1. CJS/211 Ethics in Criminal Justice
University of Phoenix
Week Five

2. CJS/211 OBJECTIVES Discuss special prison populations.
Discuss ethical thoughts about personal revenge.
Identify the rights of victims.
Determine victim participation in criminal court proceedings.
Examine enforcement of laws and their relationship to ethics in criminal justice.
Discuss morality in the current criminal justice system and determine what changes in policy are needed.
Understand the relationship between fear and ends justify the means decision making.

3. CJS/211 Special Prison Populations
Should we punish or confine all offenders the same way?
Learning Teams - Discuss

4. CJS/211 Discuss Criminal Justice Future War on drugs Human Trafficking
Border protection
Financial crimes and fraud
Financing criminal justice systems
War on terrorism
Security vs. civil liberties

5. CJS/211
Juveniles
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is the primary source of information.
About 1.6 million juveniles (under 18) are arrested annually in America.
Violent crime by juveniles is decreasing.
Many repeat juvenile offenders are supervised in the community on probation.

6. CJS/211
Younger juveniles account for a substantial proportion of juvenile arrests and the juvenile court caseload.
Female delinquency has grown substantially, increasing 76% in the last ten years.
The number of juveniles held in public facilities has increased sharply.
Crowding is a serious problem in juvenile facilities.

7. CJS/211 Federal Juvenile Court Act - 1938
By 1945, every state had enacted special legislation focusing on the handling of juveniles
5 ethical and philosophical principles juvenile court:
The state is the higher or ultimate parent of all the children within its borders.
Children are worth saving, and non-punitive procedures should be used to save the child.

8. CJS/211
Children should be nurtured, protected from the stigmatizing impact of formal adjudicatory procedures.
To accomplish the goal of reformation, justice needs to be individualized, that is, each child is different, and the needs, aspirations, living conditions, and so on of each child must be known in their individual particulars if the court is to be helpful.
Non-criminal procedures are necessary to give primary consideration to the needs of the child. The denial of due process can be justified in the face of constitutional challenges because the court acts not to punish, but to help.

9. CJS/211 Juvenile Justice System
Delinquent children - are those who violate the criminal law. If they were adults, the word criminal would be applied to them.
Undisciplined children - are said to be beyond parental control, as evidenced by their refusal to obey legitimate authorities, such as school officials and teachers. They need state protection.

10. CJS/211
Dependent children - typically have no parents or guardians to care for them. Their parents are deceased, they were placed for adoption, or they were abandoned in violation of the law.
Neglected children - are those who do not receive proper care from their parents or guardians. They may suffer from malnutrition or may not be provided with adequate shelter.

11. CJS/211
Abused children - are those who suffer physical abuse at the hands of their custodians. This category was later expanded to include emotional and sexual abuse.
Status offender - is a special category that embraces children who violate laws written only for them. In some states, status offenders are referred to as persons in need of supervision.

12. CJS/211 Status Offenses truancy vagrancy running away from home
incorrigibility.
The youthful status of juveniles is a necessary element in such offenses.
Juveniles are subject to apprehension and juvenile court processing because state laws require that they be subject to parental control.

13. CJS/211 Juvenile Court Process
Detention hearing - conducted by the juvenile court judge or by an officer of the court (juvenile probation officer given the authority to make intake decisions).
Intake officers, like their police counterparts, have substantial discretion.
Diverted juveniles may be sent to:
job-training programs
mental health facilities
drug-treatment programs
educational counseling
The National Center for Juvenile Justice estimates more than half of all juvenile cases disposed of at intake are handled informally, without a petition, and are dismissed or diverted to a social service agency.

14. CJS/211 Transfer hearing serious offense is involved
statutory provisions may allow for transfer of the case to adult court (prosecuting attorney’s request)
transfer hearings focus on:
the applicability of transfer statutes to the case under consideration
whether the juvenile is amenable to treatment through the resources available to the juvenile justice system
exceptions exist where statutes mandate transfer

15. CJS/211
Adjudication hearings - similar to adult trials with some differences:
Emphasis on privacy
Informality - adult criminal trial is highly structured, juvenile hearing is more informal and less adversarial with the judge taking an active role in the fact-finding process rather than serving as arbitrator between prosecution and defense
Speed
No right to jury trial
Evidentiary standard - judge must weigh evidence
Philosophy of the court - judge may decide that it is not in the juvenile’s best interests to be adjudicated delinquent and also has the power, even after the evidence is presented, to divert the juvenile from the system

16. CJS/211 Punishing the mentally ill
Managing the mentally ill on a daily basis is challenging
Correctional staff are not trained to provide medication.
They are also not trained to diagnose who is mentally ill and who isn't.
An officer is not supposed to know the reasons for taking medication.

17. CJS/211
This can become an ethical and moral decision which can lead to problems for an officer. Example: Inmate B smears feces on his cell's window and floor.
Does he have a mental illness or is he seeking attention?
Local jails and prisons continue to be the dumping ground for society's misfits.

18. CJS/211
According to the U.S. Department of Justice's statistics report:
Prison or jail inmates who suffer from mental illness are more likely to be charged with violating facility rules and receive injuries from a fight more than inmates who do not have a mental illness.
If charged with rule violations, 58 percent of state inmates had a mental illness compared to 43 percent of those who did not.
Jail inmates with a mental illness are twice as likely to be charged with facility rule violations (19 percent compared to 9 percent).
Twenty-four percent of state inmates with mental illness compared to 14 percent of normal inmates had been charged with a physical or verbal assault on correctional staff or another inmate.

19. CJS/211
9 percent of local inmates with mental illness compared to 3 percent of normal inmates were injured in a fight.
20 percent of state inmates with mental illness compared to 10 percent of normal inmates were injured in a fight.
11 percent of federal inmates with mental illness compared to 6 percent of normal inmates were injured in a fight.
Midyear 2005 jail and prison inmates with mental health problems:
(56 percent) 705,600 in state prisons
(45 percent) 70,200 in federal prisons
(64 percent) 479,900 in local jails

20. CJS/211
Why be ethical?
Learning Teams

21. CJS/211 Policing and homeland defense 9/11 changed the world Terrorism
What is the role of the police
Use of minor crimes
Littering
Trespassing
Post 9/11 response to terrorism and homeland defense
Difference
Communication

22. CJS/211 Victim’s movement Crime victim’s bill of rights
Victim compensation programs
Victim precipitation
Restorative justice
Do we have it
How often does it occur

23. CJS/211 White-collar crime Are the harms committed by the same?
Should they be imprisoned with other violent criminals?
Enormous costs incurred by white-collar crime

24. CJS/211 Ethical leadership Individual decision making
Does it affect others?
Does it hurt others?
Would I want it done if I were on the other side?
Would I be proud of the decision?
Why be ethical?

25. CJS/211 Criminal Justice Related Ethics applied:
Constant pursuit of individual dreams/actions with the context of the larger community.
Maintaining:
individual integrity
organizational integrity
utilizing a personal/organizations sense of right and wrong, yet conforming to what is best for the majority of persons in an organization/society can be a constant and evolving challenge.

26. CJS/211
Morals and ethics
Morals/Morality – conformity to the rules of right conduct; moral or virtuous conduct (dictionary.com)
Applied ethics – examining specific controversial issues (internet encyclopedia of philosophy)
Professional ethics – member of an occupational group who work within and accept the profession's agreement to work in a morally permissible way (often expressed as a code of ethics) (center for the study of professional ethics)

27. CJS/211 FIVE GOALS FOR EXPLORING ETHICS
1. Greater awareness of moral/ethical issues
2. Develop critical thinking/analytical skills
3. Become personally responsible
4. Understanding coercion in criminal justice
5. Develop wholesight

28. CJS/211 Importance of ethics for criminal justice professionals:
DISCRETION - how sacred are the items related to discretion?
Public trust
Power to make major decisions
Potential deprivation of:
Life
Liberty
Property

29. CJS/211
Questions/Discussion/Comments?