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Utilitarianism In Criminal Justice

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Application of the utilitarianism concept or the implementation of actions that are deemed as right as long as the consequences are good or bad consequences are minimal (Williams & Arrigo, 2012) in the given scenario for the officer due to retire soon would be in line morally with Utilitarianism. In his case, having on many occasions apprehended such suspects, processed evidence and arrest tickets only to go to court and have the charges reduced, dropped or the defendants charged with what amounts to a slap in the face conviction by the courts and prosecutor, the decision not to pursue in his eyes would seem the to create the greatest good or happiness. Additionally, the officer may consider the amount of marijuana likely to be in the possession and give consideration to the fact that they are smoking and not attempting to sell the marijuana. …show more content…

Eager to enforce every law and ordinance to the letter, the rookie officer may feel that the veteran officer is lax in his judgment and views the potential actions of the suspect as a threat to society, justifying and encouraging their behavior and therefore, action should be taken to thwart any future crimes that might be committed as a result of. Additionally, assuming the rookie officer hasn’t had the opportunity to appear in court in such cases, his perception of the justice system is of a grand and noble machine, exacting due justice to everyone equally. In this instance, utilitarianism is not considered morally acceptable as the negative consequences far outweigh the

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Certainly, he expected to find it readily applied in his position with the state police, who exercise authority, and are sworn to uphold the law. Hopson’s expectation for this was shattered as a rookie trooper, and as a result, he experienced moral stress. Geuras and Garofalo (2011) state, “...moral quandaries cannot be denied. At the same time, however, organizational structures and cultures, expectations and reward systems, often tend to ignore or invalidate moral stress, leaving conflicted individuals with a Hobson’s choice: silence or whistleblowing” (p. 134). Hopson made the choice to remain congruent with values that aligned with ethical behavior and eventually elected to become a whistleblower; he could not remain

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For my article I chose, “Decision Making in the Crime Commission Process: Comparing Rapist, Child Molesters, and Victim-Crossover Sex Offenders” by Eric Beauregard, Benoit Leclerc, and Patrick Lussier. In traditional beliefs it suggests sex offenders are mainly driven by an uncontrollable urge to sexually offend. This article takes a looks into comparing how rapist, child molesters, and victim-crossover sex offenders make their criminal decisions. It investigated how decision-making is involved in target selection. The researchers used mixed methods along with Clarke and Cornish’s decision-making model to evaluate the offender’s actions.

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Being just in the American criminal justice system is a topic that is highly debated. Some believe the system is just, while others believe it is a flawed. The truth however, is that humans are not always right. God is the only who can practice justice in complete perfection, because humans are not perfect. Although many people in the American criminal justice system have good intentions, sadly that does not necessarily mean they are always just.

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