What Would YOU Do?

Ethics in Corrections.

Ethical behavior is based on standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights- right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy, for example; obligations to society- for example, standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, fraud, to live peacefully with others, defend truth and protect the weak; and principles of fairness, or specific virtues- honesty, compassion, and loyalty and other standards and characteristics that are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons. Based on this understanding of ethics, how would you as a criminal justice professional resolve the dilemmas below? Defend your actions in light of the three principles mentioned above.

1. You are a correctional officer at a maximum security prison facility. A well-known trouble-making inmate who is highly respected by his peers comes to you for a favor. His mail privileges have been taken away, and he needs to mail out a letter to his mother who is very ill. You figure it's not that big of a deal, especially because of the content of the letter, and especially because he could make your job a lot easier by keeping the other inmates on your tier in line. What would you tell him? How would you handle this situation?

Rights:

Obligations To Society:

Principles of Fairness or Specific Virtues:

2. You are a new correctional officer and you soon realize that there is a great deal of corruption and graft taking place in the prison. Guards routinely bring in contraband for inmates in return for money, food bought for the inmates' mess hall finds its way into the trunks of staff cars, and money is being siphoned from inmate accounts. You are not sure how far up the corruption goes. Would you keep your mouth shut? They are just inmates anyway...right? Would you go to your supervisors? What if, in exposing the corruption you implicated yourself, a friend, or jeopardized the life of an inmate? What about the life of a fellow officer who is involved in the corruption?

Rights:

Obligations To Society:

Principles of Fairness or Specific Virtues: