Ethics in Criminal Justice

Course Description

This course explores the standards and codes of professional responsibility in criminal justice professions (e.g., Law Enforcement Code of Ethics, ABA Standards of Professional Responsibility, American Jail Association Code of Ethics for Jail Officers, and the American Correctional Association Code of Ethics). It also explores roles of professional organizations and agencies, ethics and community relations, and civil liability in law enforcement and correctional environments.

Topics and Objectives

Ethics and The Criminal Justice Practitioner

• Explain the role of Socrates in the formation of ethics and morality.
• Discuss factors of the criminal justice practitioner as being a "good" person.
• Understand how decisions are made morally in difficult circumstances.
• Explore what is meant by a "good" society and the ethics of virtue.
• Describe the concepts of ethics and morality in the criminal justice system.
• Explain the theory of utilitarianism, non-consequentialist theory, naturalist theory, and deontological theory as they relate to the criminal justice system.
• Analyze the perspectives that define deviance as crime, sin, or poor taste.

Ethical Concerns and Obligations of Defense Attorneys and Prosecutors

• Explain the roles of criminal defense attorney and prosecutors from an ethical perspective.
• Discuss the codes of professional ethics that lawyers are bound to by the various statutes and regulations.
• Describe the attorney-client privilege and confidentiality.
• Analyze the role of the prosecutor as a quasi-judicial representative of the government in ethical terms.
• Understand why prosecution occurs and what prosecutors do.

Judicial Ethics

• Determine what judicial ethics are imposed upon members of the judiciary and why.
• Identify situations where judges should recuse themselves from proceedings.
• Understand the power of "the court of public opinion."

Police Perjury

• Recognize the worst ethical problems in policing.
• Explain the importance of police operating under one set of ethical values.
• Understand the need for continuous training of police officers.
• Review the kind of legislation needed to efficiently respond to police perjury.

Victims and the Ethics of Revenge

• Assess the ethical arguments for and against personal revenge.
• Determine whether victim participation in criminal court proceedings supplants the need for personal revenge.

Ethical Behavior of Probation, Parole, and Correctional Officers

• Explore the roles of probation, parole, and correctional officers from an ethical perspective.
• Understand the conflict of correctional officers between having to protect society and protecting the interests of offenders.
• Identify the code of ethical behavior for probation, parole, and correctional officers.
• Analyze the problems of and possible solutions to the victimization of offenders.

The Ethics of the Death Penalty

• Clarify the importance of ethics in death penalty issues.
• Determine whether the death penalty is defensible in view of established ethical frameworks established by the law or religious or social contract theory.

The Future of Ethics in Criminal Justice

• Examine enforcement of laws and their relationship to ethics in criminal justice.
• Evaluate the level of morality in the current criminal justice system and determine what changes in policy are needed.