Police Ethics-Chapter 9, An Ethic to live by

Question 1

“There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well- or ill?

Answer 1

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Question 2

Police Responding to a Higher Duty

Answer 2

Oct 4, 2000 Kolubara, Yugoslavia. Thousand of people gathered to protest. Peoples concern was the results of a recently held democratic election were being ignored by government. Sitting president refused to swear in candidate who had defeated him. Police called in to break up the protest. Police refused to follow orders and use force on their own people. The police had a high duty and sided with people.

Question 3

Morality is rooted in and grows out of ____

Answer 3

character

Question 4

the limits of Kant and MIll

Answer 4

Kant: duty trumps the good
Mill: What counts as Good

Question 5

What is the purpose of good character?

Answer 5

it shows itself in a person as habitual tendency to understand the decent, the non-self centered thing to do, and what is good for everyone involved.

Question 6

Where the police have the power to do such things, there is very little street crime- the deterrent effect of having vicious, brutal and unethical police officers is great

Answer 6

totalitarian states

Question 7

an Ethic to Live by

Answer 7

Maximizing the good in a just way

Question 8

two basic principles of obligation:

The resulting ethic would be something like this: We ought always to maximize good in a just way.

Answer 8

1. principle of maximizing good

2. principle of justice

Question 9

___means, Good will, charitableness, kindliness.

Answer 9

Benevolence

to be benevolent, is to think well of people and to attempt to act well toward them

Question 10

____involves doing good deeds, acting charitably and behaving in a kindly manner.

Answer 10

Beneficence..its is active and not intentional.

Question 11

Principle 1 of Beneficence

Answer 11

Obligation to do good and to prevent harm

Question 12

implications of the Principle of Beneficence

Answer 12

1. not to inflict evil or harm
2. prevent evil or harm
3. remove evil
4. to do or promote good

Question 13

axiom from physician’s code of ethics

Answer 13

Hippocratic Oath

Question 14

principle 2- Distributive Justice

Answer 14

We ought to make the same relative contribution to the goodness of the lives of others

Question 15

A central tenet of ___ ___ suggest that justice involves dealing with people according to their merits. Those who are more worthy receive more.

Answer 15

Western liberalism

Question 16

Modern democratic theory is based, upon the idea that everyone should receive precisely the same amount of political power. This we do by allowing everyone to case one vote and only one vote, in elections

Answer 16

egalitarian principle of distributive justice

Question 17

In politics, we have clearly decided in America that the ____principle should prevail

Answer 17

egalitarian

Question 18

Theories of Distributive Justice

Answer 18

Merit- people should receive according to their relative merit
Equality- people should receive exactly equal amounts
Socialism- people should receive according to their needs
Virtue- people should receive according to their goodness

Question 19

Karl Marx’s principles of distributing justice

Answer 19

suggests that everyone ought to receive society’s benefits according to their needs.

Question 20

Father of communism and socialism

Answer 20

Karl Marx

Question 21

The Communist Manifesto 1932 written by who?

Answer 21

Karl Marx and co-written with Friedrich Engels

Question 22

Plato’s idea of moral virtue.

Answer 22

we use virtue as a criterion in judging “what each is due”. The more virtuous a person is, the more resources he or she receives. The principle of merit.

Question 23

who wrote, “The Republic, Book I

Answer 23

Plato

Question 24

In police work, police must use their discretionary making powers to further the interests of justice in a way that attempts to treat everyone fairly.

Answer 24

(concept of justice)

Question 25

Distributing Justice Fairly- example from European countries

Answer 25

“day fines”

Question 26

beneficence

Answer 26

actively doing good

Question 27

benevolence

Answer 27

the disposition to be good or to be charitable

Question 28

capitalism

Answer 28

competitive economies focused upon the idea of an open marketplace; part of the idea that were central to the development of Western liberalism that did away with the aristocratic tradition

Question 29

circumspect

Answer 29

attending all consequences or circumstances; exercising discretion and paying heed to personal behavior

Question 30

communism

Answer 30

economic system envisioned by Karl Marx in his numerous works, especially The Communist Manifesto, involves a democratic control over all aspects of life thru dictatorship of people

Question 31

ethic to live by

Answer 31

we ought always to make the same relative contribution to the good of people’s lives; our formulation of the perspective appropriate for a police officer to take onto the streets

Question 32

higher duty

Answer 32

idea that sometimes the requirments of a situation mean taking heed of principles that are more synoptic rather than those that are immediate and obvious

Question 33

Hippocratic Oath

Answer 33

promise that medical doctors make when they commit themselves to their profession

Question 34

Karl Marx

Answer 34

Father of communism and, to some extent, socialism; also considered by sociologists today to be the father of conflict theory

Question 35

socialism

Answer 35

economic system that pluts control over major elements of the industrial economy into the hands of the government and provides a universal social welfare safety net for all citizens

Question 36

totalitarian states

Answer 36

governments that control all aspects of society influencing the lives of all citizens, examples include communism and fascism.

Question 37

Western liberalism

Answer 37

a movement beginning in the 1600s (English Civil War) that changed the economic, social, and political systems in the Western World, moving them away from aristocratic-tradition in the direction of the construction of a meritocracy’ includes the ideas of capitalism, democracy, equality before the law, religious freedom and the ideal of classless society.