Case: The Ethics of Criminal Justice Policy Making
1. Why is ethics important in criminal justice policy making? How do unethical and ethical policy-making decisions differ?
2. Explain the consequences that have resulted from one policy choice in the field of criminal justice, choosing from the following: the War on Drugs, truth in sentencing, sexual predators.
3. Discuss the ethics of the California law that gives prosecutors the right to decide whether the third-strike offense should be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor while providing no oversight of prosecutor charging decisions.
4. Outline the moral arguments against capital punishment.
5. How important is public opinion in criminal justice policy making? Explain by referencing two examples.
6. Why is it considered unethical by some for the state to abdicate its responsibility for the administration of prisons to private companies?
7. Comment on the ethics of prisoner disenfranchisement in light of the fact, for example, that if such disenfranchisement is permanent, more than 40% of the African American male population will have no say in the policies and laws that have a significant effect on them.