Ethical Issues In The Movie 'The Hurricane'

In the movie, “The Hurricane”, it is based upon a true story of how one-man freedom lied in the hands of a politically unethical officer. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and John Artis was given an unfair trial and it could not have happen at the worst century of time. This happen during the time of racism, discrimination, segregation and a corrupt judicial system. Carter did not have an easy childhood and part of his adulthood could have been better. Detective Della Pesca was the detective who first arrested Carter and beyond that point hated the ground Carter walked on. After half of Carter life spent behind bars, he was finally given the justice he deserved.
Ethical Issues in Policing
In chapter four, we discussed how police should treat cases

and how they should make ethical decisions. Referring back to our discussions, “Policing has its own values and value systems by which individual behaviors and attitudes can be measured”. In Rubin Carters case he ranned across an unethical law officer who sought evil. From childhood Carter has always been in trouble and Della Pesca always seeked to put him away. From beginning to end Pesca was simply the cause of Carters troubles. In his first encounter, Carter was a child trying to defend his friends from someone who was attacking them. Due to the fact, Rubin was an African American boy and he attacked a Caucasian man, Pesca never gave him a chance. We discussed in class about instrumental value, and why in any other profession there should be a guide to professionalism. (Instrumental value means a value that represents the preferred mean to achieve that state of honesty.) Police ethics are learned and imported and should not be based off one’s own beliefs. Della Pesca did not use good judgment and only looked to imprisonment Carter. After years in the youth detention center, Rubin did commit another crime by escaping the faculty and joining the army. It is not stated in the movie but he underwent four court Martials for various behavioral, discipline offences, and was eventually discharged as "unfit for military service". Then after he attempted to change his paths, Della Pesca still followed.
Deception in Police Interrogation
Interrogation is a pause in an arrest where law officers are trying to get the truth. When Pesca learned that Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was supposing driving the white car that was said to be seen at the crime scene he took over the case. Fairness for Rubin or John was not a part of this case and fabricated evidence was implemented. Because Della Pesca had a pick for Carter, he was willing to do anything. Carter interrogation ending before it even started because Della Pesca took it upon himself to use evidence he did not have.
Discretion-Duty-Loyalty-Gratuities
One for sure thing is that the government does not allow any person in the judicial system to accept anything that will change the officers’ discretion.

This case was so far in the drain, that any and everything was accepted. Della Pesca oversaw all evidence and dealt with all parties involved. The 9-1-1 operator who received the call took notes from the complaining party and gave the responding officers everything she received. The dispatcher who was working that never signed off on the call because Della Pesca bribed her into not doing so. That decision went against that dispatchers training and ethics. No matter the circumstance, no victim or offender should be held accountable for something they did not do. Her loyalty was more to Della Pesca than getting to the truth. Alfred Bello who was also a suspect in the case, said that both John and Rubin was present during the murder but only stated that when Pesca used unethical tactics against him. It was easy to fabricate evidence after the people who saw the murder happen. Even when the victim said Rubin was not his shooter Pesca pressured him into saying so. An officer did look for the truth and came close to finding the truth died before he could do anything to help the case. Thankful for a kid and his teachers who believed in Carters innocence they went on to find justice. While doing so they came close to finding justice when Della Pesca threaten them. He knew they were closing in on what actually happen and Carter was

close to his freedom. Della Pesca knew that if they found the evidence to be fabricated that he (Della Pesca) would be sentenced to jail time. After almost twenty years of lies Pesca became concerned about how close Lesra and his teacher was to finding the truth. He tried to have them killed just to keep from uncovering the truth and finally getting Carter that fair case. Although new evidence could not be brought into court, it did not stop Carter lawyers from convincing the judge of false evidence.
Police Ethics: Paving the Path to Misconduct
The path to misconduct does not just start with a person actions, it begins with how a person mind frame is set.

Decisions regarding how to handle a person or what to do in a murder case. In Pesca case, he went by his own judgment and not by what was actually right. There were some racial issues and based off what he knew about Carter’s past, he profiled him as bad person from the start. He used his police authority and fabricated evidence to get Carter a substantive sentence. As stated from the Cantons of Police Ethics. Carter had done his time and was looking for better, he became the greatest boxer and with the help of unethical officer, he lost his career. When a person has in their mind to destroy a person physically and emotionally they attempt to do just that. "The Hurricane" is not a documentary but a parable, in which two lives are saved by the power of the written

word.
Conclusion
In conclusion when doing dirty most of the time, it backfires. In this case, Pesca was unethical detective who fabricated evidence for his own reason, not the purpose of society. Pesca did anything he could think of to stop the actual truth from coming out so that Carter could get a fair case.