One common ethical dilemma that law enforcement faces daily is their discretion. Police officers have the ability, in some cases, to use discretion when issuing a ticket and deciding on whether or not to continue a pursuit. This leaves certain discretion amongst police officers up for debate and could be seen as oppression if the officer always arrests if the individual is a white Caucasian male (Eslami, 2016). This same level of discretion extends to prosecutors who decide whether to bring charges against certain people, negotiate plea deals with the defendant, or choose not to pursue the case at all. The dilemma escalates when prosecutors choose to seek a longer prison sentence for the same crime but with different people who may be of a different race, sex, or religion.
The first step a criminal justice professional should take when encountering this dilemma is to recognize that there is one and understand the facts and circumstances surrounding it so they can better understand why it is happening. Additionally, they should consider the important people in these situations, including subjects, victims, the officers involved, and potentially the community. These officers have to be well-founded in the standards of right and wrong when deciding to use discretion when determining whether to hand out that ticket (Velasquez et al., 2010). Before deciding not to give that person a ticket, the officers need to introspect and ask themselves if they are being fair. Would they have given that person a ticket if they were of a different sex or race? In this case, if the officer has determined that they always let people speeding five mph over the limit, regardless of the interaction, sex, race, or religion, go, then they should extend that right to everyone to remain fair and ethical.
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