5-3 Final Project: Milestone Three: Theories, Values, and Duties Short Paper

Milestone Two: Scenario Overview

Destiny Nance

Southern New Hampshire University

August 27th, 2021

Identify the Ethical Dilemma Raised By the Facts in the Case Scenario

According to Levine (2014), an ethical dilemma is when one faces a problem with decision-making based on two conflicting options, none of which is ethically acceptable or morally upright. In this case scenario, the ethical dilemma is that the police officer must report on the accident. Still, the mayor insists that the officer shouldn't include that the mayor was under alcohol. On the one hand, the officer can see that the condition under which the mayor's car was after the accident and that the mayor smelled alcohol could be the possible cause. On the other hand, the mayor insists that he was trying to dodge a dog, which was the cause of the accident. These options present an ethical dilemma to the police officer as he cannot find a relatively straightforward solution to include in the report.

This case is an ethical dilemma because the officer experiences a conflict between alternative ways to accident reporting. Choosing either of the alternatives will potentially make the officer compromise on the moral principle and violate the ethical standards of honesty (Levine, 2014). Still, the officer is obligated to write a report. Therefore, this case challenges the integrity and honesty parts of ethics.

The main factor that led to this ethical dilemma is the competing interests between the mayor and the police officer. On the one hand, the officer can see that the mayor is drunk, which should be included in the report. Contrarily, he cannot confirm that he saw the mayor drive his car under the influence. Also, the mayor claims that he isn't impaired and warns the officer from mentioning anything about him. Therefore, the competing interests come because the officer is competing to save his job while the mayor is competing to protect his reputation (Worley, 2016). The officer should consider the effects of violating the ethical principles of honesty while writing the report before he takes an action course.

References

Levine, Emma, and Schweitzer, Maurice E., Are Liars Ethical? On the Tension between Benevolence and Honesty (2014). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 53, 107-117., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2910061

Worley, R. M., Worley, V. B., & Wood, B. A. (2016). ‘There were ethical dilemmas all day long!’: harrowing tales of ethnographic researchers in criminology and criminal justice. Criminal Justice Studies, 29(4), 289-308.