Values and Criminal Justice Agencies - Essay Example

The officer also vows to respect the rights of all people as stipulated in the constitution including the right to equality, liberty, and justice. The officer also vows to be honest both in his personal and official life and to become an example by obeying the laws and regulations of the land. In this statement, the officer also recognizes the importance of not permitting his personal feelings, animosities or friendships, and prejudices to influence his decisions. He vows to enforce the law appropriately and courteously without malice, fear, or favor and never to use unnecessary force or violence.

Our Core Values
• Convict the guilty
• Protect victims
• Protect the innocent from wrongful conviction
• Maintain order
• Protect both the innocent and guilty from oppressive or arbitrary treatment
• Secure public confidence and cooperation in policing and prosecution; and
• Pursue these goals effectively and efficiently without disproportionate cost and consequent harm to other public services

Our core values relate to the criminal justice agency’s values statement as follows: we strive to protect all people including the innocent and victims from oppressive or arbitrary treatment just like the criminal agency strives to protect all persons including the weak and the peaceful from oppression, violence, or disorder. Another core value is securing public confidence in policing and prosecution which relates to the law officer will enforce the law without malice, fear, or favor.

People acquire values in several ways and the main examples are personal and cultural values. Personal values are essential values that define who we are. These are values developed in childhood and they change as people grow up due to socioeconomic factors and other social conditions. Cultural values on the other hand are those that are acquired as a result of being part of a group; a religion or a community. These values are mostly based on a person’s ethnicity and the kind of people a person grows up with. They are also subject to change.

According to Koivula (2008), values are abstract rules of desirable conduct and goals developed to fit the conditions in which society lives. The author also asserts that common values ensure that members of a society understand each other and pursue similar goals in a compatible way without a great deal of negotiation.
Values lead to knowledge sharing in the workplace (Koivula, 2008). The author gives an example of self-transcendence values including benevolence and Universalism which are positively connected with knowledge sharing in the workplace.

Values cause people to become independent in the workplace. People do not need to be closely supervised if they are guided by values. One is able to determine the nature of his or her work without significant direction from others.

Values enhance teamwork in the workplace. People tend to work towards common goals when they are guided by the same values. Employees are more likely to have a good working relationship when they work as a group and are governed by similar organizational values when performing their duties.
Values lead to organizational change. Koivula (2008) found that attitudes rely on values and they usually guide behavior in the workplace. The author states that organizational change requires a person to at least sacrifice his or her own resources and interests for the benefit of the whole organization. The author gives an example of values like benevolence, Universalism and hedonism as crucial in forming change attitudes in an organizational context.

Values also influence decision-making in the workplace. Workplace values enable people to make value judgments or decisions. People will strive to make decisions in line with the values governing their working environments; an example is when they do not let bias influence their decision-making.
In conclusion, workplaces including criminal justice agencies need to have values that guide their daily work activities. These values will guide people in handling other people, making decisions and their general behavior in their workplaces. Read More