Ethical Practice in Criminal Justice Essay

Leaders are looked upon when it comes to ethics in any profession. The lea and the employees follow, which means that if they behave in an unethical manner, they will create an organizational culture where no one pays attention to the ethics of the profession. Ethical leaders are role models, and they communicate why it is important to meet ethical standards. Such leaders condemn unethical behaviors a move which benefits the organization. Just like other professions, criminal justice agents and professionals need to ensure that they follow ethical standards and that they exercise their power in ensuring that their agencies have a culture where the ethical practice is a priority.

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In some cases, criminal justice agencies employees have been found behaving unethically even in the public spheres. They violate the ethical practice, so the agency manager must exercise his/her power in ensuring that no employee becomes deviates from the set ethics. Some of the unethical behaviors that are witnessed include theft crimes, corruption, driving under the influence of alcohol, assault, as well as excessive use of force (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2017). These are some of the unethical behaviors that the leader of any agency should strategize on how to eliminate them.

To successfully create a culture where employees adhere to ethical practice, the leader must qualify to be an ethical leader (Wright, 2010). One of the characteristics of ethical leadership is justice, which encompasses fairness and being just to the employees. There are organizations where employees feel that the manager favors some individuals, and in such a scenario, he/she will have created an environment of injustice that employees are likely to follow.

The second trait of ethical leaders that helps in establishing a culture where ethics are valued is zero tolerance for unethical behaviors(Wright, 2010). In the criminal justice profession, such a trait is essential because if the employees value justice, they will be able to prevent and deter crimes. Ethical leaders respect others, are honest, humane, and value the decisions that others make. Additionally, leaders lead by example and are role models for the employees.

To create a culture where ethical standards are strictly followed the leader of the agency has to make ethics a priority (Wright, 2010). As an ethical leader, it means that you have to be more than a good person. As an ethical leader, it means that you have to keep focused on how to make the agency better in terms of ethical standards. There ought to be set standards, shaping of the appropriate behavior as well as making every officer accountable for their actions. As a leader, it is important to make it clear to the officers about the benefits of embracing ethical practices and the consequences of behaving unethically.

The second strategy that a criminal justice system agency leader can use is encouraging officers to behave ethically as well as measuring and rewarding ethical behaviors (Wright, 2010). How about having an annual ceremony where the most ethical officers or employees are rewarded? Ethical leadership creates an environment where ethical practices can thrive. The rewards can either be monetary or in the form of promotions. Such a strategy is bound to succeed because the promotion will be based on merit and not favors.

The personality of the officers hired is also significant in creating a culture where the ethical practice is valued. As a leader, it is important to work together with other departments such as human resource managers to facilitate effective hiring, training as well as managing the performance (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2017). A leader of an agency has the power to ensure that all the candidates are thoroughly vetted before getting the job. Additionally, their previous employers can be contacted so that they can testify whether the individuals have any cases of unethical behaviors. As a leader, I can exercise my power by ensuring that the candidates give an authentic recommendation letter from their previous employer or agency they were working for. Once the employees are hired, they should be informed about the values of the agency. They should be encouraged to strictly adhere to the ethical practices as it is beneficial to them as well as to the organization.

As a leader of the agency, it is critical to come up with strategies that will deal with corruption practices witnessed in officers (Martin, 2011). For an agency to be deemed as ethical, the employees need to have a high level of integrity. The leader of the agency has the responsibility of preventing corruption. The leader needs to set the ethical standards and communicate to all officers that corruption is not tolerated. To promote ethical behavior, the leader should indicate the benefits of ethical practice both to the agency as well as to the individual career-wise.

Police officers have been accused of excessive use of force, which is an unethical behavior (Govcon, 2000). To deal with such cases that citizens find annoying, the agency leaders should invest more time and resources on training the officers on ethics as well as diversity. Such training will help them understand how they are expected to behave as well as understand that there are citizens from different races on the streets who should be treated equally. The U.S police have been accused of brutally killing black men as they view them as criminals. About one in every 1000, black men die at the hands of the police. As a leader, it is critical to deal with such cases, which paint a terrible picture of the agencies. Police officers should be encouraged to arrest a suspect instead of shooting him/her. It is wrong to use excessive force on someone who is not armed.

But some will ask, does it matter whether an organization or agency has a leader who promotes a culture that values ethics or not? The answer is yes because an ethical leader shapes the agency and the officers' behavior. If a leader of an agency wants to create an ethical culture, he/she has to be the role model (Martin, 2011). This means that he/she has to lead by example and ensure that the ethical standards are set and followed. Ethical leadership helps in building an agency that is reputable and commands respect. Ethics helps an agency to carry its operations because they can gain support from the citizens as well as other organizations.

Leaders have the responsibility of setting up cultures for their organizations that they want the employees to embrace. Agencies involved in criminal justice need to have cultures to guide employees in their work. Maintaining ethical standards in criminal justice is an important factor that needs to be factored when providing criminal justice (William, 2019). Criminal suspects usually face challenges when they are trying to find justice because the stakeholders involved fail to maintain the ethical standards that are required for justice to prevail. Without ethics, the law is applied discriminately to lawbreakers; hence, the truth about the crime committed is never known. There are different stakeholders, and the stakeholders have to play their roles in accordance with the set ethical standards for the suspect to get justice. It's a requirement by the law that the stakeholders involved in criminal justice are supposed to follow the law strictly.

Culture creates sustainable relationships among employees, and for the agencies to be successful in their mission, employees have to work as a team (Judeh, 2018). It's reasonable to assume that Americans are primarily civilized and judge morality by the outcome and not by the act itself. American is considered to be a land of freedom where the government and the American constitution give people many rights. The constitution is designed in such a manner that the outcome of activities is considered rather than the act itself. Different activities are designed to achieve different outcomes; therefore, before one engages in activity is aware of the outcome. Americans believe that as long as the outcome is ethical, then engaging in the activity is allowed.

In criminal justice, the outcome of the event is used to determine whether the suspect committed a criminal act or not (William, 2019). Many crimes have been reported committed by the Americans, and the criminals believe that the outcome of the criminal act. By this, acts Americans can be considered to be utilitarian when judging their morality as a society. Some various acts and activities are considered criminal in other states around the world but allowed in the United States. Stakeholders involved in the criminal justice system focus on the outcome of the act that a suspect was involved in rather than focusing on how the crime was committed.

Leaders have the obligation of creating a culture that they desire for the organizations that they lead because the culture determines how the employees will maintain the ethical standards at the organization (Judeh, 2018). The organizational culture shapes the ethical standards that the organization expects the employees to maintain; therefore, organizational leaders aim at creating a culture where the employees get used to doing the right things. The management of the organization have the power and authority to create the kind of organizational culture that they believe will make their employees behave in the right manner. When the employees follow the culture that is set by the organizations they are working for, the organization is likely to achieve its objective.

Organizations have employees that come from different backgrounds with different cultures. Managers find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to setting a culture that will be acceptable by all the employees. In special circumstances, organizations have two organizational cultures that employees are supposed to embrace. The two organizational cultures in one company are appropriate when the company is big and consists of many employees. Some organizations and companies have many brands; hence, each culture can represent each brand. In such a case, the company can make the employees focus on maintaining the culture that will help the brand meet its goals and objectives. The cultures are designed to embrace each other for the overall success of the company.

Having two cultures in one organization helps in blending the cultures of different people to form the cultures that are acceptable by employees from different backgrounds. The employees feel recognized when they see their culture and the things that they value in life being embraced by the companies that they work for. Employees are more likely to embrace a culture that they can relate with. Companies are encouraged to have two cultures that will give the employees a point of identity to identify with when making decisions that are ethically acceptable by the organization.

There is a higher possibility of one organization having multiple cultures without any conflict between the cultures (Phillips & Sackmann, 2019). Companies have to maintain ethical standards in activities that they engage in, and therefore the culture of the employees determines whether they will engage in criminal activities or not. The cultures embraced by the company should promote ethical standards that encourage the employees to choose to do the right things that are ethically acceptable. The cultures are determined by the work that the company engages in. The culture is meant to guide the employees by making a habit of engaging in activities that are acceptable to the company.

Some challenges come when organizations are trying to embrace different cultures that the employees are supposed to adhere to (Judeh, 2018). Especially for small agencies that have little workf...