Police Corruption Essay
Meaghan Loving
Ethics in Criminal Justice
Police Corruption Essay Police Corruption can be defined as a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers break their social contract and abuse their power for personal or department gain. There are three forms of police corruption. These forms are Nonfeasance, which involves failure to perform legal duty, another form is Misfeasance, which is failure to perform legal duty in a proper manner, and the third form is Malfeasance, which is commission of an illegal act. The three explanations of corruption are the “rotten apples”, “departmental”, and the other focuses on factors external to the department. An example of these would be an officer might feel unappreciated for their good work and actions and it might make them corruptible. An example of departmental explanation would be if officers feel uncommitted and unsupported, their outlooks and values are reinforced by others in the group which may lead to lack of commitment in their job, thereby leading to corruption. Some police officers may abuse their power because they see themselves as not enforcers of the law, but them as the law itself. The “blue wall of silence” is a term used in the United States to denote the unwritten rule that exists among officers, where they should not report on a colleague’s misconduct, errors, or crimes. This may impact an officer’s loyalty to their profession because they are not doing their job if they are letting another officer get away with crimes, and if they did report it then they would be breaking their loyalty to fellow cops. It’s important for officers to have a good ethical foundation before they enter into this job because it would help prevent them from doing wrong and abusing their power. In the “Stopped for Being a Mutt” video, I realized how bad some officers can act sometimes. The teen was stopped and questioned multiple times for looking suspicious, when really they were just racist. They were trying to
Ethics in Criminal Justice
Police Corruption Essay Police Corruption can be defined as a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers break their social contract and abuse their power for personal or department gain. There are three forms of police corruption. These forms are Nonfeasance, which involves failure to perform legal duty, another form is Misfeasance, which is failure to perform legal duty in a proper manner, and the third form is Malfeasance, which is commission of an illegal act. The three explanations of corruption are the “rotten apples”, “departmental”, and the other focuses on factors external to the department. An example of these would be an officer might feel unappreciated for their good work and actions and it might make them corruptible. An example of departmental explanation would be if officers feel uncommitted and unsupported, their outlooks and values are reinforced by others in the group which may lead to lack of commitment in their job, thereby leading to corruption. Some police officers may abuse their power because they see themselves as not enforcers of the law, but them as the law itself. The “blue wall of silence” is a term used in the United States to denote the unwritten rule that exists among officers, where they should not report on a colleague’s misconduct, errors, or crimes. This may impact an officer’s loyalty to their profession because they are not doing their job if they are letting another officer get away with crimes, and if they did report it then they would be breaking their loyalty to fellow cops. It’s important for officers to have a good ethical foundation before they enter into this job because it would help prevent them from doing wrong and abusing their power. In the “Stopped for Being a Mutt” video, I realized how bad some officers can act sometimes. The teen was stopped and questioned multiple times for looking suspicious, when really they were just racist. They were trying to