Instructions
To satisfy the requirements for this project, you must prepare six short, 250-word essays in response to five questions. Each question is worth 20 points. The five questions are based on the following scenario.
Imagine you’re working as an administrator in a police department in your local town or city. Each day, you interact with police officers in your department and other departments, members of your office staff, public officials, members of the public, representatives from the press, potential criminal defendants, and others.
As you prepare your answers to the questions, keep in mind that you’re a public official and that you have a duty to uphold justice and follow the law.
Ethical Dilemma 1: Gun Rally
You’ve received an anonymous tip that a local gun advocacy group plans to hold a rally in the town square the next day. The group hasn’t applied for a permit to hold a rally, but they’ve held such events in the past and they’ve always been peaceful. You strongly support Article 2 of the Constitution and the beliefs of the gun advocacy group, and you don’t want to do anything to offend the members. You believe the anonymous tipster is providing accurate information, but you can’t be absolutely sure. You also believe that no one else in your police department is aware of the impending event. What do you do? Give reasons to support your decision.
Ethical Dilemma 2: Chief’s Orders
Assume that in response to the tip you received about the gun rally, you decide to advise your fellow police officers. You gather a group of officers together the next day in case the unlawful rally is held. As the gun advocacy group begins to appear on the town square, you confer with the chief officer on duty. She tells you to wait until the entire group has gathered and then storm the area, with tear gas and billy clubs. You’re further instructed to arrest everyone you can and to charge them with unlawful assembly, trespassing, rioting, and anything else you can come up with. She also makes some very derogatory comments about anyone who supports such a group, claiming they’re terrorists and thugs. You personally disagree with the chief and believe she’s acting both improperly and immorally, allowing her personal beliefs to interfere with her legal responsibilities as a police officer. What do you do? Do you follow her orders? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
Ethical Dilemma 3: Accepting Favors
You’re asked to investigate the gun advocacy group and their activities. To do so, you need to work with the police department in the next county. After contacting their chief, you’re assigned to work with another seasoned officer who has also been conducting some preliminary investigations of the group. You decide to do some field investigations together the following day. While you’re out working on the investigation, the other officer decides to stop at the local convenient market for some lunch. He picks up a sandwich and coffee, waves to the owner, and returns to the police vehicle—without paying for the items. When you ask him about it, he says that he has an “arrangement” with the owner and not to worry about it. He explains that he and the store owner help each other out (meaning the officer provides additional protection to the store in exchange for the food). Finally, he says, “If you’re hungry, go inside and pick up what you want.” What do you do and what concerns do you have? Explain your answers.
Ethical Dilemma 4: Reporting a Deal
You happen to be in the courthouse during the trial of some of the members of the gun advocacy group. As you walk by the chambers of the judge who is presiding over the trial, you overhear the judge and the chief prosecutor discussing the case. The judge is talking about one of the defendants in the case and is making some very derogatory comments. You’ve often appeared in trials before this judge, and you’ve always found him to be fair and impartial. In this case, however, you’re concerned that the judge and prosecutor may be engaging in inappropriate activity. This situation is particularly troublesome because the trial is proceeding at the request of all parties as a bench trial, with the decision being rendered by the judge without the benefit of a jury. What would you do? Explain your answer.
Ethical Dilemma 5: Breaking Prison Rules
In the course of your investigation of the gun advocacy group, you have to go to your local county prison to question one of the group members being held there pending trial. This particular individual has been a problem inmate and is being held in solitary confinement. He’s to have no contact with other members of the group. You meet with him alone in a private interrogation room. He knows that you generally support the group, and he does his best to answer your questions, although his answers aren’t as complete as you would like. At the end of the questioning—just before he rises to leave the room—he slips you a note in a sealed envelope and asks that you give it to someone who is involved in the gun advocacy group. He says it’s very important and implores you to just hand it to the person or drop it in the mail. He then leaves the interrogation room. What do you do? Explain your answer.
Ethical Dilemma 6: Crisis Intervention or Use of Force?
While on routine patrol you’re dispatched to an apartment building where there’s been a report of a male disturbing the peace. As you and your partner arrive on the scene, the apartment manager informs you that the tenant on the second floor is threatening other tenants. Upon reaching the suspect you begin shouting commands for the subject to place his hands where they can be seen. The subject isn’t complying with the commands and is acting in a way that you’re trained to understand may be linked to mental health illness. What do you do? Explain your answer.
Project Specifications
Create a title page with the following information:
a. Title: Ethics in Criminal Justice
b. Your name
c. Your student number
d. Project number
e. Current date
Prepare your answers to the ethical dilemmas in a word processing program. Each answer should be at least 250 words.
Double-space your answers. Use 12-point font—either Times New Roman or Arial—and one-inch margins.
Incorporate and properly reference any sources of information you’ve used to develop your answers. Use proper APA in-text citation formatting and include an APA References page at the end of your paper. For assistance with citing your sources and doing a references page, see the Research and Writing page in the Penn Foster Virtual Library: http://pflibrary.pennfoster.edu/c.php?g=633288
Read over your work carefully. Make sure it’s professional with correct formatting, grammar, and citations, along with adequate support for any arguments you make.
Submit the final draft of your work, along with the title page, only after you’ve completed writing your answers to each dilemma.

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