Ethical Orientations of State Police Recruits and One-Year Experienced Officers .
There is significant literature in criminal justice focusing on teaching criminal .
justice students and criminal justice personnel to analyze professional ethical dilemmas .
ostensibly with the goal of improving ethical decision-making. There are two general .
approaches to ethics education and training. The first approach relies on identifying and .
applying the relevant code of professional ethics to ethical problems. Like most pro-.
fessions, the various components of the criminal justice system have established ethical .
standards to guide professional ethical decisions. The second, and more exhaustive .
approach is to present students with various theories of ethics, develop an analytical .
framework for analysis, and then apply that framework to hypothetical ethical dilemmas. .
This approach is used generally in teaching ethics and specifically in teaching criminal .
justice ethics in higher education.
Frequently, these two approaches are combined. There is, however, only limited .
devotion given to understanding personal ethical orientations and their impact on .
decision making. Authors in other helping professions have cautioned that those who .
strive to be competent in the helping professions must also be aware of how their .
personal feeling and values influence their professional ethical decision-making. .
While the sources of ethical rules are different, these rules influence their actions. .
Ethical absolutism is associated with a deontological system of ethics. Deontological .
systems of ethics are concerned only with whether or not the act is "right." If the act is .
right, it is ethical regardless of the ultimate consequences of the act. Therefore, whether .
the outcome is good or bad is nonconsequential. Ethical absolutism is nonconsequential. .
Ethical absolutists believe that there are universal unchanging ethical rules and that .
