What is ethical may not be legal, and vice versa. The law sets what should be done and what should not be done, minimum behavioral standards, while ethics has maximum behavioral standards. This is one of the dilemmas that the law imposers and prosecutors find themselves in. Ethics is about humanity and personal opinions, while the law is written. This paper offers opinions on whether decisions made by the prosecutor on the cases is ethical or legal.
Leaking the identity of the 17-year-old gang member was illegal. It was a crime shooting to the media, and according to the law, he should have been arrested. Ethically, the prosecutor was right. Every human being would want to protect life. The gang members were a threat to the criminal’s life. Offering protective custody to a criminal is lawfully wrong, but looking at the conditions is ethically right.
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Arresting the 14-year old boy was illegal, but it was ethical. A person is detained only when proved quilt. The 14-year-old suffered because of his relative, who is a murderer. The prosecutor went against the law. His reason was to save the public from the murderer. He had good intentions for the public, that of protection against criminals.
It was lawfully right to arrest the brother with a small amount of marijuana because it was a sign that he is into drugs. Furthermore, the brother is a big drug smuggler who has claimed the lives of many teenagers. A prosecutor does not look at the interests of one client at the expense of the whole public (Sandoval, 2020). It was right to arrest him because probably he was following the brother’s path to ‘greatness’ in drug smuggling. Ethically, the punishment was too big for the boy, looking at the repercussions of losing a college scholarship because of possession of a small amount of marijuana.
Conclusively, a prosecutor is faced with situations that require creative thinking to make the correct decisions. Decisions may be lawful but ethically wrong. The decision lies in the hands of the prosecutor.
Reference
Sandoval L. Joshua (2020). Ethical considerations for prosecutors: how recent advancements have changed the face of prosecution. St. Mary’s journal on legal malpractice and ethics , 10(1) 60-100. https://commons.stmarytx.edu/Imej/vol10/iss1/7
