Case study criminal justice - Essay Example

In fact, the criminal justice system is comprised of various professionals who use considerable amount of power and authority over others. So, it is necessary for such professionals to be aware of ethical issues as it helps in taking crucial decisions including discretion, force, and due process because it is highly likely for criminal justice professionals to feel tempted to abuse the power vested in them. Two major ethical issues associated with the use of authority are the use of authority to promote personal values, and the use of authority to avoid accountability for wrong doing.

Some other common ethical issues that can arise in the professional sphere are the use of professional status to promote personal interests, the use of institutional time and materials for personal gain, the promotion of professional activities that are against personal values, the involvement in any public or private personal activity that is contrary to professional values. Policing and Importance of Ethics According to Kleinig (1996, pp. 234-255), there are various ethical issues associated with policing policies.

The first one, according to Kleinig, is the selective enforcement of law. To illustrate, though laws are written in uncompromising language that the ones who do legally prohibited acts should be arrested and charged, what happens in practice is not definitely so. In reality, police officers use a considerable amount of discretion in deciding whether or not to arrest or charge a person, and on what grounds. To illustrate, a police officer may bring a juvenile to his parents, thus saving him from a lasting arrest record, and in the similar circumstances, another officer may take him to station.

One may resort to issue a warning for speeding while another may prefer a summons. Thus, police offers without a clear understanding of ethics can resort to actions that reveal social, cultural, or religious bias. There are various ethical questions associated with the use of various police tactics ranging from deception, seduction and entrapment. To illustrate, two most salient and defining features of the present day police interrogation are psychological persuasion and manipulation. Here, the question arises as to whether these follow the principles of due process and fairness.

In other words, there are people like Gary Marx who ask the question if it is right to use physical intimacy, sex and psychological intimacy as a way of investigation. Thus, in total, it is evident that there is the need for codes of ethics in the stage of investigation and charging. Courts and Judicial Processes There are various areas where there is the need to have clear understanding of ethical issues in the judicial process. For example, there is plea bargaining that occurs in 90% of the cases, and is the result of crowded courts and prisons instead of proper process and law.

In addition, there are various issues related to the rights of criminal defendants. However, the most important one is the jury nullification. In other words, a jury may refuse to follow the law and allow a not guilty verdict even when there is clear evidence of guilt. In addition, there is the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution that allows trial of an accused by a jury of his peers. Moreover, there are issues like the use of capital