Ethical dilemmas permeate the criminal justice. At every level, in each segment of the system, people are exercising discretion that will influence the fate of an individual and/or the security of the community. Incongruous laws, regulations, policies and practices create conflicts and distort the basis upon which judgments are made. Very often these conflicts result in an ethical dilemma. Which is the appropriate course of action? What is the moral/ethical rational for the decisions that were made? What purposes or principles are served? This project will ask you to consider a sequence of decisions (do, or not do) all of which contribute, directly or indirectly the final scene.

For each of the three (3) scenarios, your assignment is to:

Examine each situation and describe the ethical and/or moral question,
Describe what you believe to be the motivation of the actor and the potential consequences of BOTH/EACH options,
Identify the decision you believe the actor SHOULD make, and
Provide the ethical basis for your decision.
Connect the ethical basis for your decision to ethical theories introduced at the beginning of the course and explain the rational for this connection.
Each decision must be considered separately and not be influenced by earlier decisions and/or actions.
This project is an opportunity for the student to demonstrate their understanding of ethics and value-based decisions. Most of these situations do not have a single correct answer. Grading is NOT based on solving the problem that is presented to the actor but in identifying the ethical dilemmas and determining and explaining the most ethical course of action.