1 College of Science, Technology & Applied Arts of Trinidad & Tobago DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Journals COURSE CODE: Crim 240 COURSE TITLE: Ethics In Criminal Justice CRN: 18311 SEMESTER: STUDENT NAME: Sherry Alfonso STUDENT ID: 00069728 PROGRAMME: AAS Degree in Criminal Justice DATE OF SUBMISSION: Sunday, 15th December,2019 LECTURER’S NAME: Dr. Keron King Semester 1 -2019/2020 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Page 3 Chapter 2 : Determining Moral Behaviour Page 4-6 Chapter 3: Justice and Law Page 7-9 Chapter 6: Police Discretion and Dilemmas Page 10-12 Chapter 7: Police Corruption Page 13-15 Chapter 11: Ethics and Punishment Page 16-18 Chapter 12: Discretion and Dilemma in Corrections Page 19-21 Conclusion Page 22 3 Introduction In this journal, my aim is to give general information based on the six (6) chapters given. With the help of my article findings, I will discuss a specific theory on all six (6) chapters. These theories will help guide me and the reader due to applying the theories to each article, which would give a clear view of the ethical and unethical dilemmas or situations being talked about. The objectives of this journal are to identify different ethical systems or ethical theories, explain why the theories apply to the article and chapter, support my explanation and analyze the theories. 4 CHAPTER 2 DETERMINING MORAL BEHAVIOUR 5 CHAPTER 2 :DETERMINING MORAL BEHAVIOUR Article Title: Patty Hearst Article Date: Thursday 18th, September, 1975 Source of Article: FBI / https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/patty-hearst Writer: FBI Ethical Analysis: We exist in a society, where there are many different definitions of right and wrong. The principle of right and wrong and the framework of how we live our lives is known as an ethical system. The ethical system is a structured set of principles that define what are morals. These systems are universal and attempt to benefit the greater population, and they define what behaviours are moral and should be followed in society. However, the ethical system allows judgment to take place and to understand the motive that the individual is carrying out or carried out. This can be done by where good is defined by the inherent nature of an act (deontological) or where good is defined by results (teleological). Within these two ethical systems, there are many subsets of system, among them we can find, ethical formalism and utilitarianism. Hence, other systems can be used to judge right or wrong, depending on the situation. Ethical formalism is a system used to differentiate between right and wrong depending on what ethical dilemma you are in. Utilitarianism is believed that the morality of an action should be determined by how much it contributes to the good of the majority in society. Other ethical systems may not agree with utilitarianism depending on the dilemma being occurred. However, an individual can be morally judged by most people in society. And as a result, the critiques of utilitarianism is that all pleasure or benefits are not equal. In 1974 the case of Patty Hearst shocked the law enforcement agencies and the state as to why she was kidnapped and why did she commit an immoral act, her dilemma was to help her kidnappers rob a bank or they will kill her family members. Her dilemma was to choose to do this immoral thing or save her family members, in her dilemma anyone would choose to do an immoral act to save other people’s lives. This is where utilitarianism comes in, she was trying to contribute to the greater population, which would have been her family, but helping rob a bank 6 doesn’t always go as planned , people could get hurt as well. However, in this case , it was said that her kidnappers were brainwashing her, so no one knew what she was thinking when she robbed the bank. Utilitarianism is where good is determined by the consequences of the action so her actions were robbing this bank and the good that came out of it was by saving her family and more. For this reason, of committing an immoral act she was then wanted as a criminal, sometimes the law doesn’t want to hear your motive, you chose to do something immoral and you must be punished. In other words, what might be morally right to a person or some people in society, maybe considered unethical and immoral by a country based on the moral beliefs of right and wrong. 7 CHAPTER 3 JUSTICE AND LAW 8 CHAPTER 3: JUSTICE AND LAW Article Title: Woman forgives man who shot her Article Date: March 21st , 2013 Source of Article: USA Today News / https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/21/woman-forgives-man-whoshot/2007893/ Writer : Vic Ryckaert Ethical Analysis: The notion of justice is built on social stability,interdependence and, equal dignity. Albert Schweitzer once said, “ Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” In other words, justice is a concept of equal rights, fairness, morals and ethics and law are rules and guidelines that are enforced by the government to keep order and to have acceptable behavior in society. When it comes to justice and law, the different types of justice should be taken into consideration, for example, Distributive justice always include the good abilities a person might possess, it also gives us theories on how justice should be distributed and is linked with corrective justice where fair application of the law and punishment is concerned. Corrective justice is concerned with dispensing punishment and is further broken down into two categories comprising of Procedural justice and Substantive justice. Procedural justice is concerned with the steps that are taken to determine punishment and to assign punishment when needed. Substantive justice involves the concept of just deserts, or how one determines a fair punishment for a particular offense. Retributive justice is concerned with the methods of punishment and with the balance of the victim’s suffering and the offender’s punishment. Restorative justice is where you seek peace with a victim , offender or a community rather than to take revenge. In other words,the main idea of restorative justice is to be at peace with yourself and the person who caused you harm. In 1992, a young woman was faced with life and death right before her eyes, this incident happened that night all due to another young man committing immoral acts. Even though she spoke to him and saw his face, he still decided to shoot her in the head and take her car, she 9 survived and she needed a lot of physical therapy before she was able to speak again. In this article, she mentioned , how bitter and angry she was whenever she sees her attacker receiving awards in prison. In addition to this, she said that she wants peace and just want to know why he did it. Furthermore, she came to forgive him saying “ forgiveness frees the soul” and she was able to find peace. Restorative justice has been called “ peacemaking justice” by philosophy because there is a program that seeks to restore victim’s and offender’s health and help them come to peace with themselves and others. Some people may make bad decisions based on their lifestyle and age, but it doesn’t mean they won’t change after a few years in prison or rehab. In other words, his lifestyle made him commit an unethical act that night, which haunted him and hurt him while he was in prison and someone with a changed heart and mind deserves a second chance. 10 CHAPTER 6 POLICE DISCRETION AND DILEMMAS 11 CHAPTER 6 :POLICE DISCRETION AND DILEMMAS Article Title: Hillsborough Timeline of the 1989 Stadium Disaster Article Date: Thursday, 28th November, 2019 Source of Article: BBC News Writer : BBC News Ethical Analysis: Due to the social contract, each person gives up their complete freedom and rights in exchange for the guaranteed protection of society against others. The police officers are the ones who are given the freedom and rights of others to protect and serve, to keep order and to enforce their will.However, the use of force and power became a major issue in policing. This is because many police officers who are granted power and authority misuse it to commit immoral acts. As a result, excessive force has been introduced into policing and it is very unethical. Sometimes police officers are faced with ethical dilemmas that may cause them to commit an immoral act or commit an act that they thought was right, but they later suffer the consequences of their actions.However, there are times when police officers are often faced with dilemmas and they rely on the knowledge of law or their morals as a person. In England, however, there is an observational overview of gross negligence among the police dilemmas. As a result, a chief officer who was responsible that day had to face a dilemma that involves him either leaving the gates closed or having it opened. However, even though he was witnessing civilians getting injured due to overcrowding behind the gates. He also feared he would have been forced to open the gate by the crowd. By this happening the chief officers were indeed forced to open the gate which led to overcrowding and eventually to the cause of ninetyfive deaths in 1989. As to relate to the article, the chief officer did not intend to kill the ninetyfive (95) people. He was forced to do so by the people who pushed their way in. In addition, it was an unethical decision made by the chief officers to not call for backup or assist the situation. Due to the circumstances, he had to face the consequences of seven hundred and sixty-six (766) injured persons. In other words, the officers made an ethical decision based on their opinion , which their thought was right at that time, not knowing of the consequences to come later on. 12 13 CHAPTER 7 POLICE CORRUPTION CHAPTER 7: POLICE CORRUPTION Article Title: Former Greenwood Police Chief Indicted for Violating Civil Rights 14 Article Date: Wednesday, 13th November , 2019 Source of Article: United States Department of Justice / https://www.justice.gov/usaowdmo/pr/former-greenwood-police-chief-indicted-violating-civil-rights Writer: U.S Attorney’s Office Ethical Analysis: Due to the majority of police officers being professionals and ethical, a small minority of officers abuse their power. This leads to scrutiny by the public of all police. “ Corrupt and incompetent police officers have a long history of being protected by their colleagues, police internal affairs and the government.” (Steven Magee). In other words, the police officers live up to the “ code of silence” where they know what is going on, who is corrupted and will turn a blind eye to it because they are a family all in blue. In addition to this, no one is above the law, in the social contract, the citizens give up their freedom and rights to the police for them to protect and serve us. However, with all of this power and authority, they abuse it for their gain or because they are the law and society has to respect and obey them. Also,they abuse their power by physically enforcing or offending a citizen’s dignity, they use unnecessary force or intimidation to obtain what they want. Three types of police corruption that must be taken into consideration. Individual Corruption argues that the officer was already deviant or became deviant after being hired. Institutional/ Organisation Corruption argues that the officers are poorly managed or supervised, they ignore ethical problems and it is hypocritical. Societal Corruption is where the public does not comply with the law and the officers may rationalize non-enforcement of the law, in some cases, if the public believes crime control is more important than due process, police will act on that message. In this article, released by the US Department of Justice simply is about how this police officer abused his power and authority. As a result, this chief police officer violated civil rights by assaulting a man while handcuffed, restraint and was sitting on a chair and still decided to throw the man on the ground all due to an unreasonable search and seizure. However, in this case, it was alleged that the officer did this, but the report of this incident was on the same day it occurred. Hence, all of this information being given, organisational corruption, is seen in this case. Being a chief police officer, no one is going to question you due to your authority in your police department. This is also a noble cause corruption because the officer used illegal and 15 unethical means to get his desirable goals by completing the unreasonable search and seizure. In other words, any person who is granted power and authority will do anything to meet their goals no matter what it takes and who gets in their way. CHAPTER 11 ETHICS OF PUNISHMENT 16 CHAPTER 11: ETHICS OF PUNISHMENT Article Title: Chadee signs his death warrant Article Date: Saturday, 25th February, 2012 Source of Article: Guardian News / https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.416873.16d3bb8fb5 Writer: Kito Johnson Ethical Analysis: 17 In law, the ethics of punishment is determined and looked at closely, punishment is an infliction of suffering to an offender. For example, when punishing a person , the punisher is authorized by the law to inflict punishment on the offender and the one being punished has been judged in violation of a criminal law. Ethics of punishment also has a treatment according to correctional terminology, the goal of this is to induce behaviour change, such as, elimination of dysfunctional or deviant behaviour, and to encourage productive and normal behavior. Punishment is also rationale, for instance, the social contract provides the rationale for punishment and corrections due to citizens avoiding chaos and giving the state power to control them. The correctional goal of punishment starts with Retribution and Prevention. Retribution according to Jeremy Bentham, “ Criminal offenses deserve punishment that balances the pleasure or profit of the offense.” In other words, the punishment for the offender should be as equal as the crime they have committed. Prevention assumes that something should be done to the offender so that he/she won’t commit future criminal activity, this includes deterrence, incapacitation, and treatment. This uses specific deterrence to teach the offenders through punishment and general deterrence is to teach the offenders by using an example or making them an example of the consequences of the crime they committed. Incapacitation is used to keep the offender in prison for no further risk of future crimes. The ethical justifications of punishment also include Utilitarianism, Ethical Formalism, and Ethics of Care. Utilitarianism is used for treatment, incapacitation, and deterrence and it is also to punish because it benefits the greater majority. Ethical Formalism is used to punish because the offender deserves it and it is also retribution and Ethics of Care is only used to punish when it's necessary to meet the needs of all involved and also Restorative Justice. In the 1980s drugs were a huge opportunity to get money just by using your country as a transshipment point and if you were in law enforcement, you were paid to turn a blind eye. Even though one of the smartest men held accountable for this would always walk free but in 1993 he and 2 relatives were held and charged for killing a man. The sad thing about this case was that the witness for this case was killed a few days before he had to provide evidence. This case against him and his relatives collapsed. Being with so much power and being able to kill someone and get away with it, would make someone feel untouchable, but in 1994 he had ordered a hit of an entire family, this case automatically made him sign his death warrant. In Trinidad and Tobago, in those years , the punishment for a crime like this was execution by 18 hanging. When the night came for this horrendous crime to take place, it didn’t go as planned , one of his men left-back the families, two children. The 11-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter were hidden by one of his men , who said everyone was dead. No man who is committing an immoral act should be so cruel enough to kill innocent children. In other words, a child or children should not be held accountable for their parent’s or family’s wrongdoings. This case leads to, two out of his eight men to turn against him and become witnesses. In Ethical Formalism , Immanuel Kant’s theory clearly states, if something is wrong it is wrong at all times and if something is right, it is right at all times, a person should do the right thing for the right reasons. His two men did this, after thinking , they realised they should do the right thing, having to kill innocent children isn’t the way to go. Even though it was wrong of them to do this, they got money and power. Ethical Formalism is saying money and power should not order you to kill a family that includes children. Utilitarianism is saying it is believed that the morality of an action should be determined by how much it contributes to the greater good of society. The two men did the correct thing because of how much more families they could or would have killed and how much more children they would have to hide. Hence , all of this information, Dole Chadee and the eight men of his gang was sentenced to death by hanging, their punishment was as equal as their crimes and it was believed up onto this day that these men got what they deserved. CHAPTER 12 DISCRETION AND DILEMMA FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS 19 CHAPTER 12: DISCRETION AND DILEMMAS FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS Article Title: Shocking footage taken within an Ohio jail appears to show abuse by correctional officers Article Date: June, 21st , 2019 20 Source of Article: Insider News / https://www.insider.com/footage-taken-within-ohio-jail-showabuse-by-correctional-officers-2019-6 Writer: Lauren Frias Ethical Analysis: Discretion is an individual's choice or judgment. In the correction law enforcement, there are many definitions for discretion. For example,discretion is a full range of control, including denial of liberty and application of physical force, correction officer has discretionary power, this power is used to exercise a discretion which the court cannot legally interfere, this power leads to inmates being charged with a disciplinary infraction versus delivery of a verbal reprimand. People with power and authority often abuse it, in society if you don't like someone or envy them, you try everything for them to not succeed. In addition to this, the prisons are just like this, if officers have the authority or play a part of your early release, they can deny your early release. For example, noted above, they have control of denying you your freedom. In prison, solitary confinement is usually taking thirty to sixty (30-60) days, months or even years, this can be one of the cruelest punishments a prisoner can receive, this is where the inmate has no interaction with other inmates and all they get is food when necessary. According to Dr. Elena Suarez of Brain Chemistry, “ Robert King was in confinement for twenty-nine (29) years and because of being in confinement for so long, fear and anxiety were two symptoms that he had when he was in solitary confinement.” Inmates are usually put into confinement when behaved badly or to avoid prison staff and other prison inmates.Correction officers often abuse their power by humiliating or belittling inmates, they do this to show them that they are in power and that they can't do anything because they'll get into trouble or receive harsh punishment. In this video, three (3) victims were abused by prison guards all because of their discretionary power. The first victim Terrance Dubose, a mentally ill patient was punched on his head several times by two (2) prison officers who were then left with a concussion resulting from the beatings, according to the reports , which was tampered by one of the prison guards. One of the officers were charged and the other was indicted, if the officer was accused of a serious crime and there was evidence, how was he indicted and not charged to be found guilty. The second victim, Chantelle Glass was strapped to a wheelchair , received a punch to her face where she kicked the officer to then receive pepper spray directly in her eyes. These officers were indicted 21 and charged, the main questions to these “ ritual of torture” is why do these things occur , is it because the guards hold so much power and ca do what they want? Lastly, this victim Joseph Arquillo collapsed due to drug overdose and he was ignored for two hours before he got medical help. He was then pronounced dead hours later, there are many questions to understand how, where and whom he got the drugs from and what kind of drugs did he take or received. Hence, all this information, according to David Cameron, “ The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world. It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face.” These words simply mean even a good person can become evil because of the world we live in. CONCLUSION In conclusion, there can be a doubt on these articles given above, since everyone would apply different ethical theories based on their opinion. After analyzing the articles , one should or might be aware of the problems that take place in everyday society. These topics , should make someone look at things differently based on their values and morals. According to W. Clement Stone , "Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity." These words simply mean your actions should always be honest based on your morals and ethical principles.
