Chapter 4 - Ethical Essentials: Doing the Right Thing When No One Is Watching

Ethics

Ethics is essential to being a criminal justice practitioner.

Philosophical Foundations - Ethics

Ethics

- Greek idea of "character"

Question of whose ethics and which is right?

Deontological Ethics - Kant (Good Intent)

- Greek roots, deos, meaning "duty," and logos, meaning "study"

- Used as an excuse by officers when issuing citations that have little utility or benefit.

Absolute Ethics

Good or bad, black or white

Examples

- Bribery

- Extortion

- Excessive force

- Perjury

Relative Ethics

What one person considers to be ethical behavior may be deemed highly unethical by someone else

- Sometimes tolerated by the community

- Necessary and justified?

- Essential part of the community policing movement

Relative Ethics - Principle of Double Effect

Person commits an act to achieve a good

- But intended effect is negative

- Then the act might be justified

- Utilitarianism

Types of Ethics - Three Critical Factors Affecting Policing

1. Growing level of temptation

- Drug trade

2. Compromising nature of organizational culture

- Code of Silence

3. Challenges of Decentralization

- Community policing

Noble Cause Corruption

Thomas Martinelli

- Corruption committed in name of good ends

- Officers often act as if they are the law

Discipline based on:

- Due process, fairness, equity, and comprehensive decision making

A Primer: The Oral Job Interview

- Agencies do not want to hire those that act unethically

- Too dangerous/expensive, legally and morally

- Hypothetical ethics questions often used

- Thorough background checks

- Should you or should you not tell?

Police Corruption

Can be defined broadly

- Major forms to the pettiest forms of improper behavior

- Acceptance of services received

- Status, influence, prestige

- Future support for the officer or someone else

Police Corruption - Two Types

Two Primary Types

Meat-Eaters

- Seek out situations they can exploit for financial gain

- Gambling, narcotics, etc.

Grass-Eaters

- Majority of those officers who accept payoffs

- They are not aggressive but will accept gratuities

To Inform or Not to Inform: The Code of Silence

Reasons for Informing

- Harm caused by scandal

- Individual corruption stopped

- Sworn duty to uphold the law

Reasons Against

- Officers are members of a police family

- Skilled officer is a valuable asset

Training is Necessary!

- Internal Affairs, prosecution, etc.

Law Enforcement Code of Ethics & Oath of Honor 1957

International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)

- Includes all details of duties, professional life, discretion, etc.

Law Enforcement Oath of Honor

- Separate, shorter code, easier to remember

- Mutually supportive of LECE

- IACP hopes for implementation in all police agencies and officers

Accepted and Deviant Lying

Slippery Slope

- People tread on solid or legal ground but at some point slip

Accepted Lying

- Intended to apprehend or entrap suspects

Deviant Lying

- Perjury to convict suspects or are deceptive

- Deception often practiced to get confessions

- Generally accepted by the public

Three Methods - Gary Marx

1. Performing illegal action as part of larger, legal goal

2. Disguising illegal action

3. Morally weakening suspect

Illinois v. Perkins (1990)

Supreme Court

- Undercover agents investigating crime not required to administer Miranda Warning to incarcerated people

Two Types of Deviant Lying - Barker and Carter

1. Lie to secure a conviction, obtain a search warrant, or conceal omissions during an investigation

2. Lying that conceals or promotes criminal activity

- Up to ¼ would commit perjury to to secure conviction or warrant

- Left unchecked, becomes organizationally acceptable

Accepting Gratuities

Many officers accept free meals, drinks, discounts, etc.

Basic arguments against accepting gratuities are slippery slope as a pathway to corruption

Greed and Temptation

- Significant amount of temptation for officers exists

- Regularly alone inside businesses

- Night shift

- Potential for payoffs to overlook drug trafficking, etc.

The Unseen Side of Police Work

- Random Acts of Kindness

Ethics in the Courts - Evolving Standards of Conduct 1906-1921

- Roscoe Pounds Formalized standards of conduct

- American Bar Association (1921) Prompted resolution of censure and committee to propose standards of judicial ethics

Evolving Standards of Conduct pt 2

1924 - Canons of Judicial Ethics

Chief Justice William Howard Taft.

1972 - Model Code of Judicial Conduct

1990 - Adopted revised model code

1974 - Code of Conduct for United States Judges

U.S. Judicial Conference

1989 - Ethics Reform Act passed by Congress.

The Judge

In a perfect world, judges are flawless

- Try to prevent personal biases in their work, but...

Examples of Misconduct

- Abuse of judicial power

- Inappropriate sanctions and dispositions

- Not meeting the standards of impartiality and competence

- Conflict of interest

- Personal conduct

The Judge Pt2

Model Code of Judicial Conduct

- Generally, keep position after violations of laws or ethics

- Creation of an ethical alarm system.

- Most difficult tenet to apply

Avoiding appearance of impropriety

- Ability to carry out responsibilities with integrity, impartiality, and competence is impaired

Prosecutors

The Harmless Error Doctrine

- Appellate court can affirm a conviction despite the presence of misconduct

- Appellate courts must take a stricter, more consistent approach

Defense Attorneys

Legally and morally bound to ethical principles

Seven Principles

1. Treat others as ends in themselves

not as just means to winning cases

2. Treat clients and other professional relations the same

3. Do not deliberately engage in behavior to deceive the court of the truth

4. Make reasonable personal sacrifices of time, money, and popularity

5. Do not give/accept money from clients for wrongful purposes or in wrongful amounts

6. Avoid harming others in the course of representing your client.

7. Be loyal to your client, and do not betray their confidence

Other Court Employees

Court Administrators

Court reporters

Courtroom clerks, law clerks, etc.

Bailiffs

Laws Governing Federal Employees

1978 - Title 18 of U.S. Code and the Ethics in Government Act of 1978

- Response to Watergate scandal

- Promote public confidence in government

Amended many times

- Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (Public Law 101-194)

Whistleblower Protection Act (1989)

Strengthened Ethics Reform Act

- Prohibits reprisal against federal employees disclosing:

- Violation of law, rule, or regulation

- Gross mismanagement,

- Waste of funds

- Abuse of authority

- Specific and substantial danger to public health and safety

Canons of Ethical Behavior

Canon 1:

A judge should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary

Canon 2:

A judge should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities.

Canon 3:

A judge should perform the duties of the office impartially and diligently.

Canon 4

A judge may engage in extrajudicial activities that are consistent with the obligations of judicial office

Canon 5:

A judge should refrain from political activity

Implicit Restrictions for Judges

According to ABA, must disqualify (recuse) themselves if:

- Personal knowledge of disputed facts

- Employed in a law firm that handled the same matter while they were there

- Has a close relative who is a party or an attorney

- Personally owns, or has an immediate family member who owns, a financial interest in a party

- As a government official, served as a counsel in the case

Ethics in Corrections

Examples of Misconduct

- Inappropriate relationships with incarcerated

- Bringing in contraband

- Physical or sexual abuse

Subculture contributes to these issues

- Influence over the behavior of correctional officers

- Exposure to external danger in the workplace creates a remarkable increase in group solidarity