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EthicsincriminalJustice.pptxEthical challenges in the criminal justice field.
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Ethical challenges and use of Authority in criminal justice
Law enforcement must balance between use of authority and rights of the citizens
Law enforcement officers have a challenge in enforcing the laws and order but also maintain and respecting the rights of the citizens.
Maintaining due process in that they have to control crime while at the same time following the due process
There is a challenge in safeguarding discretionary power and maintaining efficiency. There comes a challenge for them in maintaining efficiency and avoiding abuse of power(McCartney, & Parent,2015)
Law enforcement officers have to maintain professionalism while at the same time controlling crime. They have to ensure that they do not violate the rights of the citizens in the course of their dutes.The psychology of citizens is such that they respond as guided by law enforcement. This humility should not be exploited by the law enforcers. Further there also comes a challenge in maintaining a balance between discretion which is important for efficiency and maintaining the due process. Therefore the enforcement officers must be keen to exploit their power and authority ethically
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Relationships between personal and professional interests
.Criminal justice practitioners are challenged ethically between personal interests and professionalism
This comes in when the obligation to meet their professional obligation collides with personal or financial interests
Must strike a balance between the two
They must in a way that they avoid any action that produces personal gain
They are also faced with the challenge in acting to avoid any activity that may be perceived as bringing about any financial gain to them.
professionalism
Personal gain
In the Discharge of criminal justice responsibility law enforcers may come across difficulty situations that calls for application of ethical considerations.
Sometimes they are confined in situations where committing a certain action may benefit them financially or in other way like material needs(Clark,2014).
For this reason therefore, it calls for them to act with the highest form of professionalism and safeguard their integrity in such case. Even though personal gain maybe tempting they have to be honest enough to chose their profession over personal gains.
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Personal and professional commitments to clients
Personal commitments collide with duty
Family demands compete with the expectations of the work place.
Sometimes work may take part of family time.
An example would be having a commitment to show up at a child’s birthday while at them one must be in duty.
Individual preferences also come in.
Some commitments in the criminal justice system may take more travel against ones preferences
All these calls for individual officers to morally and decisively act.
In many times in the criminal justice system personal commitments may collide with expectation in duty resulting to time constraints.
Many a times family time may be taken up by duty or time in work may be taken up by family. In such cases criminal justice officers are faced with the ethical challenge to decisively act and chant their way forward. Work- family balance must be maintained in such a way that none is hurt by the other
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Criminal justice policy
Creation of incomplete policies
Challenges in implementation of ethically divisive policies
Policies on crime and race
Policies on elderly inmates
Policies on mandatory minimum sentencing
Policies on crime and drugs
Policies on Gun control
Competing state and federal policies
Professionals in criminal justice system also come across challenges in administration of policies that deal with crime control. In recent times for instance there has been many controversial policies that have been brought up in the criminal justice system. It is also evident there are some states that have laws that contradict the federal law. Policies such as those on abortion, drug control, child trafficking, gun control, crimes and race among many others have drawn sharp criticism from member of some political divide and even from some of the publics. These become very challenging times that these professionals hoes through in making ethical decisions in what to go by(Banks,2018).
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Policing policy
To what level should police use force?
When should police use force?
What force is considered excessive
Police conduct when conducting personal search
When is force necessary
Upholding the Law and your Rights in a bid to control crime.
The policing policy presents a major challenge in police having to decide to use force, when to use it and how much it .It is challenging to deciding how much force is considered by the law as not excessive. The police force has also to balance between maintaining individual rights and discharging their duties. For instance when to use or overlook personal privacy to avert crime. There are hard situations when they will be forced to overlook some of the requirements or personal rights in pursuit of crime control.
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Information sharing
Ethics in withholding information-in court, police or even client
Issues surrounding confidentiality and privileged communication-An example would be counselor client relationship
Challenges also arise in the police having to struggle in determining which type of information of information to share and which to withhold. Sharing information to clients ,courts or even fellow criminal justice system officers is such challenging as it has to be accurate and trustable as it is used in various areas in crime research ,training and case determination.
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Media reporting
Effect created by public opinion on crime committed
The use of crime as forms of entertainment
Politics of crime
Representation of certain groups, genders, or special types of offenders
The challenges of media reporting comes in that police sometimes have to report critical issues that may even go against community standards leading to anger out of the public anger. The politics of crime also add on to the list throwing the police into very hard working conditions. Other instances have it people using crime for entertainment hence the criminal justice have to make judgements based on the dictates of the constitution amidst very pressing conditions.
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Ethical problems in dealing with human rights in criminal justice
The administration and unusual forms of cruel and unusual punishment
Human rights violations against prisoners
Cases of capital punishment
Armed drones and killings that are targeted
torture
Other challenges come in criminal justice officers having hard times dealing with the law and especially in regard to respect to human rights, issues to deal with capital punishment ,torture, armed drones among many other issues. These are some issues in the criminal justice that violate the rights of the individuals. However, the criminal justice officers have to decide on how to deal with them in their day in day out duties.
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References
McCartney, S. & Parent, R. (2015). 4.2 The Ethics of Power and Authority. opentextbc.ca. [online] Available at: https://opentextbc.ca/ethicsinlawenforcement/chapter/the-ethics-of-power-and-authority/.
Clark, P. (2014). Desktop guide to quality practice for working with youth in confinement. National Institute of Corrections” Retrieved on March, 1, 2019
Banks, C. (2018). Criminal justice ethics: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
THE ETHICS OF POLICY MAKING. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/98294_book_item_98294.pdf.
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