Case Study on "Overcoming Ethical Challenges in the Workplace"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

There is a need to have the law on parole amended to prevent the unfortunate circumstance of overcrowding solved.

However, given the urgency and the seriousness of the matter, the warden cannot wait for the government to amend the law to start acting. This is not something that at all requires postponement. Since the lives of the security workers and that of another support staff is at stake, there is a need to put up proactive measures that can prevent the occurrence of the crisis. For instance, in the case of safety of the security personnel, there is a need to have proper fencing of the prison system. The warden also needs to take steps to give these employees some assurance that all is being done to ensure their safety. They need to have a confidence boost since they are facing a potential life threatening issue. The warden also has to assure them that there shall be plans to increase their number to make them safer. Addition of more security surveillance systems is also something that the warden needs to give an assurance to the security personnel that all is being done to have them safe at work.

3. The District Attorney's case

Drug barons had become a menace in the recent past. They conducted through trade while fully armed with guns. At times, they could be engaged in city shootouts that ended up causing casualties on either side of the firing side. Thus made the city mayor, though the police chief to move swiftly and make massive arrests in a bid to tame the situation. The overzealous arresting spree has ended up having many innocent inmates in prisons. The kinds of cases that are also at hand do not have sufficient evidence since there was no s

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ufficient prior investigation done before effecting the arrests. Martha, the district attorney, feels that the arrests made, and the cases presented are weak. She then feels that such hasty arrests ought not to happen. However, she has an obligation to support the mayor and other authorities who have taken a stand to eradicate drug trading. In this situation, she finds herself in a situation where she has to defend her career objectives of preserving justice as well as fulfill the collective duty helping eradicate crime. Pressure from the public also goes the same direction of the mayor.

Martha needs to instruct the prosecutors to carry out a thorough investigation before presenting the suspects to the court. This is done to prevent a situation where the office of the attorney is being put to shame for staging a weak case before the judges. Martha also has to instruct the prosecutors on how to conduct the trial and plea sessions in court. They should be made to understand that no case could go through when there is insufficient evidence. It is also appropriate to conduct a feasibility study on the likelihood of collapse of the cases at hand. If the case is weak from the onset, the prosecutors need to have arrangements for dismissal to be possible. Therefore, Martha should give instructions for actions that will cast the image of her office in good light. This is done using the industry's best practices guiding the law profession. She also has to ensure that she acts in line with the collective responsibility of having to support the government's fight against drug trafficking. These two roles might fail to correlate, but she has to consider having a tradeoff that will lead to some form of optimality.

Ethical issues

Ethics in this case are likely to be lacking. For instance, Martha knows very well that it is against the requirements of her profession to fix cases that do not naturally hold. She however goes ahead to don it. She simply acted in a way that made her appear good to the country's leadership. She also does this so as to looking tough o her job, a fete that is not in the good interest of the suspects (Kitson & Campbell, 2012). Ethical standards were also breached in the sense that the prosecutors acted in response to the directions of the attorney. Ideally, the prosecution process is supposed to exercise independence in their service. Independence and objectiveness are the main tenets that ensure the administration of justice on the part of the prosecution. Other benefits of being ethically compliant in the prosecution process are that it leads to satisfaction to all the participants of the case.

4. The officer

There have been complaints from the prosecution department regarding the case of too many minor cases contributing to unnecessary backlog. Most senior officers in the force have distinguished this as an unnecessary endeavor. Linda, a police officer, also finds herself in a situation as described by the prosecutors as 'minor cases that just bring backlog to the system.'

Linda encounters a potential drug baron. In this case, the drug baron has failed to present official identification documentation and thus has to be arrested so that identification can be done through the fingerprint test process. While still grappling with the issue of whether to arrest a suspect or not, her colleague call her asking her to join an emergency case of a burglary in progress. This hits her mind that the case she is trying to create out of the drug addict falls under the minor cases that had been termed as unnecessary. However, her conviction to eradicate drug peddling makes her stick to the course and pursues her new case. She responds to dispatcher by telling him that there is a case at hand that she is engaged in that is worth pursuing. She chooses to lie to the dispatcher that the case is big and requires due attention. In this sense, she justifies her reasons not to join hands with the rest of her team and instead stay on her line of duty.

It is known to Linda that drug peddlers have adapted to the onslaught by the police by using small-scale peddlers to execute their agenda. They do this with the intent of reducing the likelihood of them being arrested, and in case it happens, the amount they end up losing is very negligible and can easily be recovered. This knowledge of the situation, as witnessed by Linda is what motivates her to turn down a request by the dispatcher to join their raid mission. Another convincing her that she has to pursue the case more includes the lack of identification documents in the part of the suspect. It is a pointer that there could be more to than meets the eye in the character and dealings of this suspect.

Drug peddling is a serious crime in the modern society. It leads to loss of lives to both the users and the peddlers. Users lose their lives through the negative health effects that drugs have on the body. This as well contributes to lifestyles that are life threatening (Sreedharan, 2010). A drug addict will be out of the normal thinking realm of ordinary life at all cases. In such moods and thinking, they are likely to self-harm themselves or engage in fights that have the same effect of endangering their lives. Linda was guided by the philosophy either of having to prevent hazards to human life in the future or at that moment. She was more ethically and morally motivated to serve than she was acting out of duty calls.

Ethical basis

Ethical standards and considerations are at play in this decision by the officer. Crimes ought to be punished by the officers in whatever level they happen. Segregating offenders based on the size of the crime committed is a retrogressive approach to justice. It has the ability of motivating g crime if the small nature. Crime ought to be taken as a crime regardless of the level in which it occurs. Therefore, Linda was on the right to turn down a request to join the new task mission and instead pursue the one she had already started. In all cases, crime level has to be maintained at minimum low regardless of the nature and size. Although Linda's case is against the wishes of his bosses, it is a noble thing to do. One other ethical issue that backs this case is the issue of loyalty to service other than to personalities. Linda displayed good loyalty to the service by working on the issue that was at hand instead of acting at the whims of the bosses that was in this particular scenario an irrational thing to do.

References

Herman, P. (2012). The American Prison System. New York: H.W. Wilson.

Kitson, A., & Campbell, R. (2012). The Ethical Organization: Ethical Theory and Corporate Behavior. Basingstoke: Macmillan Business.

Sreedharan, E. (2010). Restoring Values Keys to Integrity, Ethical Behavior, and… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Overcoming Ethical Challenges in the Workplace" Assignment:

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Case Study

Ethical dilemmas permeate the criminal justice. At every level, in each segment of the system, people are exercising discretion that will impact on 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 four (4) 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 options, Identify the decision you believe the actor SHOULD make, and Provide the ethical basis for your decision. NOTE: The scenarios are sequential. However, each decision must be considered separately and not be influenced by earlier decisions and/or actions. For instance, the decision to fund/not fund a new prison does not impact on a later decision to sentence a convicted felon to incarceration. The sentencing dilemma is independent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Parole Board

As the chair of the parole board, Robert knows the state prisons are critically overcrowded. Advocates are threatening the corrections system with Federal suits. One alternative is to broaden the parole eligibility criteria to allow more inmates to be released to community-based supervision. However, reviewing the current “risk assessment” results, Robert is concerned that any further relaxation of standards may result in the release of inmates more likely to re-offend than he considers “safe”. Robert just received a call from the Governor asking him what the parole board can do to ease the overcrowding that will be the basis of the federal law suits. The Governor reminds Robert that if these suits are successful, inmates will be released under a federal process outside the parole board’s control. What does Robert, as chair of the parole board, tell the Governor?

2. The Warden

William is the warden of a century-old correctional facility. Despite his best arguments, his operating budget was severely cut for the fiscal year that just started which eliminated overtime for correctional officers and froze hiring of replacement employees. Almost all of the rest of his budget is dedicated to food and medical services for inmates, and fixed utility costs. He was staffed for his average population (same as capacity population), but those numbers have skyrocketed due to an aggressive arrest and prosecute campaign. The facility is dangerously overcrowded with no foreseeable sign of relief. The major problem is staffing. William is concerned for the safety of his employees as well as the inmate population. He thinks that if his officers’ feel threatened they may report off for medical reasons, resign or simply not report for duty; any of which would only exacerbate the problem. William does have an off-site work release program which could handle the additional inmates. However, there is no “risk assessment” or screening process in place which means the designation of inmates to community-based work release would be based on unsupported security guess work. The union representatives for the security officers have a meeting with William to hear how the warden intends to ensure the safety of his members. How does William respond?

3. The District Attorney

Martha ran a successful campaign for district attorney on a very conservative platform generally critical of plea bargaining and reduced prison sentences for convicted felons. The city’s police chief, following his mayor’s directive to “take back the streets from gun-toting drug dealers” has launched a very aggressive arrest campaign, resulting in a dramatic increase in criminal cases. A review of sample cases clearly shows many of these arrests lack supportive probable cause and/or have very weak evidentiary support. As cases, most are “losers”. Martha knows from the criminal records that most of the arrestees are heavily involved in the city’s drug culture, even if the current case is weak. She also knows that anything other than aggressive prosecution of these cases will portray her as unsupportive of the mayor and the police and reneging on her campaign pledge. Martha’s chief of staff has asked her for some directive to her prosecutors as to how she wants these cases handled (trial, plea bargain, dismiss, etc.). What direction should Martha give?

4. The Officer

About 3:00am on a deserted street corner, Linda, a police officer confronts a young man acting in a manner which she recognizes from her experience and training as consistent with the mannerisms of a drug-deal “look-out”. Linda confronts the man and asks for his identification. She also asks him if he would empty his pockets for her. From one pocket the officer has recovered several vials which she recognized as crack cocaine; in the other pocket she finds $400 in cash. Linda remembers her sergeant at roll call chastising other officers for bringing in petty drug cases that just take time from patrol and clog the system. The department is getting complaints about overloaded dockets from the prosecutors’ office and there is no more room in the local jail. Earlier, in the locker room, fellow officers were griping about their colleagues who make themselves unavailable to handle calls for service because they are off processing some time-consuming minor arrest. With his pockets now empty, the subject still has not produced any positive identification. At this point Linda knows nothing about the suspect... and she can't find out unless she arrests and charges him so the suspect can be fingerprinted and positively identified... and Linda can't arrest and charge the suspect without the contraband. At this point the police dispatcher calls for Linda and asks if she is available to serve as back-up for a “burglary in progress” call. What does Linda tell the dispatcher?

Format Requirements

A minimum of 10 full narrative text pages Double space 12 pt. font 1” margins Use American Psychological Association (APA) citation format for all narrative and Reference Page sources Reference Page is not included in the word count

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