Criminal Justice Ethics
CCJ 4486
Syllabus
Course Procedures and Grading Policy
Summer 2003
Ethics, like the gyroscope, is a man-made mechanism that must be used consciously and continuously to maintain direction, stability, and equilibrium."
Ethics Workbook 1999
| Instructor | Dr. Robert E. Ford |
| Office | Daytona Campus, Building 140 Room 200b |
| Address | 1200 International Spdwy Blvd. Daytona Beach, Florida 32118 |
| Office Hours | Tuesdays 4:00 p.m. to
5:00pm Orlando. Wednesday 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Daytona Thursday 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. (By Appointment) Other times are also available by appointment You can contact me anytime by email or you can call me at home. |
| Phone | 386-254-4412 (Office) 386-756-8245 (Home) |
| Personal E-mail | refmcf@bellsouth.net |
| Class E-mail | reford@mail.ucf.edu |
| Homepage | www.daytona.ucf.edu/bford |
I am easy to contact, you can call me at home or you can email me at home or the office. If you can’t get me, leave a message. You will be called back. Students are encouraged to email. Email is checked daily.
Course Description: This is a class in professional ethics applied to Criminal Justice. Ethics is the study of the rightness and wrongness, the good and evil of behaviors. Sources of ethical beliefs in communities and in interpersonal associations are identified. The religious, legal and, philosophical origins of ethics are reviewed. The roots of modern ethics in earlier philosophical traditions are sought.
Once general ethical propositions are established they will be applied to specific issues in criminal justice. Particular attention will be paid to issues related to coercion. Coercion is a key component of the justice system. Coercion poses significant ethical dilemmas. Specific ethical concerns will be addressed to police, defense attorneys, prosecutors and corrections officers. The ethics issues for both policy makers and academics will also be analyzed.
Course Objectives:
1. Introduce students to ethics and its philosophical and religious roots.
2. Provide a greater awareness of moral and ethical issues.
3. Assist students in becoming personally responsible.
4. Develop critical thinking and analytic skills.
5. Promote an understanding of the role of coercion in the criminal justice system.
Approach to Teaching
:
This is a multimedia assisted
course. A website supports course
assignments. Located at www.daytona.ucf.edu/bford , this website
provides administrative materials, readings, class assignments and copies of lecture
outlines (PowerPoint slides).
For heuristic purposes, the
course is divided into modules. Each module
supports a learning goal. Modules contain
class reviews, class assignments, supportive materials and readings. Modules are listed below and on the website. The modules will have the associated materials
directly available on the website.
To visit the course website,
go to www.daytona.ucf.edu/bford . The homepage will come up. Go to the course number for this class (CCJ 4486
Criminal Justice Ethics) and click on it. This
will bring up the course syllabus. Go
to Course Topics in the syllabus and click on the current module and it will come up. Modules will be available for review approximately
one week before they are scheduled.
Lecture and Class Discussion, Video and PowerPoint Presentations will be utilized. Students will be expected to participate in course discussion.
Course Topics: Dates
and lecture content are grouped by Modules. Click
on the Module at the website and it will provide a listing of assigned readings, assignments and overviews of lecture notes.
May 7 Module 1: Introduction and Class Overview.
May 14 Module 2: Ethic’s Religious and Philosophical Roots: Part 1
Module 3: Ethic's Religious and Philosophical Roots: Part 2
May 21 Module 4: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics
May 28 Module 5: Immanuel Kant and the Categorical Imperative.
Jeffrey Gold
"Utilitarian and Deontological Approaches to Criminal Justice Ethics" in
Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 2)
Michael C. Braswell and Jeffrey Gold "Peacemaking, Justice and Ethics" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 3)
June 4 Module 6: Applying Ethical Principles: Professional Ethics.
Assignment: Read the two Law Enforcement Code of Ethics
listed below, write a brief one page paper discussing what you feel about these ethical
codes. This assignment is due by October 24.
Dilemmas and Traits of Police Officers
Michael Davis
"Do Cops Really Need a Code of Ethics" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal
Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 5)
Midterm Examination June 11
June 18 Module 7: Ethical Issues in Policing:
Public Trust and Probity; Discretion
Dirty Harry and Noble Cause Corruption
Lawrence Sherman "Learning Police Ethics" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy
(eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 4)
Thomas Barker and David L. Carter "Police Lies and Perjury: A Motivation-Based Taxonomy" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 6)
Jerome Skolnick and Richard A. Leo "The Ethics of Deceptive Interrogation" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 7)
Joycelyn Pollack and Ronald Becker "Ethical Dilemmas in Police Work" in Braswll, McCarthy and McCarthy (eds) Criminal Justice Ethics (text, Chapter 8)
June 25 Module 7 (Continued) Ethics in Law Enforcement
Go to http://www.police-ethics.com/articles.htm
Click on Philosophy of Law Enforcement, read the materials on Philosophy of Law Enforcement. Pay particular attention to the author’s (Walter McKay) analysis of from where the police gained their authority and how ethically this has obligated the police to this day.
Click on APEC and the RMCP
Read the materials: pay particular attention to the argument McKay makes about what the relationship should be between police and political authorities.
Read Edward Tully’s "The Slippery Slope" available at http://www.neiassociates.org/slippery.htm Pay particular attention to Tully’s major theme of why police go bad. Also be alert to things that police organizations can do to reduce corruption.
Read Edward Tully’s "Misconduct, Corruption, Abuse of Power--Part II What Can the Officer Do?" available at http://www.neiassociates.org/misconductII.htm Pay particular attention to the two things that Tully says that police officers can do themselves to insulate them against the corrosive influence of policing.
Read Edwin J. Delattre’s "The New Police Officer--Integrity and Temptation" Pay particular attention to Delattre’s "Rights and Wrongs" of policing, available at: http://www.neiassociates.org/integrty.htm
July 2 Module 8: The Practice of Law: Lawyers, Prosecutors and Judges
Sentencing: Equality in Punishment.
Elliott Cohen "Pure Legal Advocates and Moral
Agents: Two Concepts of a Lawyer in an Adversary System."
Bennett Gershman "Why Prosecutors
Misbehave."
H. Richard Uviller "The Lawyer as Liar"
Lawrence F. Travis "Criminal Sentencing,
Honesty, Prediction, Discrimination and Ethics"
Harold E. Pepinsky and Paul Jesilow "Myth
that Punishment Fits the Crime"
Robert Johnson "A Life for a Life? Opinion
and Debate"
Ernest van den Haag "A Life for a Life:
Reply"
July 9 Module 9: The Unique Problems of Corrections
Read: Chapter 15 Bernard McCarthy "Keeping an Eye on the Keeper: Prison Corruption and Its Control."
Read: Chapter 17 John T. Whitehead "Ethics and the Prison: Selected Issues."
July 16 Module 10: Policy Issues, Research Concerns, and the Future of Ethics in Criminal Justice.
Read: Chapter 18 Robert Bohm "Crime, Criminals and Crime Control Myths
Chapter 20 Francis Cullen et al. "The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond: Assessing Blame
Chapter 21 Edwin Delattre "Ethics in Public Service: Higher Standards and Double Standards."
Class
Overview and Examination Review
July 23 Final Examination .
Course Requirements:
A. Required Text: Michael C. Brasswell, Belinda McCarthy and, Bernard McCarthy “Justice, Crime and Ethics” Anderson Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio..
B. Requirements: One multiple choice – short
answer Midterm and a Final (each counts 25% of grade); class assignments, reading
assessments and research report (35% of
grade); Attendance (15%). There will be a
number of brief class assignments which will be detailed in the modules. Students are responsible for completion of these
assignments. There will be one research
paper. Requirements for this paper are detailed below under a separate heading.
C. Grading Traditional 90 to 100 A 80 to 89 B 70 to 79 C 60 to 69 D, etc. Exams will be curved up if necessary.
D. Make-ups will only be granted for important reasons. Permission must be sought in advance.
E. Course Attendance is expected. Student will be marked down for unapproved absences. Attendance and class participation will account for one-quarter of grade.
F. Students will be responsible for the readings. They will be discussed in class and questions will be drawn for the examinations. In class quizzes will test comprehension of assigned readings.
G. Elements of this syllabus may change. Students will be promptly notified of all changes by email.
Class Assignment/Class Research Paper.
As in other areas of the criminal justice discipline, our understanding and mastery of Criminal Justice Ethics is at a very early stage of development. Additional research and conceptual development of what are appropriate ethical paradigms, of the impact of ethical training and the interactions of occupation and ethics is needed. You are to design a study of one area of ethics related to Criminal Justice. This study will include:
1. Introduction: Identifies the topic you are addressing and suggests why this topic is worthy of study.
2. Literature Review: Summarizes what we know about this topic.
3. Discussion: This section summarizes the strengths and weakness of the current state of knowledge. This section establishes the need for the study that you propose.
4. Research Proposal. In this section you will propose a research project. You will develop methodologies, identify critical variables and present instruments that you plan to use. You will identify how you plan to conduct the research. This include identification of methods used, sample sizes, questionnaire or interview items etc.
You do not have to actually conduct the research.
Paper due on July 16th.