Response Guidelines

Review your peers’ postings and respond to at least two fellow learners, using one of the following approaches:

• Identify knowledge gaps or unknowns that were not considered in your peer’s posting.
• Identify an assumption on which the posting seems to be based, and pose a useful alternative or contrasting approach, based on a different assumption.
• Ask a probing question.
• Elaborate on a particular point.

Your response posts should be at least 75 words and substantive in nature. Support your views with reference to assigned readings, as well as other theoretical, empirical, or professional literature. If you are responding with a personal perspective or an example from your workplace experience, be sure to focus on both the theoretical and practical implications. Cite all sources in proper APA style.

Student 1:

“Ethics is based on well-founded standards of rights and wrong that prescribed what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.” (Andre, 2010) When I think of ethics in Criminal Justice, the story of Kalief Browder is the first thing that comes to mind. In 2010, Mr. Brown was arrested and accused of stealing a backpack. Under the committed offense, Mr. Brown was detained for three years by Rikers Island, a prison complex in New York. Two of the three years that Mr. Brown was detained at Rikers Island he spent in solitary confinement. During this time, he was not tried or convicted of a crime. It was reported that during the time Mr. Brown was detained he was displaying suicide ideation. After Mr. Brown was released, he continued showing unstable mental issues as he continued on with his attempts to commit suicide. He class attendance decreased, and his situation continued to get worse. Brown was admitted into a psych ward at Harlem Hospital where he was released but shortly was hospitalized again. During his years after leaving Rikers Island, Brown was reporting that he had been abused by officers and inmates. Video footage was obtained of brown being assaulted by an officer, and a large group of inmates fighting him. Ultimately, Mr. Brown committed suicide and it brought light to the uncontrolled New York Criminal Justice System.

Mr. Brown was failed by the system. In 2018, the City of New York passed a Raise the Age law. This law stated that would not hold anyone under the age of 18 would not be housed with the age of 19 and above. This was critical for the New York Justice System since they were being reported to have multiple major incidents that include teens being killed and assaulted. The ethical issues that New York Justice System displayed was not doing the right thing and being proactive in its approach to keep those safe that was within their prison system. New York Justice System was not giving people fair and speedy trails. Even with the “Central Park Five” case, this case showed that New York has been having issues with their due process system. Unfortunately, it took a major incident for the city to make drastic changes. Of course, in the Criminal Justice system everything is tested for an amount of time. However, under these Raise the Age conditions, the City of New York will not be going back in the direction it left from. The City of New York showed how not being proactive in our field will bring ethical issues. Mr. Brown possible could’ve still been alive had the system not failed him.

Reference:

1. Andre, C. (2010). What is Ethics? Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/

STUDENT 2:

One of the main components of the criminal justice system is the courts. One ethical issue within the courts is the difference of sentences that are imposed on females rather than males. Female offenders cause just as much damage as male offenders. This is particularly true when it comes to female sex offenders. “Professionals indicated that the abuse often has pervasive and lifelong impacts on the victim and can be as psychologically damaging if not more damaging than male-perpetrated sexual abuse; particularly, when the victim’s mother perpetrated the sexual abuse, because of the deep sense of betrayal the victim feels.” (Christensen, 2018).Often participants in the courts cannot look beyond the gender of the victim because they see their mother, sister, and daughters. “A significant body of research examines the influence of offender gender on court-related decision making and typically finds that women deemed “worthy of protection” are afforded greater leniency than other offenders.” (Franklin, 2008). The issue is most prevalent within the sentencing phases. One proposed solution is to examine the issue before it reaches the final phases of sentencing. “It would be instructive to focus empirical efforts on the effects of gender and race dyads at earlier decision-making stages.” (Franklin, 2008).

In order to limit any gender issues when it comes to the court system, everyone within the system needs to be aware there are certain bias within that could be present without realizing. Detectives and Officers need to ensure they are charging accordingly, prosecutors need to follow sentencing guidelines, and judges need to be aware of the bias. In this ethical issue the goal to ensure everyone is treated fairly and if the members of the criminal justice system are blind to gender and focus on the crime itself, the unfair practices will be avoided.

References:

Christensen, L. S. (2018). Professionals’ Perceptions of Female Child Sexual Offenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518785377

Cortney A. Franklin, Noelle E. Fearn, (2008). Gender, race, and formal court decision-making outcomes: Chivalry/paternalism, conflict theory or gender conflict?, Journal of Criminal Justice,Volume 36, Issue 3, 2008,

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