Considering the Consequences

Ethics provides professionals in different fields with a way to make moral choices when they encounter situations involving ethical dilemmas. In the criminal justice system, questioning and analyzing assumptions is encouraged and should include raising issues concerning fairness in the workplace through the creation of a safe working environment, the limits of punishment, the role of law enforcement, etc. Moral reasoning assists professionals in different fields including criminal justice system to justify their actions and behavior. Criminal justice professionals must be guided by ethical standards in the execution of their roles, and also ethics in decision making involving force, discretion and due process assist them to avoid abuse of powers (Hayes, 2015).

One of the ethical standards that guide professionals in the criminal justice system is questioning themselves whether they should always act in a way that leads to the best possible consequences. Consequentialism is a significant and widely discussed theory of ethical action. Consequentialism refers to a class of normative ethical theories that contend that an action is morally right of wrong depending on its consequences and nothing more (Banks, 2012). Consequentialism normative theories that emphasize on the effects of one’s actions include altruism, egoism, and utilitarianism (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2014). Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) get regarded as the classical utilitarian (Consequentialist) theorists. The principle of utility laid down by the utilitarian argues that an action is right insofar as it has a tendency to generate the greatest happiness for all the individuals affected by the action. Act consequentialists equate good with pleasure and have the belief that the rightness of a person’s acts should be determined depending on whether the act results into more pleasure than pain (Sanders, Young & Burton, 2010). The act is considered morally right if it results to pleasure and is morally wrong if it generates more pain than pleasure. Considering the morality of the conduct of police officers; act utilitarianism would claim that their actions are morally right and can be defended of they result in a greater balance of happiness over unhappiness.

In the criminal justice system, professionals must be responsible stewards over the citizens whom they have the responsibility to protect. Professionals in the criminal justice must ensure that all their actions produce good to the society enhancing safety. The police officers must undertake their duties in a manner that enhances safety and deters criminal behaviors among offenders in the society. The correctional and prison officers must ensure that they conduct their role in a manner that ensures that the detainees in the prisons reform. The judges and court staff must perform their duties in a way that they promote justice in the court proceedings. If judges convict the innocent in the society, they would not have promoted well in the society thus their action would be regarded as morally wrong. Rule consequentialism principles state that an action is morally right if and only it does not violate the rules of the state and whose general acceptance in the society would result in the best consequences.

The theory of consequentialism is regarded as significant in the society and plays critical roles in promoting a safe environment for the society. All the professionals in the criminal justice system should act in a manner that their actions produce positive consequences. However, the criminal justice system professionals should not solely rely on the consequentialism theory in ensuring that they act morally right.

References

Banks, C. (2012). Criminal justice ethics: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.

Hayes, S. (2015). Criminal Justice Ethics: Cultivating the Moral Imagination. Routledge.

MacKinnon, B., & Fiala, A. (2014). Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. Nelson Education.

Sanders, A., Young, R., & Burton, M. (2010). Criminal justice. Oxford University Press.

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