Morals and ethics are two crucial factors in the practice of criminal justice. Morals refer to the standards within a given society that help identify right and wrong behavior. In this regard, fairness, honesty, tolerance, and non-malevolence all form part of moral behavior within a given group. On the other hand, ethics refer to the philosophical examination of the principles of behavior that help recognize why one behavior is right while another is wrong (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2017). Within the criminal justice arena, ethics help identify why behavior in a particular occupation is appropriate or not. It is for this reason that nursing ethics is the correct term and not nursing morals (Bottoms, & Tankebe, 2012). For an action to be considered a crime and punishable within the jurisdiction of the state, it is essential that it violates the moral standards of the community or particular group. However, the action should also go against the established criminal codes enforced in the state.
Both morals and ethics are important aspects of the criminal justice arena as they help the personnel to undertake measures of enforcing the law appropriately. For instance, a police officer will take into consideration why arresting a corrupt political leader is the right decision rather than allowing him to continue in his practices. The process of identifying the numerous reasons that justify the officer’s action incorporates ethics. It is a system of recognizing the positive aspects of enforcing and embracing the behavior. On the other hand, morality takes into focus the actions themselves (Bottoms, & Tankebe, 2012). For instance, the practice of a judge sentencing a criminal to death is moral unlike when an individual seeks revenge upon a friend using the same action. In the authority and jurisdiction given by the law, a judge’s actions against a convicted felon serve as moral behaviors. However, the lack of authority and inability to hear out the defense of the victim makes a similar action immoral (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2017). The criminal justice arena incorporates morals and ethics to show that action is not simply selfish or directed to serve personal interests.
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References
Bottoms, A., & Tankebe, J. (2012). Beyond procedural justice: A dialogic approach to legitimacy in criminal justice. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 102 (1), 119-170.
Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2017). Justice, crime, and ethics, (9 th Ed) . New York: Taylor & Francis.
