1600’s, European Influence on American Policing. Ironically, Police Officers in modern day continue the legacy of the police “culture” (Barry, 1999). A culture of abuse of authority or discretion, code of silence amongst officers, discrimination, and a strong belief that “cops — and firefighters — stick together, in life and death situations” (Wetendorf, 2004). Regardless of the abuse of authority officers conduct, it is a clear sign of poor ethics and morals amongst officers.
Police discretionary practices vary from officer to officer and every officer is differently trained by departments. Without the proper use of discretion out on the field, police officers are left open for legal suit actions however, if the officers are trained and exercising the use of discretion in a good manner, each individual officer can be held accountable. The second disadvantage of use of police discretion is that it allows the police officers to have too much power on making decisions which can affect the life, safety or liberty of an individual (Bargen, 2005). Police discretion presents a clear danger to society because the average officer can make a poor decision and affect the life of a person or persons. If discretion in law enforcement is used in a wrongful manner, it has great potential for being abused out of the field. Discretion allows police officers to “perform a duty or refrain from taking action” (Gaines & Kappeler, 2003, p. 251). Police officers are supposed to enforce equality under the law, people in society all should have equal rights and should be treated the same. However, discretion allows police officers to misuse it by treating offenders of different genders, race, class, ethnicity, religion, age and more inappropriately (Pepinsky, 1984). Law enforcement officers are
One may ask themselves, if law enforcement officers are working to protect the public, why would they commit corruption like they do? As it is described above, corruption is a big part in the law enforcement sector of society. The entire concept is quite complex although it may seem self explanatory to many people. Learning the many types of corruption and misconduct is only the beginning, then, to understand why the officers commit the conduct for which they do. With all this, it becomes apparent to the certain measures that need to be taken to rid society and police departments of the conduct that is constantly present.
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.
Discretion is the power given to officers to be able to choose to arrest someone based on their circumstances and the offender 's intentions. In other words, law enforcers are able to use their own personal judgement to judge incidents, Without discretion officers would have to arrest all offenders of the law, however occasionally these offenders had no true intention of infringing the law and it was an honest mistake. With discretion officers are able to turn the other cheek at the infringement of the law, if they feel morally obligated to. There are cases where the offender and victim are not so clear cut, cases such as verbal abuse are hard to determine who the victim. In this case, officers are required to use their own judgement to determine who instigated the fight (Hirbyand n.d.). This becomes an ethical dilemma, as the outcome of justice relies heavily on the officer 's judgement. When an officer 's past experience and discretion come together, morality becomes an issue. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010), Black males aged between 18 to 20 are most likely to commit crimes, when an officer learns about these statistics, it may be applied with discretion. This is where morality becomes an issue as it is morally wrong to generalize a race, however since statistics have indicated that black males aged 18 to 20 are more likely to commit a crime,
Police decisions can affect life, liberty, and property, and as guardians of the interests of the public, police must maintain high standards of integrity. Police discretion concerning how to act in a given situation can often lead to ethical misconduct (Banks 29).
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.
Rich, Martin. “An Analytical Look into Police Ethics.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Vol.80. Issue 5. May 2011. 11-17. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Nov 2013