Essay Example - The Moral Basis for the Decision

Whenever a person is confronted by an issue in which he or she is required to make a decision that is difficult, it results in a dilemma. The decision to be made May difficult to make since there are at least two values that are competing and the choice should be made from the two options available. To get solutions for ethical dilemmas, we need to have an understating of the values that are said to be necessary.

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Regardless of the position that a person holds in criminal justice, he or she will eventually be faced with an ethical dilemma. The main work of criminal justice employees is enforcing the laws; there is usually a need to decide on the matters that they are faced with daily. The decisions that they make is essential, bearing in mind that they should make every party involved feel pleased and satisfied and should not be relied on one side of the parties involved only.

When solving certain cases, the person handling the issue may make a decision that may seem the right decision to make, but when the decision is evaluated ethically, it ends up to be morally wrong. Whenever a person is deciding while handling a cease that has more than two options, he or she should consider the more significant benefit to society and not the individual level alone. This paper will examine the three situations that have been provided here for the examination that is the judge, the district attorney, and the officer, describing the ethical question, identifying the decision that the person handling the situation could have made. It will also involve the elaboration of the moral basis for my decision.

The judge

Judge Jeffrey Owen has a felony case that he is supposed to give verdict over it. Woodrow Wilson is the defendant who has been arrested due to the armed robbery of Sin-Yon liquor store. Wilson entered the store with a handgun, hit the owner of the store on the head with the gun forcing him to open the draw that had money and ran away on foot. The police officer was alerted and arrested Wilson before he could escape. The prosecutor had all the evidence that included the video on the surveillance, the cash that was recovered, and people who witnessed the scene.

The people were demanding for justice for the business owner to be vindicated, they were chanting in songs when Judge Jeffrey entered the courthouse that morning. Some report from the investigators showed that Wilson had an acute addiction and had other mental problem that usually makes him violent. Similarly, it is not evident if Wilson has been receiving treatment for this condition. The state prison is not in a position to provide resources that are required to offer treatment for Wilson health condition only the county jail have the resources needed since it had been given a grant from the federal for the establishment of the resources.

Judge Wilson properly understands that the crime that Wilson had committed required 5 to 7 years in prison, and with this condition, it will not be possible to do such. On the other hand, the county prison only takes prisoners who have been given a sentence for eighteen months only. Judge Jeffery is faced with a dilemma since he does not know which course he should take. As a judge, he should give a ruling that will be helpful to both the parties.

It will be unethical if judge Jeffery will sentence Wilson to county jail only because he will not have served the full term that he is supposed to help in jail and this may result in recidivism upon his release. Similarly, when judge Jeffery allows Wilson to be sentenced to the state prison, it may have greater damage towards the health of Wilson ad which may end up Wilson suing him for not putting into consideration his health condition when passing the ruling. Also when judge Jeffery decides to let Wilson go scot-free may result to chaos because the community is in demand for justice and will not be satisfied by the judgment that Judge Jeffrey will have given of releasing Wilson to seek medication from the outside sources while not prison.

The decision that Judge Jeffery will make will be significantly evaluated by the citizens and also his colleagues because he has the responsibility of enforcing the law. If judge Jeffrey decides to sentence Wilson to the county jail, it will not be correct because the sentencing guidelines require Wilson to be punished for 5 to 7 years in the state correctional prison system. Judge Jeffrey is confused about which decided that he should take that will give justice to all the parties involved that is Wilson, owner of the liquor store and the society at large. With this case, the legal decision that judge Jeffery ought to take which is morally upright is sentencing Mr. Wilson for the rightful sentence of 5 to 7 years of imprisonment according to the sentencing guidelines for committing armed robbery at the state correctional prison system also give him a sentence of eighteen months at the county jail.

In this manner, Wilson will be able to receive medical care and serve the sentence of the atrocity that he had committed. Through this manner, all the people affected by this act will feel satisfied and contented by the decision made by the judge on the same way Wilson will be receiving medication. The basis for the decision I have made above is based on deontological ethics, which in some times is referred to as deontology. Under this approach morality of the action to be taken is based on whether the action being taken is right or wrong under a series of rules and not based on the outcomes of the action taken by an individual. The response to be made is based on the values and norms.

The decision of the Judge Jeffrey to sentence Wilson for two different sentences is the best because he is putting into consideration his health of the acute addiction disorder also giving him an equal punishment to the crime that he has committed of robbing a store of liquor with a handgun, hit the owner of the store and took alongside with him some cash. The decision made above is also based on the guidelines for sentencing that judges usually use when passing sentence. According to these sentencing guidelines, any person who has committed such crime as that of Wilson should be imprisoned for 5 to 7 years. Wilson is not exempted from this sentencing rules thus he will be sentenced for the allocated time to fully pay for the atrocity that he had committed despite being with an acute addiction and mental disorders that make him violent

The district attorney

Jessica is the newly appointed district attorney general. She had carried out her campaigns to fight against the unwillingness to prosecute police officers who have been involved in misconduct with charges of criminal. Like any other public figure, Jessica is a person who has been given the mandate to act as the eye of the poor citizens who have no power ad some of them are threatened whenever they see a criminal act being committed. The chief police of the city were not in support of her campaign. The reasons that the chief gave against Jessica's campaign was that the police officers who had committed these criminal charges could have been punished through the use of other alternatives such as demoting them, terminating their terms of employment, fining them or giving the offenders suspensions except for the cases of felony. Similarly, the victims of these offenses were the ones supposed to report these offenders.

Jessica had reported several cases some of which include assault of a suspect whose wrist had abrasions due to tightened handcuffs and charges of burglary against a police officer who had switched city tires off his patrol vehicle onto his car. In most of the cases that Jessica had presented she was losing it as her assistants claim because the police officers did not appear in the court of law to testify while some of them did not remember details that were essential testimonies for the ruling and sentencing to be levied against the criminals. Jessica, through this scenario, has been faced with an ethical dilemma because she does not know which decision is the best to take.

The people who elected her into the office except that she should stick to the words that she used during the campaign of making sure that the offenders have been arrested and sentenced correctly. If she decides to leave the police officers not to be tried in a court of law will be against the desire of the people. Secondly, the police officer is not cooperative in this whole process of prosecuting the officers who have committed criminal offenses. If Jessica follows the advice of chief police officer of letting the people who are the victims to sue the offenders by themselves this might not be an active decision to take the majority of the people may receive threats from these police officers and end up withdrawing from the case.

The people will be significantly discouraged if Jessica leaves the police officers to go scot-free and will lose the trust and confidence in her and her leadership and may see her as a betrayer. I think the decision that Jessica should take is to involve the police officers in this decision-making process. This decision-making process can be done through having a meeting with both the chief officer and the police officer and secure agreement on the cases that should face prosecutions and which ones should be handled by the administration, after this agreement, the points should be written down and be signed by all the people involved. The signed documents should be in the custody of Jessica, which can be used as evidence later.

Involving the policemen in the decision-making process will make the police officer feel that they are also considered as great beings. The other decision that Jessica should take is to continue with the prosecuting process and not give up due to lack of cooperation and absence of respondents who are not even responding to call because when she decides to withdraw from the process will be seen as a weakness in her leadership and may pave the way for other offenders to upcoming.

The other thing that Jessica should do is to educate the citizens on the procedure that they can follow to report police officers who commit crimes. Also, inform them of the cases that should be taken to court and which ones should be reported to the police administration according to Tom the agreement that has been made by the police officers and Jessica. The philosophy behind this decision is based on utilitarianism, which is a concept that requires the utility of society. The theory claims that a decision is considered to be best only if it is useful to the community that is what are the benefits that the decision made are to society.

Using this philosophy, it will lead in the satisfaction of both parties involved that is chief police officer, the citizens, the police officers, and also Jessica. There will provide an exceptional understanding of the reason that Jessica is demanding for prosecution, and the decisions to be made are agreed upon by all the parties involved. The people will also be contented because their demanding will have been met of being given justice, especially to the victims of these offenses. Through these police officers and Jessica will all be happy at the end.

The officer

Scot is an officer who is still on probation under the rookie department. While under probation, he can be sucked for any reason, and at any time, even without given time for a hearing before he is dismissed. On a particular day while he was on his usual duty of patrolling he stops a car for a minor traffic violation. The driver was extremely agitated because he claimed he was arrested and yet had not committed any offense.