Criminal Justice Today

LaToya Ricks

CCJS 380 Ethics in Criminal Behavior

Ethical Dilemmas

October 9, 2014

Law enforcement officials, including police officers, judges and attorneys, are faced with ethical dilemmas that constantly test their character and values. Some of these situations are trivial while others are huge decisions that could affect a person’s life in a major way. During these times, your personal code of conduct and ethical attitude is critical to your career and your overall integrity. These officials must use discretion when dealing with the citizens of their communities, criminals or anyone entering the judicial system. “The scope of criminal justice ethics is usually construed narrowly to encompass a range of concrete and midlevel ethical problems encountered within the primary institutions of criminal justice—police, courts, and corrections—including, for example, use-of-force policies, judicial corruption, and the rights of prisoners. Within that narrower framework, criminal justice ethics may focus on problems generated by the institutions themselves, such as the place of police discretion, the independence of the judiciary, or prison overcrowding, as well as on problems encountered by criminal justice practitioners.” (Kleinig, 2014) The following scenarios are examples of what many law professionals must deal with on a daily basis.

The Parole Board

Robert, the chair of the parole board, is facing a difficult ethical and moral dilemma. He must decide whether or not to release inmates to reduce prison overcrowding. Robert is fully aware of the current risk assessment results and the potential to release inmates that may reoffend. With federal law suits on the horizon, the Governor has asked Robert to figure out a way to rectify this situation.

There are two options that Robert can consider and both have significant consequences. First, he can broaden the parole eligibility criteria to allow more inmates to be released to community-based...