Cmrj302

In this week’s forum post I will talk about a few different things. I will start of by talking about utilitarianism and deontological ethics. I will continue by discussing the different categories of unethical police behavior and provide an example of each, also how these unethical actions impact the policing profession. I will end this week’s discussion by discussing civil liability under Federal Code 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.

To begin with, “there are two major ethics theories that attempt to specify and justify moral rules and principles: utilitarianism and deontological ethics” (Moreland, 2009). Utilitarianism which has also been known as consequentialism is a moral theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism is the belief that believes if a particular action is considered ethical the outcome or the consequence of an action is good, if the outcome or consequence is not good, then the action is unethical. When it comes to deontological ethics it was brought up by Immanuel Kant. “Deontological ethics does not consider consequences but examines one’s duty to act” (Gaines & Kappeler,2015, p. 396). This practically means that morality of an action depends on the nature of the action. I believe that in ethics in order to have a stable environment it is important to have a good balance between both perspectives.

Now, let’s talk about the different categories of unethical police behavior. There are 12 main deviations from ethical standards which are General crimes, police crimes, abuse of authority, occupational deviance, corruption, police deviance, borderline examples, undeniably deviant examples, breaking rules to catch criminals, sexual harassment and abuse, gratuities, and bribes. An example of a general crime would be an act prohibited by law which is punishable by incarceration (Gaines & Kappeler, 2015). Police crimes are acts that an officer makes that violates laws. Abuse of authority is when an officer uses his or her title or position to achieve some measurable gain. Occupational deviance is when officers engage in inappropriate work-related activities (Barker & Carter,1994, p. 406). Corruption can be when an officer commits an act for personal gain instead of protection of the public. Police deviance is when an officer starts to take actions that are not illegal but start to deviate from the correct standard. For example, going to a formal dinner waer5ing casual clothes. Borderline examples are something like sleeping on duty. Undeniably deviant examples are the use of drugs or abuse of alcohol. Breaking rules to catch criminals is exactly what it sounds like. This is sometimes conducted with the goal of personal gain. Sexual harassment and abuse are something that has been an issue for a long time and is something that makes the police force be frowned upon. Gratuities are typically tokens of appreciation offered to police officers in gratitude for their service to the community. Lastly, bribes are things that an officer gets that lead to corruption. All these different things negatively impact the policing profession.

To conclude, civil liability under Federal Code 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 states that any individual can sue state government employees for civil rights violations. This is good because it keeps law enforcement officers in check and provides a good way of fortification of our civil rights.

References

Barker, T., & Carter, D. (1994). Police deviance (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co.

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2015). Policing in America (8th ed.). Waltham, MA: Anderson Publishing.

Moreland, J. (2009, April 07). Ethics Theories: Utilitarianism Vs. Deontological Ethics. Retrieved August 9, 2019, from https://www.equip.org/article/ethics-theories-utilitarianism-vs-deontological-ethics/