Abuse of authority the ethical implications - Essay Example

?Running header: ABUSE ITY Abuse ity the ethical implications Abuse ity the ethical implications The abuse of authority is a problem for the Criminal Justice system in the United States. In some cases the abuse of authority is clearly seen as in situations like the RAMPART days in Los Angeles in other cases it is far less visible and can be seen in daily interactions between citizens and law enforcement. The purpose of this paper is to define what abuse of authority is, and to address the ethical dilemma that is rightly attached. Additionally addressed will be my personal stance, what changes could be made as well as the implications of the abuse of power when coupled with one’s faith. Abuse of Authority the ethical implications The definition of authority is a person who is command, or a government agency tasked with the role of administering to the public. The definition of abuse as defined by Merriam Webster dictionary is, “Improper or excessive use or treatment, physical maltreatment, a corrupt practice or custom” (Abuse, 2011). When combined and applied to the criminal justice system these words create a phrase that means a government agency which is corrupt or uses improper or excessive force. Some more common examples of abuse of power are, politicians using their position to profit, law enforcement using their position to promote non sanctioned methods, direct physically oppressive behaviors and using a nations military to secure private corporate monetary and physical gains. The abuse of power or authority can result in a loss of confidence by the general public, riots and war if it is advanced enough. None of these are beneficial to the state at large especially with regards to the criminal justice system and the desire to advance order through a fair and impartial justice system. With modern communications ability one event can quickly become a much larger political issue causing fractures in the fabric of society as a result. Personally, I believe that the abuse of power or authority is a crime and cannot be tolerated. Seeing that the abuse of authority can cause much larger problems it is necessary to ensure that when it occurs it is immediately stopped and if necessary an example is made so as to prevent future instances of this nature. As a professional member of the criminal justice world it is up to me to apply a fair and even approach regardless of the situation and to never use my power either perceived or real to profit personally or in an abusive manner. The United States is largely Christian and even though there are other religious and non-religious views that it is to a large part Christian can also have a positive or detrimental effect on the abuse of power. Researcher Joycelyn M. Pollock in her manuscript Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice states, “A fundamental question discussed by philosophers and religious scholars is whether God commands us not to commit an act because it is inherently wrong, or whether an act acquires its “badness” or “goodness” solely from God’s definition of it” (Pollock, 2008 pg. 41). Does this mean we act base on what we believe God wants or what we have agreed to do as per the law of the land. The Bible itself clearly states that we are to “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves “(Biblegateway, 2011). Simply put by following the commands laid out for us in the Bible the abuse of power should never be an issue personally for Christians, however, we are all human as well. This means that mistakes can and are made, unfortunately, if a person is a Christian and is convicted of abusing their authority then it can have greater repercussions then just politically. Additionally because of the current various threats both external and internal to the security of the United States adding a religious element unfortunately can have drastically negative effects on the populace. This leads to the ethical implications inherent with the abuse of authority. Researcher Joycelyn M. Pollock in her manuscript Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice states, “The system (utilitarian ethics) presumes that one can predict the consequences of one’s actions…In real life, one never knows if an action will result in a greater good or ultimate harm” (Pollock, 2008 pg. 37). Logic therefor dictates that the abuse of authority not is allowed based in the premise that regardless of how minor an instance it is impossible to know what may come of that action. One scenario that deserves attention is the following ethical situation "You are a prison guard supervising a tier. One of the inmates comes to you and asks a favor. Because he is a troublemaker, his mail privileges have been taken away. He wants you to mail a letter for him. You figure it's not such a big deal; besides, you know he could make your job easier by keeping the other inmates on the tier in line. What would you tell him?” What would we as individuals do, it would be easy in a situation similar to this to simply say, that every prisoner has rights and we should help him, however, there is a reason for the actions taken which have led to his being stripped of these rights for the time being. Let’s break this down and present some hypothesis to better understand the situation. Ethically we know that breaking the rules that guide an institution can have drastically negative effects. For instance if this inmate is sending instructions to an outside source to do harm or break additional laws then we are facilitating these illegal and potentially harmful actions. Another hypothetical is that this inmate simply wants to assure his family that he is okay and that the lack of communication is not due to anything negative occurring. The rules are simple and easy to follow, he has been placed on restrictions due to negative behavior and once he shows improvement in his behavior he will gain these restricted privileges back. Obviously, the real ethical dilemma is not in understanding the rules themselves, but in applying those rules to the situation at hand and understanding what the results of disregarding those rules may be. An extreme example is someone gets killed or badly hurt as a result of an illicit command in his letter, alternatively if you are caught assisting this inmate you could face felony charges, lose your job and more. Therefore my answer would be, no, and if I was able I would explain why my answer is no. While excuses are not beneficial it is important that others especially this inmate understands that you are not willing to sacrifice your career and potentially freedom and family for the sake of a letter. I would let the inmate know that I would make a special request on his behalf to the warden and we could go from there. In conclusion we can see that the abuse of authority is never beneficial regardless of the positive intent behind the actions themselves. Not everyone will agree that my approach is fully ethical in the scenario given. According to one researcher, “The principle of deontology states that decisions should be judged on the circumstances in which they are made, rather than by their consequences…In philosophy, it means specifically ethics based on duty regardless of consequences”(Napal, 2004 pg. 7). What we should look to when involved in criminal justice is what does the law say, after all we represent the law and if we are unable to represent the law properly and in fact bend or break the law as it suits us then how can we expect respect or for anyone to desire to follow it. Reference page: Abuse,. (2011). Definition of abuse, merriam webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abuse Biblegateway,. (2011). Romans 13: 1-2, bible gateway. Retrieved from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2013&version=NASB Napal, G. (2004). An assessment of power abuse under ethics philosophies. (Page 7) Retrieved from http://bit.ly/elyz83 Pollock, J. (2008). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 6th Edition (Pages 37-41) Read More