The primary role of ethics in criminal justice is to ensure that the criminal justice system serves the population needs accurately. The major role of the criminal justice system is to restore order by punishing wrongdoers by ensuring that criminals are appropriately taken through the legal system while at the same time ensuring that the victims are compensated accordingly. In addition, the criminal justice system should ensure that wrongdoers are completely removed and isolated from society. Based on this regard, ethics plays an integral role in such a distinguished justice system to ensure that both the victim and the accused receive balanced legal processes and fair hearing. Any human subject involved in one way or another should be treated with utmost care so that various ethical concerns are adhered to such as the privacy and autonomy of the victims and the accused. This paper, therefore, examines the most common ethical issues that arise from the justice system. Paper then suggests the right ethical code of conduct that professionals in the criminal system should abide by so that they can earn the public trust while they carry on their day to day duties.
According to Souryal (2014), ethics is collectively applied in all aspects of life to define the best practices through social lives and practice moral conduct. Ethics can be defined as a set of guidelines for the behavior of respective professions (Albanese, 2006). In this regard, Banks (2018) notes that professionals working in criminal justice face the toughest job as they strive to serve the populace as they mandated by the law (Jones, 2012). Recent studies indicate that 31 percent of law enforces see their major roles as protecting the society against the adversaries of the law offenders, however, on 8 percent of members of the public believes so while a whopping 29 percent believe that police officers cause more harm than good while they carry their day to day duties (Banks, 2018).
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Ethics in criminal justice is mandatory as the practice and professionals interact and handle human subjects whose mandate to autonomy, privacy, and data integrity must be protected (Braswell et al., 2017). For balanced and effective criminal justice systems, an acceptable ethical code of conduct is mandatory so that the parties involved in the quest for justice get the chance to a fair and free hearing process without jeopardy (Souryal, 2014). Human subjects have become the common factors of trade in the corridors of legal processes.
The most common ethical issues in the criminal justice include protecting the victims and the defenders against unauthorized profiling which may injure their privacy rights, ensuring that the citizens are protected against basic rights violation as well as ensuring that right force is used by officers during investigation processes (Albanese, 2006). Of all the mentioned ethical concerns, the right use of force remains the toughest to ensure as several complaints are logged about excessive use of force. As a result, many subjects have been mishandled and their rights to privacy and autonomy violated.
Criminal Justice and Ethics
Just like any professional field, ethics plays the major role of guiding professionals to ensure that they give the best during service delivery while protecting the populace's privacy, data integrity, and autonomy rights (Banks, 2018). As such, the criminal justice sector has a set of standard conduct, and any professionals found violating these rules are subject to stiff punishments, including termination of service delivery (Jones, 2012). Besides, criminal justice ethics has the role of conducting awareness and informing those involved in the justice system about the dangers and risks involved in the entire process. For instance, criminal justice researchers who strive to obtain reliable information that can be used in the court of law should be aware of the risk that they are likely to face as they dig for the information.
Moreover, since the data collected involve human subjects, it should be protected, and the participants assured of their privacy rights (Souryal, 2014). Law enforcers, primarily police officers, should ensure that the suspects are handled within humans defines and that their rights are not violated whatsoever. Another ethical issue in criminal justice is to ensure that all the victims involved in the criminal justice process are made aware of their constitutional rights regarding the sharing of information, which can be then used against them in the court of law (Banks, 2018). For instance, it is unlawful to coarse the suspect in an unacceptable manner so that they can give out the information which they are not aware of or willing to share. However, the use of force might be used only under the confines of the law.
Victims Privacy
Criminal justice depends on data collected from the victims who are involved in the quest for justice (Albanese, 2006). The data collected in most cases in personal, sensitive and involves indefinable cues that can badly expose the persons if the data is not adequately kept. It is important to note that during the process of researching for the information that should be used in the court of law, victims divulge a myriad of data sets that can be used to maim them badly should it land in the wrong hands (Jones, 2012). Professionals in the justice field should avoid invading victim privacy as the constitution protects it. In some cases, for instance, the process of information quest can be done without knowing the person giving out the information. This can be done anonymously to make sure that persons who share the information are protected from harassment by the influential figures in the court corridors.
On the other hand, Souryal (2014) notes that if the criminal justice research must entail sensitive data of the victims, all the due procedures should be followed so that the data is kept and strictly accessed by those who are involved. At this stage, it is important to authenticate the data collected and make use of the last privilege so that only the authorized persons get accessed to the sensitive data (Banks, 2018). Data protection is not only meant for privacy issues for protection and safety matters (Jones, 2012). For instance, Braswell et al. (2017) assert that it is a common phenomenon during the criminal justice process for witnesses, whistle-blowers, and witnesses threatened to stop giving the vital legal information that can be used to prosecute the influential figures who have committed various crimes. Those collecting legal information should protect the privacy and hide the victim's identity so that they can remain safe from the harassment.
A study by Jones (2012) found out that criminal justice ethics still holds for the inmates in prison by evaluating and examine various habit conditions in prisons. Inmates should be treated with care under acceptable human conditions so that their different fundamental rights are not violated (Albanese, 2006). For instance, the inmates should have the right to healthy food, access to health services, and the hygienic prison environment. Besides, standard ethical standards also ensure that there is no overcrowding, which can lead to contagious diseases (Banks, 2018). On the other hand, ethical concerns extend to acceptable gender-based treatment conditions within the prison premises. For instance, there should be separate prisons for a specific gender, that is, women or men prisons. In a case where the same prison contains both genders, there should be distinctive women prison distanced from the men's, so that privacy issues are observed.
Autonomy of Victims
The right to remain autonomous is paramount to all citizens as it is one of the core rights defining acceptable human living conditions. Souryal (2014) points out that it is difficult to ensure autonomous parameters because the freedom to make independent decisions may conflict with the standing governing laws. However, according to Albanese (2006), in the situation where the accused is still under probation, they can enjoy their right to autonomy provide that they are doing so under the confines of the law. In the criminal justice system, the victims are, in most cases, denied the right to autonomy, a phenomenon that violates the ethical concerns within the criminal justice system.
Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice
According to the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics introduced in 1957, there are five basic principles guiding law enforcers, especially police officers. The fists principle is to serve the community (Jones, 2012). This principle states that police officers are mandated to serve the community wholeheartedly. Therefore, Braswell et al. (2017) note that their significant role is to safeguard the society and to ensure that the community is protected against deception, violence as well as ensuring that their property is protected. It also ensures that all the constitutional rights are observed to the latter.
The second principle is for police officers to lead by example. It means that police officers should act with utmost honesty, integrity, and observe the bravery of serving the people without fear. In this regard, police officers are expected to keep their private lives from the eyes of the public so that they remain professional while they are discharging their duties as well as upholding the law. Another important principle is for law enforcers to remain partial and objective as discharge their duties (Braswell et al., 2017). For example, judges in the criminal justice systems should ensure that the hearing process is free and fair so that both the accused and the victim get the right judgment that is not biased.
Another ethical principle is for the police officers to respect the badge and the office. The police badge symbolizes public faith (Albanese, 2006). As a result, any action the police officer takes should reflect the symbols. It shuns acts of corruption, nepotism, bribes, and obstruction of justice. The fifth principle is taking responsibility. It is the solitude role for law enforcers to ensure that they maintain the acceptable professional standards at all times so that they win the public trust and faith (Jones, 2012).
Common Ethical Violations in Criminal Justice
though law enforcement ethics is clear and defines the scope through which the officers should discharge their duties (Banks, 2018). On the same ground, Dreisbach (2009) points out that criminal justice professionals work under pressure, which might lead to mistakes in the process of decision making. In this regard, many ethical violations have been committed, which might also violate law and order. The first ethical violation is an ethical violation where police officers may end up using a lot of force on the suspects against the constraints of the law (Pollo, 2014). For example, Jones (2012) notes that police officers deal with violent lawbreakers, which may dictate them to use force. In the process, too much force might be used that might end up violating the suspect victims. However, such actions, in most cases, violate the right of the accused as it is required that only optimal force should be used.
Another ethical violation is intimidation or deception to already arrested victims (Jones, 2012). Braswell et al. (2017) note that the law requires to protect the suspects from intimidation of giving false information that might make their legal process unviable. The standard ethical concerns require that all the victims and suspects are protected from deceptions from the professionals (Banks, 2018). On the other hand, law enforcement officers, in most cases, have been blamed for making false or biased decisions. The significant role of police officers is to uphold the law, which should be done without involving personal beliefs and feelings.
Conclusion
To conclude, there is a heavy burden of ensuring that an acceptable code of ethics is enhanced in the justice system. The major challenge in the criminal justice that hinders ethical code of conduct is intense pressure law enforcer work under. However, it is essential to note that ethics is fundamental when it comes to winning public trust. Ethics are the essential guidelines that govern and uphold acceptable behaviors of criminal justice professionals. Even though achieving exclusive ethical conduct is not easy to achieve in the realm of criminal justice, law enforcers should strive to make their noble profession stand out so that they can earn the public trust.
References
Albanese, J. (2006). Professional Ethics in Criminal Justice
Banks, C. (2018). Criminal justice ethics: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2017). Justice, crime, and ethics. Taylor & Francis.
Dreisbach, C. (2009). Ethics in criminal justice. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Jones, J. A. (2012). "Ethical Considerations in Criminal Justice Research: Informed Consent and Confidentiality." Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse, 4(08). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=674
Pollo.ck, J. M. (2014). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Nelson Education.
Souryal, S. S. (2014). Ethics in criminal justice: In search of the truth. Routledge.
