Criminal justice / ethics - Essay Example

Ethics and Conducts in the Florida Correction Facilities Ethics and Conducts in the Florida Correction Facilities The society usually rely on the state and federal prisons and county jails among other correctional facilities to ensure that the public is safe from persons who may be posing insecurity of any kind to them (Kerkhoff and Hanson, 2013). Therefore, it is the work of function of the state and federal correctional facilities to secure the facilities that these persons are locked. Therefore, the correctional officer is mandated to identify persons with unethical behaviors and misconducts that are likely to erode the public confidence (Kapp, 2005).

Hence, the correctional departments across states and the entire country are expected to adopt and enforce ethics and conduct codes for the correctional officers among other employees who are mandated to oversee the correctional facilities including prisoners in these facilities. The correctional codes of ethics and conducts applied to the officers among other employees in the correctional facilities are the creation of the American Correctional Association (ACA). ACA is the national employer for the correctional officers and all other employees (Pollock, 2012).

The codes of ethics applied in these facilities requires that the employees display the highest degree of respect, honesty, and commitment to professionalism when discharging their duties (Turvey and Crowder, 2013). Nearly all states have the same codes of ethics and conducts that are expected of their offices. Therefore, the officers and employees of the correctional facility of the state of Florida are expected to supplement its code of ethics and conducts with those provided for by the ACA (Kleinig, 2001).

In other words, above the ACA codes of ethic and conducts requirements, every state is expected to have its own additional code of ethics and conducts to be applied by its employees. Therefore, the Florida correctional officers and other employees’ ethical standards of conducts are spelled in the correctional facilities’ purpose, policy, scope, mission, vision, and rational among other aspects leading to the purpose of the facility. The main purpose of Florida’s department of Law Enforcement defines the purpose of the correctional officers and their ethical standards of conduct requirements with the states professional ethical and conduct standards (Pollock, 2012).

These ethical standards or requirements include identification of the conducts that are unprofessional and unbecoming. The policy advocated by the state of Florida requires that the officers and the facility to be effective in its function so that the community have confidence and respect for it (Menzel, 2007). Therefore, it is expected to work with public interest at heart. The policy also calls for disciplinary actions on the correctional officers who behave unprofessionally and/or displaying unbecoming conducts (Kleinig, 2001).

Therefore, to understand how officers and other employed are trained and punished in adhering or abusing codes of ethics and conducts, the following questions will be applied as lead question towards understanding application of ethical work standards and relation in a Florida Correctional facility. Leading Questions1. What are the academic requirement for a correctional officer working in this facility?2. What are the training that the hired officers often undertake before being deployed for their official duties?3. What are the expected relationship between the inmates and the correctional officers?4. Are there clear chains of command among the officers and/or other employees?5. Are there written ethics and conducts that officers and employee expected to operate?6. What kind of behaviors are considered (a) Unprofessional, (b) Unbecoming, and (c) Unethical? 7. Are there disciplinary measure subject to each unprofessional or unethical conduct displayed by officer or employee?

ReferencesTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormKapp, M. B. (2005). Deinstitutionalizing long-term care: Making legal strides, avoiding policy errors. New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co. Kerkhoff, T. R., & Hanson, S. L. (2013). Ethics field guide: Applications in rehabilitation psychology. Kleinig, J. (2001). Discretion, community, and correctional ethics. Lanham, Md [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Menzel, D. C. (2007). Ethics management for public administrators: Building organizations of integrity. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. Pollock, J. M. (2012). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Turvey, B. E., & Crowder, S. (2013). Ethical justice: Applied issues for criminal justice students and professionals. Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press. Bottom of Form