Ethical Decision-Making in Criminal Justice

In the study and practice of criminal justice, determining ethical decision-making is a very challenging, if not impossible, undertaking for individuals committed to uphold the principles of justice, particularly social justice. The concept of ethical decision-making begs the question, "what is ethics, and what behavior and decisions would be considered ethical or not ethical?" In discussing the issue of ethics in criminal justice, author Banks (2008) presented numerous perspectives and arguments that represent a facet of ethical decision-making. However, she asserted that among these perspectives, ethical pluralism "seems to offer the best hope for resolving problems of relativities" (p. 16). In ethical pluralism, one accepts that there exist multiple truths, recognizing that these truths may or may not be true; ultimately, the individual who subsists to ethical pluralism is open to the idea that a belief or school of thought can be true even if...
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