Ethics Concern in Criminal Justice - Term Paper Example

? Ethics Concerns in Criminal Justice Ethics Concerns in Criminal Justice Introduction It is believed that human beings apply ethics to the process of making decisions in their daily lives. This application of ethics in daily life can either be at work or even at home. Human beings are not being taught how to apply the ethics since it requires a simple understanding of what is right and what is wrong. However, at times individuals might get into situations where they find it difficult to determine the best decision to adhere to (Reiman & Leighton 2001). Academic Works Nowadays academic ethics is always restricted mostly to learning institutions including high schools, colleges, and universities among others. It has become a part of rules in these institutions. It is also notable that as much as this ethics is to be adhered to, students’ rights should also be taken care of. This fact has led to a lot of misunderstanding between students and the disciplinary faculties of institutions. These cases have become common since some of the academic ethics tend to contradict the students' rights, thus, resulting in some form of a dilemma (Hendrick 2000). These situations always make students find it difficult to differentiate between what is right and wrong. For instance, one of the academic ethics states that students should not cheat during any exam or test. Cheating here includes things like plagiarism among others. It is notable that a student might have done his personal research on the Internet and got the right answers. But it may be because he never cited his work properly the instructor might declare his work plagiarized. This action taken by the instructor might go against the student’s right to fair treatment due to the fact that the student got the question right, but the instructor degraded him because of improper citations. The other aspect might also come as a fact that the student was a slow learner and never got the concept of citation during the class time, yet the instructor assumed that every student understood the concept. Ethics Applied to Social Behavior Different people from various kinds of walks do have different behaviors. It is also notable that some behavior might affect other people negatively. This negative effect might then force the need of coming up with a solution for the affected ones. However, as much as there will be a need for coming up with a measure to control this behavior, the right of an individual to have a fond behavior should also not be violated (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). A perfect example is that of smokers. It is clear that the law allows them to smoke, yet not everyone is ok with the smell of the cigarette smoke. This will then imply that as much as the law allows them to smoke cigarettes, they will need to ethically behave when smoking by isolating themselves in the smoking zones. Consequently, the act of isolating themselves when smoking tends to deny their right to free movement implying that the act is unfair to them (Sutch, 2001). Ethical Injustices that Might Arise When an Individual Is on Internship Individuals are often subjected to more ethical dilemmas when they change places of work or when they join a new institution or organization. This is mainly because they might be unaware of the cultures and routines of these new environments. The main reason for this is always because some ethical behavior that they might have been used to in their initial institutions or organization might be immoral to the new organization, thus, making them face a dilemma (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). Eventually they might forget that they are in a new environment and behave in accordance with their previous institution’s ethics which might be immoral to the new institution. This might then force the institution to subject them to harsh consequences just because of their ignorance or forgetful human nature. This can tend to be unfair to them. For instance, an individual who is used to a casual outfit might find it difficult to adapt to the dressing code of an institution that recommends official dressing. Because of the fact that he might have no other option he will be forced to comply with the ethics of the institution. Looking at this from the perspective of an individual, his freedom of dressing will have been limited as much as the organization needed the official dressing code to impress its publics. It is then noted as a form of injustice to the individual by the organization. How an Ethical Issue Might Cause Injustice to an Individual Just for the Gain of “Public Trust” Matters of public may force an individual to behave in an ethical manner. The behavior can be harmful for the individual to some extent, but because of the restrictions of law and pubic expectations the individual might be forced to bend his actions to please them (Hendrick 2000). This way some rights of the individual might be violated for the benefit of the larger public. For example, the society expects religious leaders to behave in a holy manner without engaging in certain activities. For instance, Catholic Fathers are not expected to marry according to the Catholic ethics even though it is their constitutional right. This, therefore, means that their right to marriage has been limited by their religious ethics. It further implies that they will be restricted to remain single even when they feel like marrying in order to win the public trust. How an Ethical Issue Can Force an Individual to Act as an Example At times individuals might be forced to let some of their rights go just to play a role model in accordance with the ethics of the office or position he or she is occupying in the society (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). A good explanation for this can be derived from a scenario where a pagan president elected is required to swear using a religious book. Looking at the situation from this perspective, it is clear that the ethics of the presidential office can force the president to want to lead by example, that is to show he is God fearing. This will then imply that as much as he will be trying to show a good leadership style through acting as a role model, he will have to go against his paganism, hence, he will be unfair to himself. This is because he will be forced to violate his freedom to worship. How a University Disciplinary Process Ethics Can Deprive an Individual of His Right Disciplinary committees of different institutions are obligated to some rules when looking through students’ cases. Some of their rules are guided by the institutional ethics, that is why at times they appear to violate the students’ rights (Reiman & Leighton 2001). Looking at this from a context where a University disciplinary committee might decide to expel or suspend the student from school, it is obvious that some of the student rights are denied. This is so because when a student is suspended from the institution; his right to fair learning like other students will be violated since the other students will be moving on with learning programs while he is away. On the other hand, when a student is expelled from the institution, his right to education will be affected. These two incidents then might lead to a conclusion that as much as the disciplinary committee might be ethically moral, they might also be violating the victimized students’ rights. How an Image Affects the Perception of Ethics It is said that images speak to a wide variety compared to words. Images also provide deeper meanings concerning some information. However, there are different organizations or religions whose moral ethics does not permit to be associated with some images (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). Coincidentally, there is a debate going on currently concerning an advert on the use of condoms among Catholics. Some of the Catholic leaders have stood up to rebuke this act. Looking at this scenario, it is evident that while the catholic leaders view this act immoral, some of their followers are not having any problem with it. This, then, reveals that when the leaders are be rebuking this act, they are undermining the views of some followers, hence, bringing out the issue of unfairness. It is also clear that the image used in the advert undermines the moral ethics of the Catholic Church. How a Vision of Justice Affects Ethics From the definition of justice, it is obvious that acting justly is trying to be fair to both parties involved. On the other hand, when you consider ethics, it is like trying to behave in a way that is recommended by the organization or as it is expected by the public (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). It can be concluded that ethics does not have to be fair to both parties involved. For example, the government can legalize the use of marijuana through the courts like it is done in Jamaica, yet some religions might condemn this basing their decision on their ethics. Therefore, justice appears to be factual since in most cases it depends on the written law unlike ethics which depends more on perception. Another example that can help prove the perceptive nature of ethics is some religions consider human sacrifices a moral ethical act. However, justice will tend to be fair by stating the right of an individual to live. Effects of Altruism on Ethics and Justice Altruism appears to be an ethical moral act because it involves some personal volunteering donation. On the other hand, it might appear to contradict justice. This is so simply because it is unfair towards an individual who volunteered since in the long run he will gain nothing. Therefore, a volunteering individual might have a dilemma of either to act morally by donating or to withdraw his donation as he gets nothing in return (Reiman & Leighton 2001). Altruism, therefore, puts an individual in a position of determining whether to donate without gaining any profit which is not fair to him, or to stop the act which might then picture him as being ethically immoral. How Values of Criminal Justice Occupation Can Evoke a Situation of Dilemma Criminal justice occupations do have their values. At some points this values tend to contradict the personal or religion beliefs of these individuals. A dilemma can arise when a Christian judge who respects the words of the Bible and lives his/her life according to the Christian ethics, faces a case which is forcing him to read the judgment which is against his ethics. Here it is clear that the judge might have a dilemma of choosing which decision to make. He can either decide to abide to the values of his occupation which will force him to go against the religious values. He might also face a dilemma when it comes to reading the death punishment judgment since the same law respects the right of an individual to live. How Dilemma of Public Counsels Can Affect Moral Ethics Public counsels do differ in terms of the participants. The participants might vary by their age, language, or even beliefs/ religions. This factor tends to make the work of counsels difficult when they have sensitive issues. For example, when counselling a general public, the counselor might be forced to select the language to be used. This is because there are some sensitive words that might be unethical to the publics. Therefore, the counselor might encounter a dilemma of either using the selective language and retaining the audience or risking not to achieve the objective due to the selective language. The counselor can also decide to use sensitive words at the expense of losing some of the audience. This scenario then puts the counselor in a fifty- fifty situation because when he/she chooses to be fair with one group, the other audience might feel like their ethics is undermined (Reiman & Leighton 2001). Summary From the above findings, it has been evident that ethical issues might lead to dilemmas. The dilemmas might then cause individuals to make wrong choices at the expense of fairness. Therefore, it is always a critical issue to determine which direction to take whenever ethics leads an individual into a dilemma. The individual is then advised to think critically and act wisely. References Bergman-Rosamond, A., & Phythian, M. (2011). War, ethics and justice: New perspectives on a post 9/11 world. London: Taylor & Francis. Hendrick, J. (2000). Law and ethics in nursing and health care. Cheltenham: Nelson Thrones. Reiman, J. H., & Leighton, P. (2001). Criminal justice ethics. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Sutch, P. (2001). Ethics, justice, and international relations: Constructing an international community. London: Rutledge. Read More