Ethics in Criminal Procedure
Ethics in Criminal Procedure
Harold Grier
CRJ 306: Criminal Law & Procedure
Instructor: Carolyn Davis
September 15, 2011 Ethics in Criminal Procedure No matter what profession an individual is in all of them have a code of ethics. Individuals that are in a position of power such as judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and police officers can have a profound effect on our lives as they make tremendous crucial decisions every day. Members of the criminal justice system have a code of ethics that they must follow, for example, because a judge that makes an unethical decision could mean a defendant could lose his freedom for a crime that he did not commit. According to (Tucker, 2014) she indicated that “depending on one’s specific occupation within the criminal justice system, ethics will likely govern one’s interactions with law-breakers, influence one’s decision-making processes and affect one’s interpretation of the law.” Defense attorneys who represent the defendants have an ethical standard to represent their clients fair and to make sure that their clients do not offer false testimony. Ethical standards have to be maintained by the prosecutor to provide honest, accurate testimony and supporting evidence to justify their claims. When it comes to a police officer it is unethical for them to assault, badger or threaten a suspect just to get a confession; and as mentioned, ethics is more important to a judge than any other criminal justice official because they are expected to “protect principles of conduct defined by the Constitution” (Tucker, 2014. There is an enormous degree of expectations placed upon the aforesaid criminal justice practitioners than any other profession and it must be noted that the vast majority of them are dedicated individuals who strive to serve the public. Ethics can be defined in many ways. (Black’s Law Dictionary, 1991) indicates that “Professionally right or befitting; conforming to professional standards of
Harold Grier
CRJ 306: Criminal Law & Procedure
Instructor: Carolyn Davis
September 15, 2011 Ethics in Criminal Procedure No matter what profession an individual is in all of them have a code of ethics. Individuals that are in a position of power such as judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and police officers can have a profound effect on our lives as they make tremendous crucial decisions every day. Members of the criminal justice system have a code of ethics that they must follow, for example, because a judge that makes an unethical decision could mean a defendant could lose his freedom for a crime that he did not commit. According to (Tucker, 2014) she indicated that “depending on one’s specific occupation within the criminal justice system, ethics will likely govern one’s interactions with law-breakers, influence one’s decision-making processes and affect one’s interpretation of the law.” Defense attorneys who represent the defendants have an ethical standard to represent their clients fair and to make sure that their clients do not offer false testimony. Ethical standards have to be maintained by the prosecutor to provide honest, accurate testimony and supporting evidence to justify their claims. When it comes to a police officer it is unethical for them to assault, badger or threaten a suspect just to get a confession; and as mentioned, ethics is more important to a judge than any other criminal justice official because they are expected to “protect principles of conduct defined by the Constitution” (Tucker, 2014. There is an enormous degree of expectations placed upon the aforesaid criminal justice practitioners than any other profession and it must be noted that the vast majority of them are dedicated individuals who strive to serve the public. Ethics can be defined in many ways. (Black’s Law Dictionary, 1991) indicates that “Professionally right or befitting; conforming to professional standards of