This paper will discuss police corruption and misconduct in different areas of the world as well as the ethics involved. Police Corruption First we start with what corruption is and what is considered to be police corruption. According to Pollock (2010), “ Corruption has been described as acting on opportunities, created by virtue of one’s authority, for personal gain at the expense of the public one is authorized to serve”(pg.178). Corruption occurs in different situations that include corruption of authority, kickbacks, theft, illegal activities, payoffs, and shakedowns (Pollock 2010). Police corruption has become a big deal and can be taken back to years ago when Rodney King who was a harmless civilian at
It is difficult to hold prosecutors accountable for acts of misconduct. Since prosecutors are often viewed as the “good guys” by the public, many times unethical, as well as illegal acts will be tolerated by the courts and criminal justice system as a whole. Prosecutorial misconduct is considered any action taken by the prosecutor in a criminal case that is against the law and/or unethical. Prosecutorial evidence can be anything from harassing witnesses on the stand, pressing unfounded charges against defendants, tampering with evidence, withholding evidence, up to taking bribes. Prosecutors can sometimes get away with misconduct as it is extremely difficult to prove that misconduct had actually taken place.
False testimony, exaggerated statistics and laboratory fraud have led to wrongful conviction in several states. Since forensic evidence is offered by "experts," jurors routinely give it much more weight than other evidence. But when misconduct occurs, the weight is misplaced. In some instances, labs or their personnel have allied themselves with police and prosecutors, rather than prioritizing the search for truth. Other times, criminalists lacking the requisite knowledge have embellished findings and eluded detection because judges and juries lacked background in the relevant sciences, themselves.
Police corruption is a problem that can be traced back to the early days of policing. It is a serious problem within most police forces today, as it is widely know that is it something that is not only hard to calculate, but also hard to reduce and near impossible to eradicate. The following will explore what corruption is defined as and reasons for why police corruption occurs. Reasons that will be covered that can be deemed as the cause of corruption are, the police cultures’ solidarity and loyalty, that a high level of discretion is used, which cannot be monitored, and that there is a corrupt hierarchy within the police force that is difficult to control. Methods to prevent corruption will then be explored, such as more rigorous recruitment procedures and the reinforcement of the motivation to do what is right.
The way police handles combating crime and brutality most attempts to redeem police image would involve education for both public and the police on the effectiveness crime control measures. The police are subject to moral temptations that can affect the way a job is done, the temptations can outweigh their paycheck this is a difficult position for any officer. The police deals with major drug dealing, gang bangers even white collar
RUNNING HEAD: POLICE DEVIANCE Police Deviance and Corruption The main objective in policing is to serve and protect a community and those who live within it, while this is often achieved through ethical practices sometimes it can be a challenge. In an effort to do something worthwhile for a community it can be diluted by to many negative experiences with the public, to little job satisfaction and too much trouble handling the administrative system. Many different factors can lead officers into deviance and corruption within the police system. Some of these include, stress, traumatic experiences, too much bureaucracy etc (Dean & Gottschalk 2010; Rowe 2005; Wilson, Kolennikova, Kosals, Ryvkina & Simagin 2007). In present paper the role of an ethical police officer is investigated and to which extent an officer can degrade this title.
To start off the Sean Bell case was an example of Police brutality. Police Brutality is one of the most serious issues of human violation that is unaddressed because of the cover up by fellow police officers during internal investigations. There are many instances when police officers engage in the activities of rough physical behaviors such as shooting, beating, torture and other unnecessary brutal acts among citizens which often result in injury or sometimes even death. Suspects of a crime, the victims, as well as their families, who are seeking justice, are usually disregarded. Usually if not always the people who deserve to be held accountable by the brutal violation of human rights getaway from the due punishment and continue to do their foul crimes (Collins 1).
Summery: Line Of Fire The author of the text “Line Of Fire” mentions the problem of police officers being racist against black people. There are several cases where black people where shot from officers without any reason. This problem is shown by an example case of Walter L. Scott being shot of police officer Michael T. Slager. The special thing about this case is, that it was recorded on video. A normal police control turned out with one dead man and Slager as rileman.
The first step to corruption is using the wrong factors when they make decisions. For example, basing their facts or decisions on race, the ability to gain influence, or pay offs is start to corruption. Police corruption is “when the officer is acting under his or her official capacity and receives a benefit or something of value (other than his or her paycheck) for doing something or for refraining from doing something.” (Depsey, 2005) Many times, an
Authoritarianism is something very common and very well used in police forces all over out nation, and even with in the police force itself. Each department wants to think they have more authority than others. Just like big cities like to think they know more, and are more experienced than smaller city police forces. In the way I see this affecting the officers of a force, is the way they think, and how far there ego can. This can sometimes lead to police brutality, and conflicts within police officers in each department.