The Study of Ethics (Research Paper Sample)

The study of ethics increases sensitivity to concerns of right and wrong and the right way to conduct oneself, and aids in identifying acts that have a moral content
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Abstract
The field of criminal justice exhibits dynamicity in terms of practice. From judges and advocates in courtrooms to officers of the law patrolling the streets, criminal justice demonstrates diversity unlike any other field. Ethics serves as the adhesive that binds these different elements together. This necessitates the need to understand the extent that ethical training is necessary for criminal justice professional in guiding individual behavior, decision-making and understanding of the ethical situations that might arise in the actuation of duty. Of particular concern is the statement ‘the study of ethics increases sensitivity to concerns of right and wrong and the right way to conduct oneself, and aids in identifying acts that have a moral content’ and its significance to the relationship between ethics and criminal justice.
Ethics and Criminal Justice
Any human service career will involve a practitioner making a decision with ethical implications at some point. In criminal justice, these ethical decisions are the order of the day and could be based on personal conduct or the conduct of another person. You may not be the cause of the problem, but your involvement necessitates decision making on your part, or, inversely, your decisions or indecision could result in the emergence of a situation manifesting ethical elements. How an individual reacts in such cases could have a lasting impact on one’s career, making early recognition of ethical components a crucial skill for a person involved in the criminal justice system. Study of ethics allows one to increase their levels of ethical sensitivity, which is the first step to any successful dalliance with ethics.
Ethics is a dynamic field that comprises of many factors such as personal vulnerabilities, emotions, context of the situation, culture and personality. These factors inter-mingle to create a complicated situation that needs determination, necessitating the need to study ethics. There are various ethical principles that provide different rationale to decision-making including utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, ethical relativism, communitarianism and contractarianism. It is only through study that one can identify an ethical perspective that suits their personal characteristics, and utilize it as a platform for ethical decision-making. To underline the need to understand these perspectives, a comparative analysis of at least two perspectives is necessary. Utilitarianism and deontology are the two most prominent ethical perspectives (Conway & Gawronski, 2013). Utilitarianism proposes that an individual should pursue a course of action that will produce the best outcome when compared to other available options. On the other hand, deontology places the adherence to a moral code of conduct above considerations for the potential outcome of a particular choice. It means that even if the action results in a negative outcome, it should be pursued as long as it is the morally correct option. As such, the course of action by individuals employing the two approaches will be different, but both would have acted ethically.
Based on the above comparison, it is irrefutable that the study of ethics will enable an individual identify the right way to conduct themselves. However, this is not possible if an individual lacks ethical sensitivity. As a result, an individual could unknowingly find themselves in a conundrum or allow temptations to override their professional objectivity. Rest and Narvaez (1994) identify moral sensitivity as the most important step towards the achievement of ethical behaviour. The model consists of four psychological processes that include moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral focus and moral character. Moral sensitivity is described as the capacity to identify the presence of an ethical issue. A person can engage in unethical behaviour, not because they are unethical beings, but because they failed to identify the presence of a moral predicament. It defeats the purpose of studying ethics if one will not develop the basic skills of identifying scenarios that require ethical consideration. In the field of criminal justice, ethical dilemmas occur in many ways.
White (1988) describes ethics as the assessment of human actions. It enables assigning tags such as ‘good' or 'bad' and ‘right' or ‘wrong' to behaviours depending on the ethical perspective one subscribes to. Understanding of ethics enables an individual to understand the right way to conduct their actions and maximize positive outcomes, although a gap exists between ideal outcomes and what is humanly achievable. Ethical perfection is an aspect that lies beyond humanity, and good intentions do not always prevent unethical conduct. However, studying ethics enables a person involved in the criminal justice system to develop sensitivity to right and wrong, which in turn allows an individual to identify situations that have a moral content. It subsequently enables the individual an ability to practice defensive ethics. The ideal way of avoiding having to make a testing resolution is to minimalize the possibility of finding oneself in a situation that requires such a decision to be made. Once an individual has inculcated the ability to discern between right and wrong, they can employ a risk reduction methodology to ethics. It involves analysing scenarios to predict possible ethical dilemmas before determining a course of action. One takes into consideration professional standards and ethical codes and relevant laws and policies, and then utilizes them to initiate measures to ensure their ethical foundation is not compromised. It results in an individual protecting themselves from the numerous ethical hazards present in the criminal justice system.
The study of ethics increases sensitivity to concerns of right and wrong and the right way to conduct oneself, and aids in identifying acts that have a moral content. Once an individual actualizes all aspects of this statement, they will be able to realize all other aspects outlined as importance of ethics to criminal justice. The ability to differentiate between right and wrong is the foundation upon which an individual’s ethical practice will flourish. Capacity to identify acts with moral content will result in an individual being able to discern unethical practices while also appreciate the complexities of acts involving ethical dilemmas. Sensitivity to right and wrong helps in the formulation of policies regarding pun...