Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice is a book by Joycelyn M. Pollock. The book was first published in 1986 and has gone on to be the industry standard in this field. She has since gone on to get her Ph.D. and has been a member of the Texas Bar Association since 1991. You can also go through law school to gain a lot in terms of your career.

As far as the book goes, it has proven to be a thorough examination of the ethical, moral, and legal considerations that one has to consider during the criminal justice procedure. And the book isn’t a hypothesis or set in some utopia. Instead, it is very much based in the real world with proper sourcing for all the examples cited within the book of Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice

Over the course of the years, the book has become an indispensable supplement for anyone looking to get a degree in the criminal justice system. If review are to be believe, then a thorough reading of the book is guaranteed to get you at least a 90 on any given test. 

But what makes this book so special? Well, look into it. 

Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice
Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice

Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal JusticeIndex

Ethical Dilemmas and Decision in Criminal Justice is properly source and index. So, if you happen to have a physical copy of the book, then you can quickly get to whatever it is you were looking for rather than searching for it for hours. On top of that, all the indexing is unique and easily accessible to anyone looking for things. 

So, at the end of the day, rather than going through the book from cover to cover in order to find that one example you were looking for, you can find it easily through the index. This level of accessibility is what has endeared Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice book to so many students and other readers out there. 

Examples of ethical issues in criminal justice-Practical coverage 

A lot of such books are set or deal with hypothetical. As a result, the knowledge gained from them serves little to no use in the real world. In order to avoid this pitfall, this book deals with only real-life application and every example cite is thoroughly source. 

As a result, by the time you are through with the Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice book, not only will you be prepare for the theoretical applications of the book, but the practical ones as well. As a result, a cover to cover reading of the book sets you up nicely for any and all curve balls that might come at you while practicing. 

On top of that, the book does a thorough examination of the entire subject matter. So, by the time you are ready to put its teachings into practice, you will be more than ready to deal with any and all eventualities that might come your way. 

What are some of the modern ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice?

Police officers, as specified by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, are requested and mandated to practice law enforcement ethics. For those serving to follow the constitution, this code of ethics also poses legal problems or dilemmas.

As far as modern law enforcement is concerned, the top five contemporary legal challenges currently prevalent include the following:

  • Off-Duty Life
  • Upholding the Law and Individual Rights
  • Necessary Force
  • Acting Impartially
  • Profiling

To understand better, let us discuss in detail these modern ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice.

Life Off-Duty 

Police officers are kept to an exceptionally high standard that needs to represent the honesty of their role and their personal lives.

  • At all times, they have to uphold a respectable reputation because they are under intense media pressure and rely on the trust of the public to maintain their place of authority.
  • While most occupations stop when the employee clocks out, police officers face the ethical problems of upholding a level of social dignity and complying with the law at all times. 
  • This also places them, especially those with no regard for the law or the badge, in direct confrontation with society. 

Upholding the rules and Individual rights

Every officer takes an oath to uphold the law and to protect the civil rights of a citizen. The capacity to maintain these oaths while they are apparently incompatible is one of the ethical challenges that an officer faces every day.

  • In the nation’s drug policies and ensuing drug battles, one of the greatest inconsistencies can be seen.
  • This forces police officers to behave in the best interest of the nation rather than the citizen. 
  • They could face jail, fines, work loss, loss of social prestige, and loss of custody of their children when someone is found with a few illicit pot seeds.
  • However, a cop should not recognize these problems of right to life and liberty because if they don’t apprehend and prosecute the guy, they themselves will break the law. 

This is indeed one of the most critical ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice.

Necessary Force

The modern-day Black Lives Matter campaign highlights the public’s outrage about police officers’ use of excessive force.

  • The campaign is an initiative to hold the police department responsible for any and all incidents of excessive force. 
  • Both police officers have the power to use the appropriate force to enforce the rules, but their use of force is unjustified in some circumstances. 
  • When coping with those people who are non-compliant, this ethical dilemma cops face every day will, and does, put their lives at risk.

In most situations, an officer must take a split-second determination as to what amount of force is needed and a misjudgment may result in the officer being wounded or killed. A study on loyalty to authority found that the perception of a person losing their rights would lead them to behave badly and officers can easily be coerced to use excessive force in high-stress environments.

Acting with impartiality 

The obligation to behave impartially is one of the legal problems facing officers. A host of issues in real-world circumstances are induced by this idealistic form of oath. Particularly for municipal and small-town officers who address the same crowds of people during their career, it is not always easy to behave impartially.

An officer who knows where the nearest crack dens are, but has no court-acceptable facts to prosecute the prosecution, will be a real-world example of this. The officer is required to observe the ethics of law enforcement, but by observing such policies, he is therefore constrained in his power to obey the law.

Let’s discuss more ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice.

Ethical issue in criminal justice-Decision Making

The book places a special emphasis on decision making. This is quite important since no two case are the same all things consider. As a result, the Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice book delves quite a lot in the decision-making process of things where it ponders over every single moral, ethical and legal ramification. 

This extra emphasis on this aspect of things goes a long way in preparing the students and readers for any and all possible outcomes. All these ponderous deliberations will also prepare the students and readers to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions. 

All in all, the book does a magnificent job of helping to improve the decision-making process of anyone who picks up the book. By the time you are done with it, you will be coming up with solutions on your own that might prove to be unique to you. 

Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice online – Examination of the challenges

As the government grows bigger in size, the “shall not be infringed” part of the US constitution gets more and more trampled upon. The book does a brilliant job of the gradual erosion of civil rights and highlights the reasons behind it. 

Over the course of the book, you will be learning about how these rights are being infringed upon by the militarization of police, wrongful convictions & mass imprisonments, etc. The book is fearless in its approach and stands out as a vocal critic of the big government currently on display. One can also check details online criminal justice degree texas to prepare for or advance their career in criminal justice.

Even though the first edition was publish back in 1986, the contents of the book still hold true to this day. It still proves to be a mirror to the society at hand and how government excesses are proving to be quite the insurmountable challenge to everyone at hand. 

Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice 10th edition ebook
Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice 10th edition ebook

Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice 10th edition  – Main Content

As said before, the book is thoroughly index and proves to be quite a resource guide for anyone looking for anything specific within the book. In order to further prove this point, here is a body of contents of the book =

  1. Ethics and the criminal justice system
  2. Police
  3. Law
  4. Corrections
  5. Bibliography
  6. Author Index
  7. Subject Index
  8. Table of Cases
  9. Copyright

So, as you can see, the book is properly segment and covers each and every aspect of the criminal justice system in depth. 

With all of this being said, it comes as little to no surprise that the book has only gained in reputation over the years. Since its first round in publishing, the book has gone under publication a further 9 times. The current 10th edition is widely available on most of the e-commerce platforms and physical bookstores that deal with these things. 

So, if you are a student or someone who is fascinate by the criminal justice system, then this is the book for you. It provides a thorough insight into the system and provides explanations to all possible outcomes and deliberations that go with it. 

All in all, Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice covers all possible ethical and moral dilemmas that one might face while being involved with the criminal justice system. As a result, it prepares the reader quite well for any ethical or moral quandary that they might come across. So, drop what you are doing and go grab yourself a copy to begin reading. For further information visit our website Online schools near me.