CJ305 An Ideal Ethical Organization
aussieinmissEthical Organization
An Ideal Ethical Organization
CJ305
Date
Professor
An Ideal Ethical Organization
The criminal justice system plays an important role in society and is tasked with providing fair and equal access to justice. In order to ensure the goal of justice is met by the criminal justice system its members must be capable of ethical decision making. An ethical organization has members capable of being respectful, professional, and moral as well as display integrity, honesty, fairness, and honor. Ethics are hard to define because they mean different things to different people but in the criminal justice system ethics means achieving justice by applying the law equally and fairly.
An ethical criminal justice system will have ethical leaders. An ethical leader in the criminal justice system would include the district attorneys, judges, and police chiefs. An ethical leader displays the behavior they expect the members of the organization to display. In other words leaders establish the expected behavior and create the rule or guidelines to ensure this behavior is displayed. In the criminal justice system employees are expected to adhere to established ethical guidelines and procedures.
An ethical leader is clear about the behavior they expect organizational members to display and consequences of ailing to display this behavior (Rabinowitz, 2001). For example police are required by law not to use excessive force with criminal suspects. If they use excessive force they face the potential of disciplinary action or even criminal charges. An ethical leader has responsibility to follow the law and display behavior that sets an exemplary and moral example. The leader must apply ethical decision making to ethical dilemmas in order to show employees how ethical situations should be handled.
When new employees arrive at the criminal justice organization they need to be fully trained on the ethical standards of the criminal justice organization. While it is essential for the leader to display ethical behavior which the new employee learns from they also need to be instructed on how to display ethical behavior. Employees need to be trained on the expected ethical behavior and made to understand they are responsible for their own actions. Ethical behavior can be taught but the person must also know right from wrong and be able to stand up for what they know to be right.
New and old employees must be given a copy of the ethical guidelines and also understand the consequences of not displaying ethical behavior (Matthew, 2012). When employees in the criminal justice system do not display ethical behavior the result is justice has failed. Ethical behavior is upholding the law which includes protecting the due process rights of the citizen. When member’s of the criminal justice system display poor ethical behavior it is a miscarriage of justice. The result of this behavior is members of the public lose trust in their ability to achieve justice.
When a criminal justice system is rife with corruption major changes will need to occur and it will need to begin with the leadership. Corrupt criminal justice leaders must be removed from the criminal justice organization and replaced with leaders capable of displaying ethical and moral behavior. Next ethical standards must be established and communicated to the employees. Any criminal justice organization with employees failing to display ethical behavior should punish the employees and either retrain or terminate these employees. Ethical behavior is not an option is the criminal justice system but a necessity.
References
Matthew, J. (2012). Eight Elements of an Ethical Organization. Retrieved September 17, 2013
from http://www.kauffmanlabs.org/en/resource-center/eight-elements-of-an-ethical-organiz
Rabinowitz, P. (2001). Ethical Leadership. Retrieved September 17, 2013 from
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_138.aspx