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

and a better understanding of what is expected of them. These ethics and morals need to be consistently talked about in law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. Ethics and morals are very important tools of a succeeding officer, they show respect, trustworthiness, and the dependability of the officer. However, there are ways to restore many lost ethical and moral standards in the criminal justice and law enforcement field.
The teaching of ethics and morals can be a hard topic for some teachers to teach because of the different meanings and interpretations.

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

criminal justice ethics context precisely because it's applied ethics framework, though systematic, avoids the abstruse mystery of the high road.”(Chilton) The middle road is very successful in offering a teachable approach to criminal justice ethics and morals.
The superior teaching of ethics could restore ethics, and possibly prevent unethical decisions made by criminal justice and law enforcement personnel from occurring. Examples such as very recently “A Newcomerstown police officer claimed he was shot by two armed suspects last week, prompting a search for the shooters, fabricated the story”(Buckingham) Investigators found that the officer did shot himself in an attempt to commit suicide. This is not only unethical from a personal standpoint, that he lied to other officials, and committed a horrible act. But it is also unethical from a professional standpoint since he was on duty at the time. Acts like these diminish the department's reputation and also forfeits the trust of the community.
Another way to restore ethics in law enforcement would be to put in place a harsher punishment for officers showing signs of discrimination.

“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

diminish.
The leaders of departments have an enormous impact on their fellow officers. “Criminal justice organizations are guided by a mission and organizational culture that respect the dignity of human beings.”(Wright) If the leaders of criminal justice agencies practice ethical behavior it has been seen to reflect positively on the officers below them. “The organizational climate which is directly influenced by the leadership of the agency determines how much unethical behavior will be present in a criminal justice agency”(Wright). Ethical behavior within a criminal justice agency is up to the chief executive officer and that agency's management team. Unethical decisions that are isolated by the leaders is not only unethical itself, but it misleads the officers into thinking that their unethical acts are acceptable. Leaders of criminal justice agencies have a large impact on the ethics of their agencies. The attitude, ethics, and morals of that leader will show through the work of their officer. If criminal justice leaders take more responsibility to demonstrate good ethical decisions then it could restore ethics throughout each community.
Ethics and morals both have multiple meanings and can be used in different ways. Ethics is defined by as “a set of principles of right conduct, a theory or a system of moral values, the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or members of a profession.”(Ethics) Restoring ethics in a criminal justice agency could be a difficult task, especially pinpointing the exact problem. If more undergraduates seeking a degree in criminal justice were required to learn the middle road of ethics, then it would give them a greater knowledge of what will be expected of them. The leaders of criminal justice agencies need to show the ethical decisions they expect from their officers. Criminal justice leaders need to work harder to put an end to discrimination within the law enforcement profession. Ethics can be a very hard thing to restore. However, if the agencies work hard at instilling ethics they should see a substantial improvement.