rehabilitation of returning citizens

Major Ethical Theories and Theorists

Utilitarianism – Jeremy Bentham (More pleasure and less pain)

Utilitarian ethics is a normative ethical system that is primarily concerned with the consequences of ethical decisions; consequentialist theory; the end result is that which must be considered before determining the morality of the decision. The act that maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain is the moral act.

John Stuart Mill

Happiness is related to the mind, whereas pleasure is related to the body (for example sexual pleasure, eating, drinking)

Pleasure is of shorter duration than happiness. Happiness is long-term, focusing on the satisfaction of living well or achieving life goals.

Happiness may encompass pleasure and pain.

There is an evaluative element in happiness versus pleasure.

Consequentialist Theory

Consequentialist ethical theories separate right and wrong actions by focusing on the consequences of those actions. The better the consequences, the more consequentialism requires you to bring them about. The worse the consequences, the more consequentialism forbids you from bringing them about.

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule, which advises you to do unto others as you’d want others to do unto you, is widely known. Many people subscribe to Golden Rule thinking, citing not only its commonsense foundation but also the fact that if more people took it to heart the world would be a nicer, more peaceful place.

Deontology – Kant

Deontology was formulated by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Kant believed that the end result is not of primary importance; rather, the real importance is in determining the moral intent of a decision or action itself. It is based upon ethical principles.

A hypothetical imperative is a duty that is necessary to accomplish a specific goal. It is something that we do to achieve an end. Banks (2013) uses the example of the duty of a student to study hard in order to get good grades. In law enforcement, we may look at the hypothetical duty of a patrol officer to write as many search warrants as possible to be considered for a detective job.

A categorical imperative is an unconditional rule or duty. Regardless of the impact on you that the decision may cause, the duty remains the same and must be done. In this way, the act is unrelated to the end result; it is a duty regardless of the outcome. One example in law enforcement is a domestic assault policy that imposes a duty on a police officer to charge a spouse with an assault if evidence exists. This is a duty regardless of the outcome or the wishes of the officer. The duty, in this case, is a policy written by the British Columbia Attorney General’s office. The categorical imperative does not only have to be written policy; a police officer who stops a violator may have a duty to write the ticket if certain conditions of the violator stop warrant it, such as the danger of the activity and the driving history of the driver. There is much to say about the categorical imperative for law enforcement; however, for this book, we will concentrate on only a portion.

To figure out whether you’re following a rule or a principle, ask yourself why you’re following it. If you’re following it because you fear punishment or want a reward, it’s a rule. If you’re following it because you choose to make it part of yourself, it’s a principle. For example, not speeding because you don’t want to be caught and get a ticket: rule. Not speeding because you aren’t the kind of person who speeds: principle.

Non-consequentialist Theory

Intentions are more important than consequences

Whether an act is right or wrong is not solely based upon consequences. A principle behind an action is a kind of law that moves a person to act, and it also can serve as an explanation for what the person does. For Kant, a principle can go either way: The principle behind someone’s action may be good or it may be horrible and unethical. Or it may be neither. Until the principle behind an action is evaluated, you don’t know whether it will lead to a good action or a bad one.

Virtue ethics – Aristotle

virtue ethics is the idea that if you are a good person, you will do good things, and to be good, you must do good

Ethics of care - Also known as feminist ethics, ethics of care is primarily concerned with caring for others.

Egoism - egoism is a descriptive principle that does not tell us necessarily how we ought to behave, but rather why we behave the way we do. It infers that the person who acts in an egotistical manner does so because it is natural to act in this way, and therefore it is a moral action unto itself.

According to the tenets of egoism, the core reason that someone does any action is self-serving by bringing happiness or some other benefit to him- or herself.

Religion or Divine Command Theory - One of the basic tenets for divine command theory is to use God as the source for all principles. In this way, to rely upon divine command theory, a person must believe that there is a willful and rational god that has provided the direction toward an ethical outcome. It is from God’s commands that actions are determined to be right or wrong and, because of this, divine command theory provides an objective assessment of what is ethical or moral.

Four assumptions of divine command theory:

There is a god.

God commands and forbids certain acts.

An action is right if God commands it.

People ascertain what God commands or forbids.

Natural Law - Saint Thomas Aquinas

Aquinas viewed the first principle of natural law as: “good is to be done and promoted, and evil is to be avoided” (White, 2006, p.29). Simply put, natural law asserts that what is good is natural, and what is natural is good.  Humans are naturally inclined to do good.

Aquinas viewed morality as a universal set of rights and wrongs that are shared across cultures. He delineated two basic human inclinations:

To preserve one’s own life

To preserve the human species

Social contract theory - Thomas Hobbes

the social contract in which society comes to a collective understanding — a social contract — that it is in everyone’s interest to enforce rules that ensure safety and security for everyone, even the weakest.

The social contract is unwritten and is inherited at birth. It dictates that we will not break laws or certain moral codes, and, in exchange, we reap the benefits of our society, namely security, survival, education, and other necessities needed to live.

Moral relativism - Moral relativism refers to the differences in mortality from culture to culture. A moral relativist’s perspective would state that what is moral in one culture may not be moral in another culture, depending upon the culture.