Why is it Necessary to Teach Ethics in Criminal Justice Law Business and Medical

Babies are born into the world with no knowledge or understanding of what is “good” or “bad”. You learn from the world around you and the people within it, what constitutes “good” or “bad”. Ethics plays a major role in one’s daily routines, judgements, and decision making. Why do we study ethics? From previous lectures, there are so many people in the world that truly believe they are ethical, and live in moderation. Ethics is understanding the difference between good and bad conduct, knowing the difference between rights and wrong…We’ve learned that being ethical is a habitat, not a random act.

It is important to teach ethics in Criminal Justice, Law, Business, and Medical due to the imperative need for these fields within our country. We need a criminal justice system, business, law, and medical system. These are all imperative fields. Due to the high demand and need for these systems, professionals must be taught how to be ethical within these fields and make the right choice when necessary. Throughout this paper, we will discuss each area individually to understand the need of ethics. You will find substantial evidence to support the claim to teach ethics in Criminal Justice, Law, Business, and the Medical field. Teaching ethics in these areas ensures that the public and our communities are utilizing their constitutional rights, and using the law to the best of their abilities.

Criminal Justice ethics is important to our nation and justice system. It is imperative and deemed necessary to protect citizens of the United States. Having an ethical criminal justice system is highly valuable and beneficial to society. Criminal Justice professionals hold an abundance of power, discretion, and authority, such as Police officers and Judges. Ethics bring a more “balance” means of justice to citizens. Having the peace of mind that if you fall victim to a crime, you have faith in the criminal justice system that justice will be served.

It is important to teach ethics in the criminal justice field to maintain civility and ensure ethical decision are made in extreme and difficult situations. According to the text, “If decisions were totally bounded by legal rules or policies, perhaps, there would be less reason for ethical analysis; however, the greater role discretion plays in a given profession, the more important is a strong grounding in ethics” ( Pollock, 2016).

This holds that the decisions that Criminal Justice professional makes are crucial and can be detrimental to society and life itself. It is safe to say that the views of ethical behaviors bestowed upon law enforcement have certainly changed/varied over the course of years. With nonstop media coverage of prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, political wrongdoings, etc... The Criminal Justice systems is one of our most significant and vital systems in the America. Within the criminal justice system the public interacts with criminal justice personnel on a daily basis. As mentioned, these citizens as well are sometime forced into situations where a hasty decision must be made, and in most cases there are fatal outcomes….

Criminal Justice personnel, such as law enforcement officers are faced with various situations on a daily basis, as mentioned. It is understanding, that making ethical decisions can be difficult for some people. To add, criminal justice personnel are citizens as well faced with that same life struggles, obstacles, and decisions as the next person. As individual we sometime forget law enforcement officers are people too. The decisions officers make whether they were the right or wrong decision, effects the life of the officer and others.

Ethics is imperative within the criminal justice system due to the interactions with the public. The media has not let up on the numerous of cases of police misconduct, police involved shootings, etc. But let’s talk about the ethical cases where law enforcement officers made showed ethical decision making. There was a case were an officer saved the life of a 3 month old baby who had stopped breathing.

According to inside edition, the officer was on his way home when he noticed someone trying to flag him down for help, Deputy Jeremy Nix pulled a fast U-turn and stopped behind the women's car (Hastings, 2018). The mother told the deputy that her 3-month-old son was not breathing (Hastings, 2018). Within seconds, a quick reaction, and decision by the officer he grabbed the baby to save his life. The deputy didn’t not catch a pulse from the infant and knew time was not on their side (Hastings, 2018). The deputy made the decision to rush the baby to the nearest hospital in his cruisers.

This officer was off duty and was heading home… This officer made the right decision to stop and not ignore the citizen. Had the deputy ignored the cries for help and waited for another officer to assist, baby Kingston would probably not survived…Officer Nix had to make a quick ethical decision to either wait for paramedics or rush the baby himself to the nearest ER to save his life. Officer Nix made an ethical decision! This is an example of how ethics plays a major role in criminal justice.

Why is it necessary to teach ethics law? Just as the criminal justice field, lawyers are political figures and interact with the public and the community on a daily basis. It is imperative that ethics is in taught in the field of law to ensure lawyers are providing the most professional service to the public. Ethics play a key role in the principles and values of law. Teaching ethics ensures proper and ethical conduct as lawyers and future students practice law.

Teaching ethics in different and all law schools is essential and crucial when dealing with the public in regards to the legal profession. Especially in schools, future law students should be taught the basics of ethics and different ethical dilemmas. Lawyers have to make decisions just as well as other professionals, and it most cases these decisions impact the lives of others. Lawyers have to make ethical decisions when in court rooms and/or on cases, to ensure the best interest of the clients and the law.

Just as much as other fields, law and ethics go hand in hand with each other. It is difficult to teach ethics across the board due to the various circumstances and cases. For example, a Lawyer who has taken on the case of Nicholas Cruz, accused of killing 14 students at Stoneman Douglas High School has the sole responsibility of DEFENDING his client to the best of his ability. In this case, the lawyer have to be unethical in order to win the case. Most lawyers have to be unethical, tell lies, and defend people who are clearly guilty of a crime. It the lawyer’s responsibility to somehow rationalize their client’s actions…In these cases an ethics lesson is useless and will contradict the lawyer’s goal. IF the lawyer is ethical they cannot do their job and defend their client. In this case, ethics contradicts the law…..

Lawyers are public servants of the community and have a duty to represent their clients to the best of their ability. “To the best of their ability” can be a measure of ethics. Depending on the principles, ethics, morals, care, and values of the lawyer depends on the level of ethics they will apply to their cases. Some lawyers are simply into law for the money, and have no ethical bones in their body.

For example, there was a case were an immigration lawyer was under fire for defrauding immigrants. According to an article, “an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, heard about a lawyer who was promising legal permanent residency to people who had lived in the United States for 10 years and had American-born children” (Robbins, 2018). Like most immigrants here in the United States, seek help from lawyers to obtain residency in America. According to the article, “Mr. Torres went to see the lawyer, Thomas T. Hecht, at his Times Square office, and for an initial fee of $750, the lawyer said that he would get a work permit in six months, and then some time later, the green card” ( Robbins, 2018).

The article states that the lawyer tricked at least 25 other undocumented immigrants, instead of applying for a green card, the lawyers filed different paperwork for asylums, without the clients knowledge (Ribbon, 2018). In America, once an application has been denied an asylum, the case is sent to immigration courts and the immigrant is then deported back to their country. Lawyers can attempt to obtain residency based on their client’s 10-year residency at that point but the chances are slim to none for approvals. In this case, the lawyer had unethical continued to obtain fees and money from clients even though they were being deported back to their countries.

In the article it states that “According to federal statistics requested and compiled by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s immigration clinic, which is a co-counsel in the suit, the Hecht firm had filed 1,039 asylum applications from November 2006 through January 2017 (Ribbons, 2018). This particular lawyer was highly unethical! This lawyer was only practices law for the money. The lawyer knowingly charged his clients fees… unethical actions…

Similarly, for medical you want to always have someone that is willing to help, in must save your life. You want someone to make the ethical decision to save your life. When you have other people lives in your hands, you have to have ethical responsibilities in order to determine the right course of action. Medical personnel just as lawyers have the task of making the decision to do what is best for their patients and clients. Both parties are deemed responsible for acting in the best interest of others, making ethical decisions in most cases.

For medical personnel such as doctors, assistants, nurses, transporters, pediatricians, surgeons, etc. not utilizing ethics could lead them to legal and malpractice battles. There is a code of ethics that nurses are taught in nursing school due to the severity of their jobs. For example, an ethical dilemma for nurses would be telling the truth to a patient vs being deceiving and lying to the patient about his/her conditions. In many cases, this type of unethical behavior impacts the patient and the family.

Personally, I have experienced unethical decisions made by nurses in an attempt to have an easier day. For example, my grandmother suffers from dementia and is hospitalized occasionally throughout the year. She was hospitalized a year ago, and was very upset about having to stay in the hospital. My grandmother would refuse to eat and take her medications, at which point the nurses would sedate her to keep her calm. My grandmother was given a prescription drug called “hound dog” which is usually given to patient who are psychotic. My grandmother’s dementia took a left turn after taking this medication.

So, due to my grandmother’s unwillingness and behavior she was medicated so all she did was sleep. This behavior was unethical. The nurse kept my grandmother sedated to avoid interactions, and having to deal with the cooperation. It was completely unethical and wrong for the nurse to sedate my grandmother with no medical reason to do so.

As mentioned previously, ethics should be taught in the areas of criminal justice, law, business, and medical. These areas are necessary to have ethical values to ensure the safety and security of citizens. In all areas, we somehow in some way depend on these professional to perform some kind of professional duty. Citizens count on law enforcement to protect and serve. Citizens count business professional to ensure financial stability. Citizens count on lawyers to obtain justice for crimes committed. Citizens count medical personnel to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones…Ethics is necessary to teach in these fields.

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