Ethics in Criminal Justice
... their beds, and quickly become quite. As a law enforcement officer of any kind it is understood that you are to enforce all rules, no matter how unimportant you think they may be. Even if you don’t agree with the rules, it does not mean that you should dismiss or ignore the rules. Or to allow the inmates under your watch to break the rules. In order to solve this problem without breaking the rules, you would have to let it be known to all inmates that all rules must be followed. You may also let it be known that rules are rules no matter how unimportant they may seem. I also think that the corrections officer would have to “stand their ground” to the inmates and let them know who controls who. Let them know that if they choose to break any of the rules that they will be punished. Then this problem would be solved without breaking the rules. Page 65 - Case 1.2 5. Page 122 - Case 2.1 3. In this instance the officers are in fact using Jones as a “means to an end”. They know that Jones is in possession of illegal drugs and that he tried to file a false burglary report. Both offenses are very serious offenses so the officers should arrest Jones. Instead the officers decide to use Jones to help them bust a numbers house. The officers decision to get information about the house rather than arrest Jones definitely violates the principles espoused by Kant. Kant says, “as concerns necessary or strict duty to others, the man who intends to make a false promise will immediately see that he intends to make use of another man merely as a means to an end which the latter does not likewise hold. For the man whom I want to use for my own purposes by such a promise cannot possibly concur with my way of action toward him and hence cannot himself hold the end of this action. This conflict with the principle of duty to others becomes even clearer when instances of attacks on the freedom and property of others are considered. For then it becomes clear that a transgressor of the rights of men intends to make use of the persons of others merely as a means, without taking into consideration that, as rational beings, they should always be esteemed at the same time as ends, i.e., be esteemed only as beings who must themselves be able to hold the very same action as an end. “ According, to Kant’s words above, it is highly unethical to treat someone as a “means to an end”. Meaning that the officers are being unethical in letting Jones off in order to receive information on another matter. Page 124 - Case 2.2 1. In this case, it is obvious that what inmate Hall has done to inmate Walker is wrong. It is also obvious however that inmate Walker is not a very well liked person, or a very nice person. It would be my job as a corrections officer if I saw Hall placing the contraband in Walker’s mosque to remove it from Walker’s possession and to search Hall, but if no one else was around and knew that Hall had placed it there, and with Walker’s reputation, then why not just let him leave with it and be placed in another dorm? Whether or not anyone else knew about Hall possessing the contraband, I would. If I allowed Walker to walk out of my dorm and be caught with the contraband, then I would know that I was being unethical and would have to be faced with that everyday. So therefore I would stop Walker before he left my dorm and search Hall for the contraband. I know that inmate Hall and maybe some of the other inmates in my dorm would be upset with me, but it would be my job to enforce the rules and go by my own rules, rather than worry about making friends with the inmates. By stopping Walker and punishing Hall I would also be setting an example for the other inmates. I would show the other inmates that they were to follow my orders, and that they couldn’t just get by with whatever they wanted to, because they would be punished. I feel that my decision would not only be the ethical thing to do, but that it would also build a respect from the inmates to me. Page 128 - Case 2.5 2. In this case, I feel that it would be in the best interest of the child to not be placed with either parent. The child in this case felt that he had to lie to be taken away from his father, but yet was abandoned by his mother. The father is said to be an emotionally unstable individual, while his mother is an abandoning parent, who felt there were more important things for her to do rather than be a mother. The father in this case was said to be emotionally unstable. He was a veteran of the Vietnam conflict, and suffered from Post-Traumat...