Why People Make the Decisions They Make - Research Paper Example

? Running head: ETHICS, MORALS, AND CRIMINALS Why People Make the Decisions They Make, Especially when Knowing what the Consequences Will Be for Those Actions Introduction Although both ethics and moral seem to address similar issues, there is a subtle difference where moral, most of the time refers to personal characteristics held and practiced by individuals. Ethics on the other hand is a social system that people agree upon in order to conduct their day-to-day activities. When seen from such perspective ethics could directly refer to standards or codes of behavior a given group of individuals have to adhere to. A few examples to mention could be company ethics, professional ethics, family ethics, or school ethics those who are participants in such establishments or institutions should have to adhere to. The outcome of such outlook is individual moral codes or values do not change often, while ethics can change depending on what the particular participation of individuals are. Accordingly, what ethics refers to is right way and wrong way of doing things or acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a given setup such as a workplace. Sources such as Josephine had what he called the Six Pillars individuals can use to improve their ethical approach when they make decisions. These Pillars are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Keeping them in mind while making decisions will enable individuals to harbor an ethical approach all the time. Individuals could also learn ethical norms starting from their own homes and then can capitalize on what they encounter in schools, churches, and eventually in the various social settings they could participate in. This means that individuals will start to make themselves familiar with what is right and wrong starting from their childhood. On the other hand, moral development could be a lifetime process where individuals could enrich their moral values as they go through various developmental stages of growth. The outcome of going through such experience is that each individual is capable of developing his or her own way of interpreting and applying the code of ethics and moral values, the reason why the outcome of individuals’ actions differ at the end, where some of the actions could be labeled as criminal acts. The reason for that could be the action might have overridden the legal rules that are put in place to govern individual behavior. However, ethics and moral are much broader than laws introduced by a given body such as a government and ethics and moral values are different from laws. The reason for that is a given action might be considered to be adhering to what the law requires, but when looking at the end result it is possible to find out it was unethical and vice versa where some actions might be illegal, but ethical. This kind of approach might be applicable in organizations where it is possible to engage in unethical behavior in order to benefit oneself or through a process of carrying out one’s duty when, for example, a medical practitioner carries out abortion some consider to be unethical or when a criminal lawyer has to defend a criminal that he or she knows could have committed a given crime, simply because their professional ethics require them to do so. There is also an outright criminal activity that could take place at workplace where at a higher level some company or government officials would decide to benefit themselves wrongfully by breaking company ethics codes or government regulations and policies. At a lower level employees could engage in larceny that will force them to break the law, as well as break the ethical code of the company they work for that forbids such activity, while at the same time they disregard their own moral values. Criminals When it comes to those labeled as “common criminals” the reason behind their action is more complicated than applying the rules of ethics and moral, because some of them, for various reasons explained below might not even be aware of the existence of ethical codes and moral norms. For example, looking at an individual who commits a crime of shoplifting could reveal that, at the time the illegal activity took place, the individual might have been desperate. Similar crimes could also be committed by highly organized groups that might not be desperate, but want to put their hands on as much money as they can through organized crime. Because of that, most crimes committed outside of organizations that have their own ethical codes in place that those who are working for them should adhere to require examining the reasons why individuals resort to criminal activities, because their circumstances could defy any ethics and moral discipline. Criminal Theories The earliest theory held was demonology and it stated that criminals were individuals under the possession of some evil power that could only be eliminated if the afflicted ones are subjected to torturous treatment. For such individuals, no environment or social order exists. Lombroso (1876) put forward his “atavistic form” theory where he explicitly stated criminality is inherited and some face features could tell if the individual is a born criminal or not. Freud came with his own observation where he said deviance is the outcome of sense of guilt that will lead to overdeveloped superego and such individuals crave to get rid of the guilt by going through grueling punishment and hence they break the law to attain such punishment. According to Freud, being criminal has nothing to do with individual’s personality. Instead, it is the outcome of undeveloped psyche. At least Freud touches on right and wrong upbringing of children where if the right kind of upbringing is missing, such children could be engaged in criminal acts in order to obtain gratification that they cannot obtain any other way such as food, sex, and general survival needs (Robert, 1989, Pigman, 1995,). Aughust Aichom highlighted three predisposing traits that are the harbingers of a criminal life. They are individuals who want to have immediate gratification, individuals who uphold their personal desire over others, and those with total lack of guilt from the outcome of their action (Strozier, 2004). Bandura (2002) demonstrated that criminal behavior could be learned and there has to be a good enforcement in a form of reward in order to take root. At the same time individuals could observe others and might choose to adopt certain behavior such as criminality, without being too bothered about the ethicality or morality of their action. Criminologists Theories Criminologists had also been coming up with their own theories in order to be in a better position to handle and prevent criminal activities. The following are some of their theories: Rational choice theory states that self interest is at the center of why individuals resort to criminal activities and instead of the right and wrong or ethical or moral evaluations they make their priority the risk involved in parallel to the reward they will get if they get away with it (Homans, 1961). Social disorganizational theory looks at the physical and social environment individuals are living in, where neighborhoods that lack good schools and are in the midst of vacant or vandalized buildings, with a high unemployment rate could be a breeding ground for criminal minded individuals (Shaw and Mckay, 1942). Strain theory upholds that most criminals are individuals who could fail to meet society’s expectation by going through available channels and to make up for it they could resort to criminal activity (Mertron, 1985). Social learning theory attests to the fact that associating with people that have criminal record could enable criminals to learn the skill and eventually to implement it (Bandura, 1977). Social control theory states that many social institutions can prevent the occurrence of crime and those who can evade association with such institutions could end up being criminals (Hirschi, 2002). Labeling theory indicates that authorities decide which behavior is criminal and which is not that will lead to labeling some as such resulting in taking away some of the opportunities from those that fall under this category forcing them to pursue a criminal existence (Becker, 1963). Biology, genetics, and evolution theory take into consideration lack of proper diet, psychiatric and psychological complication, improper mental functioning, and rewarding criminal activity could all lead to activity that is more criminal in nature (Cauffman, Steinberg, and Piquero, 2005). Because of that when talking about common criminals they either have to be mentally challenged or ill, somehow they are not in a position to attain their goals through legitimate means, genetically askew toward criminality, criminals might have trained such individuals, or were being befriended by them for a long while, could be forced by circumstantial situations, might have encountered traumatic experience, and as a remote possibility such individuals could suffer from hormone imbalance. In addition, groups called individual crime theory group have their own perception of criminal motives that they call ecological and social crime theories that focus on learned behavior, cultural transmission, and social bonds. According to this approach the important factors that influence the ethical and moral standards of individuals are psychology, psychiatry, and physical characteristics. Accordingly, the possibility that criminals learn the activity from friends, peer group, family influence, a mentor, or an authoritative figure is high. Such sources also blame the problem on society that expects everyone to obtain wealth at some level, while at same time restricting the available routes that could result in forcing some to resort to criminal activities to obtain wealth (Cauffman et al, 2005). Summary and Conclusion Based on such assumptions, ethics and moral are applicable at a higher level such as in organizations that have their own ethical code that dictate as to how their employees carry out their duty and could state what the proper behaviors are showing that such ethics, although they have universal similarity could differ from one organization to the other depending on what kind of purpose such organizations are out to serve. As individuals change their career, they might have to adhere to different set of rules and ethical codes. When looking at moral values they are norms individuals will grow up with and could change as they travel through life by learning from numerous life experiences where they can form norms and values as to how to conduct themselves when they encounter various circumstances. Both ethical codes and moral values could be breached for personal benefit and it is that kind of engagements that are labeled as criminal acts, because the possibility that they break the law is also there showing that ethics and morals are not laws by their own, although they help and enable individuals not to break the laws that are out there to observe proper conducts and proper way of doing things. Depending where individuals are within a given system, they could engage in an ethical and immoral behavior or act without breaking the law where, for example, for some abortion is unethical and immoral while for others it is not. However, some criminal activities are outright illegal and would require the involvement of law enforcement officials such as the police. Because of that, it is difficult to draw a line and state that ethics and moral values are part of the make-up of every individual and those who override them are breaking some ethical codes or moral values, because as discussed earlier the reason why individuals commit crime is dependant upon many reasons that do not have any direct relation with being ethical or moral. WORKS CITED Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bandura, A. (2002). "Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency". Journal Of Moral Education 31 Becker, Howard S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York:Macmillan. Cauffman, Elizabeth, Lawrence Steinberg, and Alex R. Piquero. (2005) “Psychological, Neuropsychological and Physiological Correlates of Serious Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence: The Role of Self-Control.” Criminology 43.1 Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. Holt, Robert. (1989) Freud Reappraised: A Fresh Look At Psychoanalytic Theory. The Guilford Press, Homans, G. (1961) Social Behaviour: Its Elementary Forms. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Lombroso, Cesare .(1997) A Brief Biography", Brain and Mind Merton, Robert K. (1985-12). "George Sarton: Episodic Recollections by an Unruly Apprentice". Isis 76 (4): Pigman, G.W. "Freud and the history of empathy", The International journal of psycho-analysis. April 1995, vol 76, issue 2, Shaw, C. R. and H.D. McKay. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas; A study of rates of delinquents in relation to differential characteristics of local communities in American cities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Strozier, Charles B. (2004). Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. . Read More