Essay discussing the IMPORTANCE of professionalism, responsibility, integrity, duty, and ethical behavior for employees of the criminal justice system

Essay discussing the importance of professionalism , responsibility integrity , duty , and ethical behavior for employees of the criminal justice system

Introduction

Law , as Reinhold Niebuhr (1941 ) once said , is a compromise between moral ideas and practical possibilities (302 . The same is true of ethical behavior for employees of the criminal justice system . How police officers settle the tension between moral duties and low constraints is important not just for the profession of the criminal justice system but also for the public . Employees of the criminal justice system play a crucial role

in the structure of public private affairs and social institutions . This role carries multiple , sometimes competing responsibilities and duties to the public . Employees of the criminal justice system also face conflicts between their professional obligations , ethical behavior and personal interests . A central challenge of police officers is how to live a life of integrity in the tension between these competing demands (Parker and Sampford 182 . This essay discusses the importance of professionalism , responsibility integrity , duty , and ethical behavior for employees of the criminal justice system . It also provides an overview of ethical behavior in practice . The essay identifies those features of police officers that make its profession distinct from other professions , and that explain the status pride ' of police officers - the high self-regard they experience as the members of a profession

Main Body

Even if it is believed that ethical behavior in the criminal justice system is legitimate , many people wonder whether it is really all that important . Some people believe that ethical behavior is important when individuals are acting as citizens , as friends , or as family members but not when they are acting as employees of the criminal justice system . Yet , it is not hard to find situations in which an ethical question is a major , if not dominant , dimension . One needs only to look at the news to see the possibilities . Many of these situations directly connected with human lives are unavoidable in the criminal justice system . Looking at these facts , it is hard to claim that ethics is a frill or a of minor importance for police officers

But why should people care about ethical behavior of employees of the criminal justice system ? It is appropriate to begin by recalling how large a role police officers play in American life . Despite the fact that people have always viewed police officers with a measure of distrust - inevitable , even salutary , in a democracy in which police officers possess the keys to the law system and , with that , a disproportionate share of power - people have also entrusted them a leading role in controlling citizens ' affairs , both public and private Fearing and even sometimes loathing police officers , people have nevertheless entrusted them with great powers and responsibilities , and made them , to a remarkable degree , the agents empowered to enforce the law and to affect public and social . People have trusted police to play a central role in the control of public and social , and if one asks why...