Course

10504912 Ethics in Criminal Justice
Course Information
Description
Examine ethical issues relevant to law enforcement, the courts, and corrections. Explore the basis for ethical dilemmas and decision making at all stages of the criminal justice system. Analyze actual ethical dilemmas for hands-on discussion and resolution. Topics include developing moral and ethical behavior, analyzing policy and management issues, professionalism, and ethics for practitioners in criminal justice.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies (Course Outcomes)
  1. Specify how ethics is a necessary component of the Criminal Justice System
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Identify professionals associated with the criminal justice system
    Explain the role of discretion, authority, and power related to decisions within the criminal justice system
    Identify shared elements of professionals within the criminal justice system (discretion, duty to enforce the law, duty to protect due process and equal protection)
    Examine coercion within the criminal justice system

  2. Place morality, ethics, and human behavior in context within the Criminal Justice System
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Define ethics, morals, and values
    Describe what behaviors are subject to moral/ethical judgments
    Differentiate between ethical issues and ethical dilemmas
    Describe components of an ethical system
    Relate the concept of justice to ethics

  3. Analyze ethical dilemmas and various ethical systems
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Describe how one's belief about an ethical issue creates an ethical dilemma
    Apply the framework of law, policy, and ethics to decision making
    Use ethical reasoning
    Use a process when facing ethical dilemmas (such as Ruggiero's 5 steps) to come to an ethical resolution

  4. Apply theories of moral development
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Apply the ethical pyramid to identify components of an ethical system (moral rules, judgment)
    Define morality within the context of the natural world (natural law)
    Relate morality to religion and discussions of sin
    Relate morality to utilitarianism and judging the consequences of an act
    Summarize an ethics-of-care response to a given ethical situation
    Describe egoism (humans naturally seek self-interest)

  5. Identify the origins and concepts of justice
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Describe the themes of fairness, equality, and impartiality within the definition of justice
    Describe Plato's concept of justice
    Describe Aristotle's concept of justice
    Differentiate between "what is just" and "what is good" approaches to justice
    Illustrate how criminal justice professionals serve and promote the interests of law and justice

  6. Explain the paradigms of law and the individual
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Define paradigm
    Describe how paradigms affect one's view of the law
    Analyze the consensus paradigm
    Analyze the conflict paradigm
    Analyze the pluralist paradigm
    Explain the role of law in society and how paradigms are used to understand how law is formed and enforced
    Describe different justifications for law

  7. Relate ethics to the role of criminal justice professional
    Assessment Strategies
    Quiz, Written Product, and/or Exam
    Criteria
    Describe biological influences on ethical behavior
    Summarize psychological theories that explain individual differences in behavior
    Explain workgroup and organizational influences on behavior
    Explain cultural and societal influences on ethical behavior
    Describe how leaders influence ethical behavior and/or incentivize unethical behavior