LAW QUESTION
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ethical_decision_making-law.docxRunning Head: ETHICS IN LAW 1
ETHICS IN LAW 2
Ethics in Law
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Ethics in Law
Ethics is one of the key values that every organization must uphold. As such, the employees and the employers must have a defined set of rules that regulate their conducts and practices. Therefore, ethical decision making process center on various principles that pertains to right and wrong in conduct. Into the bargain, the main principles of ethical decision making include, autonomy, privacy, justice and beneficence and non-maleficence among others (Mattison, 2000).
1: Principles of Ethical Decision making
The principle of autonomy requires that the interest of others is respected and upheld. Further, this principle need that the decisions made by the responsible bodies do not affect the well-being of others. As such, the principle of autonomy is crucial in the decision making process since it helps to avert violation of individual rights. In addition, the principle of privacy and confidentiality of information must be upheld in any decision making procedure. The ethical principle of Privacy and confidentiality of information is crucial in curbing devastating effects to individuals and organizations at large. For instance, there is vital information that workers must be kept private (Seitz, & Neile, 2006).
2: Steps to Encourage Employees Ethical Decision Making
Employees’ training on ethical decision making process is necessary in ensuring that an organization achieves its goals without violating other people´s interests. Consequently, the first step in encouraging employees’ ethical decision making is by building an ethical action. An ethical action entails developing an environment that enhances ethics in business. The second step involves dealing with unacceptable behaviors among the employees. In this regard, unethical employee´s behaviors such as theft, workplace harassment and fraud among other illegal conducts should be highly punished (Korsgaard, & Roberson, 1995).
Moreover, the next step will involve the construction of a detailed business ethics code. The code entails rules of conduct that guide individuals and group behavior. Therefore, this code will describe how the employees´ can handle different situations in the work place. In addition, the management can make hand out copies of the codes to various employees so that they are able to revise and review the codes with ease. Lastly, the employers must lead by example. For instance, the managers must oblige themselves to the organization´s ethical codes so as to develop a committed ethical working environment (Korsgaard, & Roberson, 1995).
3: Steps in Analyzing an Ethical Dilemma
An ethical dilemma arises in a situation whereby one has to choose between two or more critical situations in which the decisions are hard to arrive at. As such, arriving at a solution in a situation of an ethical dilemma is always difficult since the guiding moral principles cannot ascertain the right or the wrong course of action. Therefore, when analyzing an ethical dilemma, the following steps must be considered. Foremost, all the facts underlying the dilemma must be reviewed. In this case, assumptions are not to be made and the outcome for every possible solution must be gauged. Additionally, the decisions should be analyzed to verify whether they conflict with other people's moral values (Mattison, 2000).
The next step entails considering the consequences. In this phase, the decision depends not only on what is right or wrong, but on making the decision with the lesser evil. As such, the consequences of the decision will be the guiding principle in the decision making process. Into the bargain, the third step will entail considering the actions. In this phase, aspects such as honesty, and the dignity of others will be determined. A consideration of these factors helps in determining the action that will cause less harm to the individuals involved. The last step involves decision making. After considering all the factors, a comprehensive decision must be arrived at. All the ideas and reasoning’s that were developed in the initial stages must be compared in this stage. Additionally, the consequences of every option must also be considered before settling for a decision. Hence, the circumstance that has lesser evils will be the best to adapt in the case of an ethical dilemma (Cottone, & Claus, 2008).
4: The Three Types of Police Misconduct
The illegal actions taken by the police officers while on duty are collectively defined as police misconduct. The three main types of police misconduct include, falsifying evidence, kickbacks and bribery, and abuse of authority. Falsifying evidence entails a circumstance whereby police officer plants evidence at a crime scene or make up false witness statements in order to prove that the accused is guilty. In addition, misconducts of Kickbacks and bribery arise when the police officers engage in unlawful dealings with individuals or drug dealers so as to overlook their criminal activities. On the other hand, abuse of authority by the forces entails harassment of the victims or by coercing the suspects to make false confessions (Weitzer, & Tuch, 2004).
5: Ethical issues faced by Prosecutors and the defense of Attorney
The prosecutors are charged with the duty of deciding who and how to prosecute. As such, they face various ethical issues in the attempt to sustain justice in their work. For instance, the prosecutors have the ethical duty to pursue justice rather than conviction. However, their decision making process towards the achievement of justice may sometimes be influenced by politics or aspects other than the goal of fairness. Additionally, the defense of attorney also has the power to make decisions over others and the potential deprivation of property, liberty and life. As such, they are faced with ethical predicaments that may have great impacts on the lives of concerned parties. For instance, the prosecutors may be unable to make ethical decisions in circumstances whereby the involved parties are their friends or relatives, thus raising a question of ethical conduct (Cottone, & Claus, 2008).
6: Different Systems Definition of Moral
Under the natural law, good is determined by what is natural. Moreover, the moral laws are considered to be the same to other natural laws such as the law of gravity. On the other hand, the religion laws hold that what is moral is determined by God´s will. Consequently, God´s desire can be learnt from the holy books of the religious groups such as the Quran and the Holy Bible among others. Besides, other religious groups also have a set statement of good and evil that guides their moral behaviors. Further, under the ethics of virtue, goodness is ascertained by the virtues. For instance, Aristotle developed various factors that are considered to be moral virtues. As such, those who possess the moral virtues will be able to make the right decisions when faced with a moral problem. However, the ethics of care rely on the sentiments of the relationship. Therefore, in this case, care form the basis of morality.
7: The Difference between Procedural Justice and Substantive Justice
The procedural justice is concerned with the fairness and transparency of the procedures by which decisions have to be made. As such, it entails the hearing of all the parties before a decision can be arrived at. On the other hand, substantive justice defines the rights and the duties of the citizens. Thus, the substantive justice cannot be applied in non-legal contexts. Further, substantive justice employs independent powers in deciding the fate of a case. Conversely, the procedural justice has no independent powers in deciding a case. However, it stipulates the ways and manner in which the substantive laws can be enforced. Additionally, the procedural laws are regulated by the statutory laws while the substantive laws are governed by government implications (Mattison, 2000).
8: The Justification for police power
In the case of justification, the use of police power for defenses such as self-defense, defense of others and the public authority defenses, are valid. The basic ethical standard underlying the justification of these scenarios is the fact that the police are acting morally to prevent harm that may arise. For example, the police are justified to use power in case a member of the public is in possession of dangerous tools such explosives and may use them to cause massive destructions. Therefore, in this scenario, the basic ethical standard in such case is the moral duty to protect life (Seitz, & Neile, 2006).
Into the bargain, the police investigations always employ either the proactive or the reactive approaches. Reactive policing is whereby the police respond to the calls from the public either to attend to crime scenes, interview witnesses and victims of the crime. As such, the ethical issues in a reactive policing entail the propensity of the police examiners to remain unbiased in their interpretation and collection of evidence if they know that a suspect is guilty. In addition, the use of duress by the police officers during interrogations is unethical since victims subjected to intimidation are likely to provide false information. On the contrary, ethical issues involved in reactive investigations entail how the police select the targets of secret investigations (Korsgaard, & Roberson, 1995). At times, the measures used may not be appropriate since the police may violate the privacy rights of the victims.
9: Types of misconduct by Community Corrections Professionals
The most frequently encountered unethical conducts by the correction professionals include, abuse of inmates, investigative violations and inappropriate relationship with inmates, among others. In the recent past, cases of sexual abuse and physical abuse of inmates have been reported in most community correctional centers. These misconducts occur due to lack of ethical standards or violation of the set ethical standards by the correctional professionals. Moreover, the misconducts also arise due to the absence of well-established bodies that fight for the rights of the vulnerable few (Mattison, 2000).
10: Elements of an Ethical System
The elements of a good ethical system include; respect, honor, integrity, passion and persistence among others. A good ethical system upholds the respect all the parties involved so as to create a smooth working environment. Additionally, the ethical system should honor the people who exhibit exemplary behaviors at a given time. Further, it should be capable of uplifting the integrity of the organization while at the same time ensuring that individuals are persistent in sustaining it (Cottone, & Claus, 2008). In conclusion, for any organization to achieve its goals, it must have in place a well-defined code of ethics that is practiced by all its members.
References
Cottone, R. R., & Claus, R. E. (2008). Ethical decision-making models: A review of the literature. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78(3), 275-283.
Korsgaard, M. A., & Roberson, L. (1995). Procedural justice in performance evaluation: The role of instrumental and non-instrumentals voice in performance appraisal discussion. Journal of Management, 21(4), 657-669.
Mattison, M. (2000). Ethical decision making: The person in the process. Social Work, 45(3), 201-212.
Seitz, J. O., & Neile, P (2006). Ethical decision making and the code of ethics of the Canadian Psychological Association. Canadian Psychology, 37(1). 23
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S., A. (2004). Race and perceptions of police misconduct. Social Problems, 51(3), 305-325.
