Ethics and criminal justice: social Influences on behavior - Essay Example

? Ethics and Criminal Justice: Social Influences on Behavior Social influences are characterized by an individual’s emotions, behavior and opinions being influenced and affected by other people around them in the community or society. Social influences take many forms that can be manifested in various ways, with the most notable ones being conformity, peer pressure, socialization, obedience, persuasion, leadership, marketing and sales. There exist varieties of social influence including compliance, which is seen when people agree with other people’s opinions despite having reservations about these opinions. . Identification is a social influence that is characterized by people being influenced by a person who is held in high regard like famous people, celebrities and politicians. Internalization encompasses the aspect that involves people accepting a behavior or belief, and they agree with notions either publicly or privately. Social influences are aspects in people’s daily lives that they perceive as accepted and normal, and they form the basis upon which people base their judgments. Social influences determine what members of a particular society regard as a duty or obligation. This paper is based on ethics and criminal justice, and it seeks to discuss social influences on behavior. The opinions and norms of our friends, relatives and associates have the ability to influence our behaviors and beliefs. This can be explained by the notion of identification in which people will seek to identify with their colleagues’ opinions and norms in order for them to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance (Conser et al, 2011). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can also be applied in this explanation whereby the need to feel a sense of belonging and love predisposes an individual to conform to other people’s norms and opinions in order to be accepted. The impact of societal norms and beliefs on an individual depend on their role and function in that particular society with respect to their responsibilities. The need to conform to what is regarded as right in society is regarded as informational social influence; this predisposes an individual to social proofing (Darley, Messick & Tyler, 2010). Informational influence leads people to accepting or believing information from other parties that pertains to the substance and evidence of reality. A multitude of factors comes into play for informational influence to have a significant impact on an individual especially where informational influences are concerned. Informational social influences have an impact on an individual when this person has discrepancies in their certainty of events in their perception and belief system (Lorenz et al, 2011). A disagreement between individual and societal norms leads a person to conform to opinions and norms that serve their greatest interest and wellbeing. Normative social influences are determined largely by societal norms in the sense that an individual adopts views and opinions according to the positive expectations of others around them in society (Pratkanis, 2010). These two psychosocial needs have different outcomes with regard to an individual’s perceptions, beliefs and opinions. Informational social influences result to individualistic or private compliance, whereas normative influences lead to public/societal compliance or acceptance (Vago & Nelson, 2009). Police officers are a component of the law enforcement and criminal justice system of any given country, and they are trained on how to effectively handle and deal with different situations and circumstances. Police officers are prone to various aspects and factors of social influences in their duty and obligations as enforcers of the law of the land and jurisdictions they serve. Police officers are mandated to enforce to the rule of law and maintain peace and order in societies and communities that have different customs, traditions and practices that in most cases differ from their established norms. The training that police officers receive in police academies equip them with skills and abilities to rise above this societal differences and execute their duty, obligations and mandate in a non-partisan manner. In every society, there are societal norms, behaviors, beliefs and practices that in most cases go against commonly held practices that police officers have to consider in their execution of duty. Individual and societal acceptance or norms play a significant role in how police officers handle their jobs. Questionable societal norms come into play when they have the ability or potential to contravene the law. The manifestation of these questionable societal norms depends to some extent, the perspective from a police officer views or interprets them with regard to their own beliefs and the law. Professional vocations including law enforcement agencies are guided by a code of professional ethics and licensure that is meant to guide their behavior towards each other and the public they serve. Police officers are on a daily basis confronted with situations and circumstances that present an opportunity for them to act professionally by following the laid down code of conduct and ethics in practice. They are also faced with the challenge of falling victim to social influences from their colleagues, society of their own beliefs and opinions which might be contrary to accepted code of conduct ad ethics of practice. For example, racism is a major cause for concern on the conduct of police officers as witnessed by a recent shooting by police of a Mexican immigrant in Houston (Vago & Nelson, 2009). The evaluation of this incident leads to the conclusion that there are elements in Houston’s police department that hold racist views and attitudes. These attitudes do not just happen to exist from nowhere, but they are aspects that are cultivated and nurtured over time in people’s minds until it becomes a norm to a particular group of individuals. The incident is an example of how people’s attitudes, opinions and other behavior changing factors are shaped by what people around them consider desirable, appropriate and correct (Wang, 2011). Prejudice exhibited by the police officer from Houston can be attributed to social norms that form in a group that is characteristic of groups or units formed in police departments. In order to identify with the principles and/or norms of a police unit, a new member must prove or demonstrate that they identify with the group’s norms. According to Wang (2011), norms serve as basic human social function that helps members of a group distinguish who is in their group and who is an outsider. Thus, behaving in a manner that a group considers appropriate is a way of demonstrating to others and to self that one belongs to the group (Wang, 2011). Police officers are prone to social influences that might alter their behavior, attitudes and opinions about their jobs and the people they serve. Law enforcement personnel can avoid being negatively influenced by the attitudes of friends and society in general is by instituting and implementing policy guidelines and rules that must be followed strictly. The enforcement of these rules and regulations should be coupled with punishment and reprimands that are deserving of actions thereof. Just like police officers are trained to deal with life threatening situations, they are also supposed to be well trained on how to deal ethical issues (Ferrell, 2013). According to Ferrell (2013), a wrong decision with regard to ethical issues, can have life-changing consequences for the officer, the department and society. The ultimate responsibility for ethical and proper behavior for police officers lies with an individual, but the supervisors and top management in police carry some responsibility too. It is recommended that supervisors in law enforcement agencies should adopt the strategy of being proactive instead of being reactive to police misconduct claims and complaints (Ferrell, 2013). This can be achieved by conducting regular and proper training and sensitization of police officers on the appropriate code of conduct and its effects on their job (Ferrell, 2013). Senior police officers and supervisors should also strive to lead by example. Proper training and supervision creates an environment that is intolerant to misconduct and corruption. The creation of such work environments in law enforcement agencies ensures that the system is self-rectifying in the sense that is possesses mechanisms to proactively eliminate misconduct ad untowardly behavior in the agency. References Conser, J. A., Paynich, R., Gingerich, T. E., & Gingerich, T. (2011). Law enforcement in the United States. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Darley, J. M., Messick, D. M. & Tyler, T. R. (2010). Social Influences on Ethical Behavior in Organizations. New York: Taylor & Francis. Ferrell, C. (2013). Code of Silence: Fact or Fiction. The Police Chief: The Professional Voice of Law Enforcement. Retrieved From: http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=148&issue_id=112003 Lorenz, J., Rauhut, H., Schweitzer, F., & Helbing, D. (2011). How social influence can undermine the wisdom of crowd effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(22), 9020-9025. Pratkanis, A. R. (2010). The Science of Social Influence: Advances and Future Progress. Boston: Psychology Press. Wang, S. S. (2011). Under the Influence: How the Group Changes What We Think. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved From: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704436004576298962165925364 Vago, S., & Nelson, A. (2009). Law and society (pp. 203-270). New York: Prentice Hall. Read More