Ethics in Criminal Justice Education

• NCJ Number: 87505
• Author(s): L W Sherman
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 86 pages
• Corporate Author: Institute of Soc, Ethics and the Life Sciences
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; Institute of Soc, Ethics and the Life Sciences
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: The Teaching of Ethics, 10

Annotation

Following a discussion of the need for the teaching of ethics in criminal justice education, this book considers the aims of ethics, how to fit ethics in a curriculum, the scope of ethical problems, ethical frameworks, and teaching issues for ethics.

Abstract

Because of the consequences of criminal justice decisionmaking for society and individuals processed by the criminal justice system as well as the discretion involved in such decisionmaking, it is imperative that criminal justice curriculums focus on the use of an ethical framework in criminal justice decisionmaking. The goals of ethics courses should include stimulating the moral imagination, developing skills in the recognition and analysis of ethical issues, eliciting a sense of moral obligation, fostering the ability to tolerate and resist disagreement and ambiguity, understanding the morality of coercion, integrating technical and moral competence, and becoming familiar with the full range of moral issues in criminology and criminal justice. One of the major choices in trying to fit ethics into a criminal justice curriculum is whether to teach some ethics in each course or provide ethics as one main course. If ethics is to be taken seriously, it should be taught as a separate course. The scope of ethical problems considered might include lawmaking, lawbreaking, and law enforcement, all considered from the perspective of themes running throughout the criminal justice system and specific situations faced by officials at each decision point in the system. There are many competing moral frameworks that can be applied to criminal justice ethics, and the principles of each and how they differ should be taught and illustrated in criminal justice contexts. Some teaching issues for ethics include determining who shall teach, how to relate course content to students of diverse backgrounds, selecting reading materials, course organization, methods of instruction, and providing for student evaluation of the course. About 72 bibliographic listings are provided along with an appendix that provides addresses where professional codes of ethics relevant to criminal justice can be obtained.