Theories of Ethics in Criminal Justice
As a criminal justice professional, I would not act in any manner that is against the set moral or the prevailing codes of ethics. In such a case, principles of fairness, equality and justice will guide me to uphold responsibility that comes with power. It would be unprofessionalism to act in an immoral way just to please my supervisor. The principle of equality urges all professionals in criminal justice to treat all people and cases equally without undue favors (Hooker, 2002). Acting in favor of my supervisor would result into a conflict of ethics and responsibilities, which is not right. In the criminal justice field, moral dilemmas may arise in the course of your work. For example, a supervisor may act in a way to bribe you to let go a case you are handling where the said suspect is his/her friend.
Such a case may put you in a predicament that needs to be approached in the most professional manner. In this instance you need to apply the justice approach by regarding extreme integrity principle (Goodman, 2009). Based on integrity you should not accept bribery from any person whatsoever. The right actions to be taken in this case is to forward the person offering a bribe to the integrity and ethics department where they can be found guilty of corruption. This action will not have any negative consequence but it will act positively in alleviating the ill of corruption in the society. It will also heighten your integrity levels thus improve your professionalism. The decision made would set a precedent for the principles of; transparency, rationality and accountability (Darwall, 2002). These would lay down a strong moral character and justice centered virtues in you.
References
Darwall, Stephen. (2002). Consequentialism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Goodman, Charles (2009). Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of
Buddhist Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hooker, Brad. (2002). Ideal Code, Real World. Oxford University Press.
