ABSTRACT
In recent years, interest in professional ethics has grown steadily. Business ethics, medical ethics, and environmental ethics are all flourishing as components in most college and university curricula. Despite this fact, until recently, “higher education programs in criminology and criminal justice have largely neglected the systematic study of ethics” (Sherman, 1981, p. 7). This is unfortunate because the ethical issues that arise in the area of criminal justice are significant and complex (Braswell, Pollock, & Braswell, 2007; Pollock, 2004; Souryal, 2010). Furthermore, even though many of the ethical issues that arise in criminal justice are common to other professions, there are other issues that are specifically tailored to criminology and criminal justice. The most significant example, as mentioned in Chapter 1, involves the use of force and physical coercion. Sherman points out: “Force is the essence of criminal justice …. The decisions of whether to use force, how much to use, and under what conditions are confronted by police officers, juries, judges, prison officials, probation and parole officers and others. All of them face the paradox … of using harm to prevent harm” (Sherman, 1981, p. 30). Because the use of force is central to criminal justice, this distinguishes criminal justice from other professions.
