Introduction
Law enforcement agencies have the responsibility of ensuring law and order in society. This makes them central to the attainment of peace and development in a given region. However, for this to happen, quality leadership is needed. In addition, it is desirable that leadership qualities be reflected on both the leader and those he/she leads. This is essential as it ensures the smooth running of activities in the organization. Law enforcement organizations require impeccable leaders with moral and ethical integrity. This is mainly because the organization holds key to law and order. Issues such as deception and corruption should be avoided at all costs in any law enforcement organization. However, this has not been the case in most organizations. Actually, they face several ethical issues, which include corruption and deception, among others. This paper will explore corruption as an ethical issue found in law enforcement systems (Strutin, 2005, p. 1).
Criminal justice system
Criminal justice refers to a system of government institutions and activities aimed at upholding law and order. The system works to mitigate crime through sanctions, rehabilitation, and penalties. Through this, the organization achieves its mission of peace, law, and order. It is also important to note that the criminal justice system ensures that suspects are protected against brutality and abuse. In essence, it tries to serve justice to victims as well as ensure that suspects are equally protected throughout the process. The maintenance of rule of law in any given society ensures peace and order. This can only be achieved by the three parts of a criminal justice system. They include corrections, courts, and legislative. While the legislative department makes laws, the courts ensure justice is served. On the other hand, correction facilities ensure that punishment is served. The three departments work together for a common purpose, maintaining law and order. However, it is quite important to note that corruption has continued to infiltrate these departments, in the process, compromising justice to both victims and suspects (Ozyasar, 2011, p. 1).
Why Ethics is important in law enforcement organization
Given the pedigree of law enforcement organizations in society, it is important that their ethics are not compromised as this can lead to disastrous ramifications. Ultimately, this can affect a country’s economy as it increases security risks. Ethics acts as a moral compass for decision-making. Since criminal justice systems encompass critical decision-making, ethics is highly valuable in such situations. Individuals with power and authority such as leaders are expected to take lead by exercising integrity and professional ethics. Leaders in the criminal justice system must uphold integrity in decision-making since these decisions affect many lives. There are several reasons why ethics should be upheld in the criminal justice system. When professionals fail to provide justice by compromising professional ethics, many lives can be destroyed. For instance, misjudgment by police officers may lead to unnecessary prosecution of individuals. Moreover, unethical acts by criminal justice officials can lead to weakened belief in the system and hence lawlessness. Consequently, freedom may also be compromised (Hess & Orthmann, 2012, p. 24).
Ethical Issues impacting law enforcement
Numerous ethical issues impact law agencies along with criminal justice today. These issues have existed for centuries. They have infiltrated government, politics and policing in criminal justice. It is quite necessary to note that although a standard code of ethics is usually given to professionals in criminal justice, seldom do they have a common translation. Quite often, they interpret the codes subjectively and this leads to the practice of unethical acts. Several ethical issues have been noted, some of which are on the rise. These include brutality, off-duty behavior, and corruption, among others. Law enforcement officers undergo several examinations to perform in their capacities. However, when off duty, they sometimes bend or break laws. According to their codes of conduct, they are required to uphold integrity even when off duty. Regrettably, this seldom happens. Brutality is another issue that is on the rise. This is mainly because the interaction between suspects and law enforcement officers is sometimes misconstrued. This may result in deception or brutality to either of the parties. Nonetheless, the fastest rising ethical issue in criminal justice is corruption. This issue has infiltrated virtually every criminal justice system in the world. It is considered one of the world’s fastest-growing vice. All the departments of criminal justice are prone to corruption especially when powerful people are involved. This vice has contributed greatly to the weakening of society (Writing, 2011, p. 1).
Corruption in the criminal justice system
Corruption is a common term in the media and is usually linked to powerful officials. Actually, corruption is more prevalent in criminal justice than in any other system. This is mainly because powerful criminals abuse power to evade justice. In most cases, law enforcement officials are compromised in order to ignore unlawful conduct. This practice includes public servants who fraud the system and still evade prosecution. Other groups of officials that find themselves in a compromised situation include the military and junior officials who are given huge payoffs or at times forced into ignoring corruption. Corruption involves the bribing of criminal justice officials in order to evade prosecution. Corruption has several aspects, firstly it is an offense and secondly, it tarnishes one’s integrity along with ethical repute. It also protects criminal elements and thus increases lawlessness in society. This is disastrous as it weakens public confidence in the criminal justice system. Consequently, the system has to fight corruption by all means, especially since drug barons offer unbelievable sums of money to evade prosecution (Skolnick, 2011, p. 1).
Possible solutions to ethical issues
United States’ fight against drug trafficking depends on its ability to impose professional ethics on law enforcement officials. Several theories have come up to explain the root of corruption in law enforcement agencies. Among these include rotten apple, which has since been dismissed. In, essence there are numerous causes of corruption. Therefore, in order to mitigate it, leaders of enforcement agencies must show their stance on corruption. Moreover, whenever scandals occur in the agencies, it is important that independent investigation agencies be involved to rout out prejudice. It is also important that law enforcement officials declare their wealth regularly to control huge payoffs from drug barons. Finally, salaries should be reviewed to ensure that they are well compensated; this will help them to uphold the required ethics (Gonzalez, 2000, p. 1).
Conclusion
The criminal justice system is put in place to maintain law and order. For this to be achieved, professional codes of ethics must be followed as specified. It is important to note that usually, ethical issues arise from subjective interpretation of these codes. Therefore, in order to mitigate this, law enforcement officials should be enlightened on them. Moreover, they should be sufficiently compensated in order to mitigate corruption. Corruption is a major concern in criminal justice and is also the fasted growing vice in the system. Therefore, more considerations should be placed on containing the further rise in corruption (Peet, 2002, p. 1).
References
Gonzalez, R. (2000). Introduction to Law Enforcement Leadership and Supervision. scribd.com. Web.
Hess, K.M., & Orthmann, C.H. (2012). Management and supervision in law enforcement (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning.
Ozyasar, H. (2011). Why Is Ethics Important in Criminal Justice? ehow.com. Web.
Peet, P. (2002). Police Drug Corruption. drugwar.com. Web.
Skolnick, J. (2011). Deception by Police. lib.jjay.cuny.edu. Web.
Strutin, K. (2005). Features: Criminal Justice Ethics Sources on the Internet. llrx.com. Web.
Writing, A. (2011). Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice. ehow.com. Web.