. Using an example from juvenile justice (e.g., teenage prostitution, underage drinking, waiver to the adult system, execution), explore how virtuous or vicious character might influence the decisions of all parties involved at all levels of the process, from the deviant behavior itself to disposition of the juvenile within the justice system.
3. Recalling the section of this chapter on virtue and the good life, what is the end to which criminal justice is directed? To what extent is this end consistent with the highest good as described by Aristotle? Use examples to explain and/or justify your response
4&5 questions go along with the attached file
4. Is the collective community need for safety sufficient justification for the officers’ actions in each example? Explain.
5. In the community rife with crime and violence, can the actions of the undercover officers be considered virtuous? Explain.
Criminal justice practitioners often feel hindered in doing their duty by rules and regulations they have to follow in the performance of their duties. As a result CJ professionals often look for ways to get around the rules in order to get their job done. It is not uncommon for police officers to perform under the auspices of what is called “official deviance.” That is, they violate certain rules, such as the rules of evidence, to achieve the goals of their organization. Crank and Caldero (2000) equate official deviance at its extreme to noble cause corruption. When we have a noble cause to pursue, we are free, in our minds, to choose with impunity and means to the noble ends that suit the situation. What do you do as a police officer when you see people in your community being exploited and extorted by gang members? Ideally, you build a case to take to court. But building a case is difficult for a myriad of reasons. But here you are, a police officer backed by the authority of the state left to watch people being brutalized by criminals. Moreover, the people in the community watch you and the authorities as little is done to protect them. Your sense of justice heightens and you sense that the citizens in your community are losing respect for you as each day passes. It’s a vicious circle that can lead to arrogance on the part of the criminal element and increased victimization on the part of the citizens you are sworn to protect. If we are prone to noble cause corruption, we will find way to impose our form of justice on criminals and ignore the rules we are sworn to follow. It is an easy trap to fall into when you observe what you think of an injustice to the victim that results from the CJ system itself. Official deviance can run from circumventing evidentiary rules, to “planting” evidence to create a case and false conviction. Noble cause corruption may lead officers to violence as a form of street level justice. The following are examples of official and noble cause corruption. The first example is real and was easy for the officer to pull off. A lumber yard kept a large amount of money it a safe. A burglar, known to the local police, broke into the lumber yard. Opened the safe, and took money bags with about 50K in them. This is one of those cases conmen to law enforcement personnel in that they are reasonable sure they know the identity of the perpetrator but have little or no evidence to go on. Police also know a good deal about the habits and life style of the more common criminals in their community. In this case, the officer who made the case knew a group of thieves hung out at a particular bar. The officer drove to the bar at around midnight when the gathering would be at its peak and the officer would be unnoticed. The officer opened the car owned by the suspect by pulling up the look latch with a coat hanger (back when cars were made differently). The search was not legal as he had no warrant or probable cause. During the search, he found an empty money bag from the lumber yard under the front passenger seat. He pulled the money bag out from under the seat far enough so is would be visible from outside of the car. He then closed and locked the car door using a rock, broke the taillight of the car (can you guess what is coming next). The office waited patiently in his car until the patrons left the bar. He waited until the suspect pulled away. He followed the suspect for about a half a mile and pulled the suspect over. Why did he pull him over? Because the suspect car had a tail light that was not functioning. After stopping the suspect’s car, the officer approached the passenger side of the vehicle and shied his flashlight at the floor. The officer, of course, saw the money bag on the floor and arrested the suspect based upon the money bag he found during a “legal search.” This next example shows how virtuous people can become viscous. This is a story told to me by an officer who worked in a big city in the North East. His beat was in an inner city neighborhood rife with violence, drug dealing and crime. The neighborhood extortionists posed particularly harsh problem for community members who became his victims. The extortionist was a vicious person who had cut off the lobs of the ear of one of his victims. The victims would not talk to the police about this. First, they didn’t trust the police of have much faith in the CJ system. Secondly, they lived in terror of the extortionists and his friends. After work got around that the extortionists had cut off victim ear lobes, the officer felt a sense of rage that was worsened by his sense of frustration. He was supposed to protect innocent people but this vicious person was out of his reach. He confided with other officers. They decided that an extreme form of retribution was necessary. At a planned time, three undercover officers not known in the community found the extortionists walking down the street alone. They took him down an alley, forced him to take his clothes off, and proceeded to brutally beat him breaking one of his legs in the process. The extortionists filed a complaint with the police, but nothing came of it. He also apparently felt intimidated and unsafe from others while wearing a cast and, as rumor has it, he moved to a small town in Georgia.