Criminal Justice Ethics

Ethics is the study of morality, which prescribes what comprises good and bad conduct. Ethics and morality evolve out of the human experience, beginning in childhood at home and in places of worship and religious gatherings, and advancing to more pronounced rules, regulations, and laws that one needs to abide by as he or she grows into an adult. The study of ethics comprises three branches: (1) metaethics, which involves the interpretation of ethical terms? (2) normative ethics, which determines what people ought to do? and (3) applied ethics, which is concerned with the practical application of ethical principles, especially in professions such as medicine and law (Pollock, 2007).

Criminal justice and ethics are closely related. According to social contract theory, the denizens of a country give up certain liberties to be protected by the government, and criminal justice professionals are agents of the government. Justice practitioners are expected to have a higher moral character, so that the common man can feel confident about the agents of the government that are affording them protections. Virtually all criminal justice professionals, be they police officers, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, correctional officers, probation officers, or parole officers, need to exercise the use of their discretion at some point or another during the course of their careers. Usually this occurs when practitioners are faced with specific ethical dilemmas, as opposed to taking a stand in matters involving broad ethical issues (Pollock, 2007). When discretionary decisions are guided by ethics, decisions can be said to be fair and just, because there are always shades of moral obligations that are higher than others (Souryal, 2006).

The awareness and importance of ethics in the field of criminal justice are increasing at a fast pace. This is because, as in virtually every other occupation, criminal justice officials also engage in unethical behaviors during the course of their 8-hour shifts. Every year there are practitioners who end their careers in disgrace by engaging in unscrupulous activities. This includes behaviors that are outright illegal, as well as those that have not been labeled as being criminal in nature. It is noteworthy that not every type of unethical behavior is necessarily illegal. In fact, criminal justice practitioners engage in many types of unethical behaviors that are not governed by the legislature and the court system.