AJS 124 - Ethics and the Administration of Justice

3 Credits, 3 Contact Hours
3 lecture periods 0 lab periods

Exploration of ethical issues and the justice system. Includes elements of moral and ethical behavior, principles of justice, and theories of moral development. Also includes ethics of the police, courts, corrections, and modern issues in the administration of justice.

  

1. Apply ethical models for decision making to issues and dilemmas in the administration of justice.
2. Examine the ethical standards needed for conduct in the criminal justice community.
3. Confidently and professionally, present yourself for in front of a class in a teaching/training capacity. Competency 1.3
4. Apply criminal law and procedures to ethics fact patterns  Competency 2.1
5. Interpret police procedures and make judgments regarding justice professionals’ behavior. Competency 4.1
6. Articulate the impact of criminal justice professional’s actions and the effect that crime has on society.  Competency 4.2

A. Introduction to Ethics, Crime, and Justice
B. Utilitarian and deontological approaches to criminal justice ethics
C. Peacemaking, justice, and ethics

II.   Ethical Issues in Policing

A. Learning police ethics
B. The ethics of deceptive interrogation
C. Ethical dilemmas in police work
D. Police ethics, legal proselytism, and the social order: paving the path to misconduct          

III.  Ethics and the Courts

A. Lawyers as legal advocates and moral agents
B. Why prosecutors misbehave

C. Criminal sentencing: ethical issues and the problems of reform
D. Crime and punishment: punishment philosophies and ethical dilemmas
E. Morality, ethics, and the death penalty

IV. Ethical Issues in Corrections                   

A. Ethical issues in probation, parole, and community corrections
B. Responsibility and restorative justice
C. Prison corruption and its control
D. Ethics and prison: selected issues

V. Ethical Issues in Crime Control Policy and Research

A. Crime, criminals, and crime control policy myths
B. The Ford Pinto case and beyond: assessing blame
C. The Corrections Corporation of America
D. Ethics and criminal justice research
E. Research ethics and research funding: A case study of easy virtue
F. The Canary’s Song: Guantanamo and the war on terrorism

VI. Ethics and the Future