Legal on Ethics - Case Study Example

ID Number: A Case Study on Ethics Case summary, methods and results Ethics is all about moral judgment which helps an individual to distinguish right from wrong. In every field ethics play a major role may that be in business world or in case of criminal justice. The case study which has been selected for analyzing importance or rather ignorance of ethics in field of criminal justice is “a case on police brutality in New Orleans”. From this case it is clearly evident that in certain scenario ethics is not given much importance by police officers. This case is about an incident which took place in New Orleans in the year 2006 and it focuses on an African-American Adolph Archie who was brutally beaten up by some police personnel. The case started off with Archie being injured because he was accused of killing a white police officer during downtown shootout. This case study is totally based on secondary research and some information which was contributed by Human Rights personnel and journalists. It was the moral duty of the officers to take Archie to the nearest hospital but they failed to fulfill their duties. Instead Archie was dragged to the police station by the officers where he was brutally beaten up the officers for shooting their fellow officer. However after that he was admitted to hospital but in few seconds he breathed out his last. In order to be on a safer side, officers were actively involved in destroying the X-Ray reports of Archie from hospital and even forced hospital in-charge to eradicate Archie’s name from the registration list. There were blood stains observed in the police station but officers present there said that there was a scuffle due to which Archie feel down. The truth behind this form of brutality had been hidden by those individuals who are considered to be pillars of criminal justice. Death of Archie was reported as a homicide which was caused due to police intervention. Police code of silence was greatly maintained within the police department by highest authorities. However ethics was ignored in the entire case scenario even though the police officers punished that individual who had killed their fellow officer. Advisory committee of Human Rights after 3 years of thorough investigation arrived at a conclusion that Archie was murdered by police officers and respecting police code of silence a case was filed against those officers and they were suspended from their job and an out of court settlement was done for Archie’s family (Crank & Caldero 55). The final results of this case study indicate that ethics is highly ignored even today in field of criminal justice. Act of revenge or undertaking actions as per law is so strong that moral judgment is often ignored. Though advisory committee was able to identify the wrong and bring in justice for Archie’s family but it left a question of whether it was worthwhile. Identification of ethical issues In this case study which was based on a real time incident of New Orleans the major ethical issue was that the police officers did not take the right action and was carried away in emotion for their fellow officer. As per morality the most appropriate approach in this situation would have been to ensure proper treatment for Archie and then execute the judgment made by legal bodies. However this form of action was highly ignored by police officials and they preferred to brutally beat Archie for the crime he had committed. Often in such criminal cases it is observed that homicide or rather encounter is considered to be the best solution but ethically it can be stated as the harshest judgment towards an individual. The form of shootout which had taken place in New Orleans is common in that region and there are many cases as that of Archie where criminals are brutally killed by police officers so as to ensure that there is proper elimination of crime from the region (Turvey & Crowder 104). The major factual issue which has been identified in the case was Archie had committed wrong and he was being penalized for that, but it raises ethical issues because officers in order to do justice for their team member did not give the necessary medication to Archie which he required. Possible courses of action In this particular scenario there is couple of actions which could have been taken by police officials so as to avoid any such violation of ethics. The first action could have been taking Archie to the nearest hospital so that he can survive. This would have helped to maintain the ethicality of the situation. On the other hand the major strength of this action is it will ensure appropriate judgment for the police officer who died on the shootout. However there is a weakness of such action in terms of it being time consuming and even Archie getting a quick release and performing such crime again in due course of time (Cook 49). There was a need to punish such criminals but the procedure which was adopted by the police department was totally wrong. On the contrary the other approach could have been to arrest Archie and bring him to police station and give proper medication without causing any harm to him. As soon Archie’s injuries recovered he could have been taken for final judgment. This action possesses the major strength in terms of time efficiency but the weakness lies in the area of being discharged before final judgment. The third action could have been to understand the helplessness of the situation and give Archie a chance to rectify his mistake. This form of action if well executed has the strength of eliminating crime from the grass root level. However in maximum cases of criminal justice such an action has not proved to be much effective forming its major weakness. Recommendations From an ethical viewpoint this case study could have had a better result in comparison to its final result. The case study denotes that police officials who had brutally beaten Archie were suspended and compensation was given to his family. This can be stated as maintaining ethics in field of criminal justice but this cannot be considered to be real ethical aspect of the situation. The results of the case study could have been improved by focusing more on Archie who was forced to enact in such a way in that shootout. Most recommended action that could have been undertaken by officers was sending Archie to nearest hospital, getting his treatment done and fulfilling all the legal procedures for final court judgment. Ethics as a subject of the case study would have gained more importance if such an action was incorporated in the case scenario. It could have been more appealing to the readers and conveyed the appropriate message regarding ethics in criminal justice. Conclusion As per the review of the case study on police brutality incident it can be stated that moral judgment is not a matter of great concern in area of criminal justice. However there are different ways to demonstrate such ethics as some consider it to be right to make self judgment or utilize their power than to wait for legal judgment, while some believes in acting according to the law. The major ethical issue remains as to whether Adolph Archie was a victim of injustice or he was penalized correctly for the crime he had committed by killing a police officer. To some extent it can be stated that ethics according to police officials is to punish criminals so that society can stay at peace, but in this scenario ethics was even giving Archie a chance so that he can state his condition. Works Cited Cook. John., Morality and cultural differences. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004. Print. Crank. John., & Michael, Caldero. Police ethics: the corruption of noble cause. USA: Elsevier. 2010. Print. Turvey. Brent., & Stan, Crowder. Ethical justice: applied issues for criminal justice students and professionals. USA: Academic Press. 2013. Print. Read More