Ethical Dilemmas in Criminal Justice

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Table of Contents

Examples of Ethical Dilemmas in Criminal Justice
Approaches and Solutions
References

Ethical or moral dilemmas arise when there is a conflict of interest between two or more imperatives. In such situations, obeying one moral or ethical imperative automatically means disobeying another. In the field of criminal justice, police officers, judges, de fense attorneys, and prosecutors are dealing with dilemmas on a regular basis since they possess the power to select who should be investigated, prosecuted, and sentenced, as well as what the punishment may be (Czaja, n.d.). Moreover, under the law, they are mandated to provide equal treatment to all citizens regardless of the severity of the crime. Therefore, dilemmas are inevitable in criminal justice.

Examples of Ethical Dilemmas in Criminal Justice

In ideal situations, a police department is an institution that has the integrity to stay away from corruption or misconduct; however, in reality, it is not always the way (Editorial Board, 2016). One of the most standout examples of criminal justice ethical dilemmas is when one police officer finds out about illegal activity in his or her department and has to turn in a partner or a coworker. The right thing to do in such situations is reporting the misconduct; however, some members of the department may regard such an action as betrayal since whistleblowing is rarely met amicably. On the other hand, if a police officer does not report illegal activity, there is a high risk of violating the professional duties of law enforcement personnel whose job is to protect the community from crime. Even bigger dilemmas can arise when officers of the higher rank have been noticed to participate in illegal actions since a regular officer can be in danger of losing his or her job when going with what is moral instead of obeying the senior management (Dees, 2013).

Similar situations can occur in a variety of context in criminal law, especially when a professional is asked about covering up for something his or her colleagues are going. If to give an example concerning a criminal justice professional, let’s assume that a supervisor has been once seen taking a bribe for covering up a legal case and his employee was a witness of the event. Then, a supervisor asks the employee to stay silent about the affair, offers a monetary reward for such silence, and then threatens a dismissal if somebody else finds out about the bribe. This situation can be regarded as an ethical dilemma because it is legally right to expose the supervisor for the illegal monetary gain, but the fear of losing the job and failing to support one’s family is what may stop the employee from taking any action.

Approaches and Solutions

Covering up or being silent about illegal actions in a department should not be regarded as normal (Kalven, 2016) and the only reasonable approach is exposing the illegal activity and disregarding the principles of ‘team support.’ The actions one can take when asked to be silent about criminal activity in a department is reporting to an independent body (a police department in another are) that is much more likely to conduct a fair investigation. If one is to discuss the issue with the senior management of the organization in which the crime occurred, there is a high chance that the issue will not be taken as seriously due to the possibility of bias (ACFE, n.d.) or fear of publicity.

Whatever the employee chooses to do in the situation described above, there will be some positive or negative consequences of action or the lack of action. For example, if the employee chooses to remain silent and cover up for the bribe, the positive consequence that he or she will preserve the position and even gain some money himself/herself. However, the negative consequence is that such an action is illegal and immoral and may come up in the future. If the employee chooses to report the incident to the law enforcement agency, he or she will risk the job. On the positive side, the crime will be punished according to the law and the dilemma will disappear. Thus, the directions one may take in such situations are very different but there is always one option that is usually right legally, and it is the option that should be chosen in the majority of similar cases.

The field of criminal justice is filled with too many ‘grey areas’ where prosecutors lie to convict a person or police officers cover up crimes made by their colleagues (The Economist, 2010). Dilemmas arise when there is a choice to do what is right but what is wrong also seems reasonable to an average person, so it is crucial to weight down the pros and cons of every decision and try only to do what is right according to the law.