Moral Issues In Policing

1. Moral Issues In Policing

2. Moral Issues in Policing • Should police be held to the same or higher standards than other members of society? • Courage? • Fairness? • Justice? • Why or why not?

3. Moral Issues in Policing • Should police be held to the same or higher standards than other members of society? • Courage • Apprehending robber • Why or why not?

4. Moral Issues in Policing • Should police be held to the same or higher standards than other members of society? • Fairness • Requires that general standards apply to all citizens • Why or why not?

5. Moral Issues in Policing • Should police be held to the same or higher standards than other members of society? • Justice • Requires that decisions be made IAW each person’s individual circumstances. • Why or why not?

6. Moral Issues in Policing • Recall Bazelon’s Choices in Addressing the Crime Problem. • The choice is goals. • Repressive Order, or • Moral Order • David Bazelon, Federal Appeals Court Judge

7. Moral Issues in Policing • Basic Premise: One of the most important benefits the state provides is protection. • If police are not always fair and just, what does that imply? • If police are not always fair and just, what are the practical implications?

8. Moral Issues in Policing • Should the state violate civil liberties in order to decrease all, some or none of crime?

9. Moral Issues in Policing • Is it reasonable to require that police oaths of office and codes of conduct that require fair and just treatment of citizens constitutes a promise to the public?

10. Moral Issues in Policing • Judicial oaths of office and codes of conduct require fair and just treatment of citizens according to the law. • Should police be held to the same standard of public trust, responsibility and accountability? • What is the implication if that is not done?

11. Moral Issues in Policing • Oaths of Office and Codes of Conduct • If government oaths and codes of conduct are promises, they constitute a contract…. • Courts use codes of conduct as a basic for evaluating practitioners who have not explicitly or implicitly affirmed them.

12. Moral Issues in Policing • Professional Obligations • These obligations apply to persons who take on a duty and accept the benefits that go with the job. • Some Police Benefits • Cooperation • Respect, Enhanced Community Status • Trust • Use of Discretion • Use of Force

13. Moral Issues in PolicingThe Bill of Rights • “No right is held more sacred, or is more carefully guarded, by the common law, than the right of the individual to the possession and control of his own person, free from all restraint or interference from others, unless by clear and unquestionable authority of law.”

14. Moral Issues in Policing • “Every resolution to an ethical dilemma must consider the act, the intention, the circumstance, the principles, the beliefs, the outcomes, the virtues, the narrative, the community, and political structures.” Robert Nash

15. Moral Issues in Policing • Dirty Harry Solutions • “The danger in Dirty Harry solutions is not in their resolution, but in thinking that you have found a resolution that you can live with in peace.” Carl B. Klockars

16. Moral Issues in Policing • Professional Demands • These demands are often the same but occasionally differ from expectations for any decent human being.

17. Decency Issues for Citizens Generally Courtesy Respect Honesty Act Equitably Use Reasonable Force Added Police Demands Courage Others? Moral Issues in PolicingPolice vs Citizen Requirements

18. Moral Issues in Policing • Consequentialist Theory: Utilitarianism • Utilitarians argue that: • 1. Other moral considerations such as duty, rights and justice are subordinated to, and their content determined by, the principle of utility. • 2. What is just is producing greatest utility. • 3. As circumstances change, consequences change, and so do our duties, rights and requirements of justice.

19. Moral Issues in Policing • Implications of Utilitarianism • 1. Act Utilitarian • Choose actions based on greatest balance of pleasure over pain • 2. Rule Utilitarian • Acts are permissible if they are not prohibited by the best set of rules.

20. Moral Issues in Policing • Criticisms of Utilitarianism • 1. Act Utilitarian -- Injustice • It is unjust to punish someone for something they did not do regardless of other beneficial consequences. • 2. Rule Utilitarian -- Limited Exceptions • It does not distinguish between morally obligatory acts and superogatory acts.

21. Moral Issues in Policing • Communitarianism Theory • Morality is defined by ideals that define and hold groups together.

22. Moral Issues in Policing • Implications of Communitarianism • 1. Groups establish their own norms. • 2. Morality becomes equivalent to group endorsement.

23. Moral Issues in Policing • Criticisms of Communitarianism • 1. Groups norms differ. • 2. Some group norms, such as racial or sexual discrimination, are wrong.

24. Moral Issues in Policing • Deontological Ethics • Morally involves more than only producing good consequences. Morally right actions are done because we have a duty to do them.

25. Moral Issues in Policing • Implications of Deontological Ethics • 1. Morality is not determined by the consequences of an action. • 2. Morality is determined by the test that the act would be acceptable in determining universal law. • 3. Actions that do not treat other with respect, but rather uses them as a means to an end, are wrong.

26. Moral Issues in Policing • Criticisms of Deontological Ethics • 1. It is complex and abstract. • 2. It does not resolve what is agreed to as acceptable to all people.

27. Moral Issues in Policing • Virtue Ethics • Morality is determined by individual goodness rather than goodness of rules or goals.

28. Moral Issues in Policing • Implications of Virtue Ethics • Right actions are determined only on the basis of their being “right.”

29. Moral Issues in Policing • Criticisms of Virtue Ethics • 1. It is simplistic and complex at the same time. • 2. It does not provide much help in deciding between moral dilemmas.

30. Moral Issues in Policing • Contractarianism • People agree to social contracts. • This is also a basis for examining morality.

31. Moral Issues in Policing • Implications of Contractarianism • 1. Contract determine obligations. • 2. The obligations are binding when parties to the contract fulfill their obligations. • 3. Does not allow sacrifice of the few for the good of the many. • 4. Emphasizes concrete benefits

32. Moral Issues in Policing • Criticisms of Contractarianism • 1. Implied contracts exist as a result of membership in the state. • 2. Majority rules in most instances. • 3. Some individual freedoms are sacrificed.

33. Moral Issues in Policing • Trust requires trustworthiness. • Police • Doctors • Public Officials • Students and Teachers

34. Break • Read Assignments • Participate in Class Discussions • Review Notes Weekly