Ethics in Law Enforcement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ethics in Law Enforcement - Essay Example Corruption is a term that springs easily to mind when one thinks of how law enforcement is usually applied. Popular culture is full of references to corrupt policemen and lawyers, especially in terms of how the police are often represented in movies and television shows, and also in terms of the numerous articles on police abuse that may be found in newspapers and other periodical. Especially after the events of September 11, 2001, and the racist attacks on Muslims and other Asian minorities in America came into the news, there has been a lot of negative publicity for the way in which minorities are apparently abused by many law-enforcement agencies. All these examples represent myths about law enforcement that are often belied by statistics. However, there is also some basis in reality for such opinions. In addition, corruption undermines respect for the rule of law and for the democratic process that are the very core of our system of government. Controlling this evil successfully is a constant challenge for any government. Yet any government that does not devote itself to this effort is in danger of sowing the seeds of its own destruction. (p. xi) The authors suggest, therefore, that instead of identifying the law enforcement system with corruption, there is the need to recognize that even the law is trying to fight corruption within itself. Corrupt practices are not an inherent or integral part of the law enforcement system. Rather, it is something that has crept into the system and must be weeded out. The corruption of law enforcement agencies is illustrated by the two interviews that were conducted as part of this study. The first will be discussed in the context of corruption. This instance is related to an interview with a twenty-seven-year-old white American woman who was a victim of hazing during her freshman year at a university in the U.S. Cindy (not her real name) recollects that she and her friends were wary of the senior students, because the college had a history of a couple of violent episodes of hazing. Apparently, the school authorities had done nothing about it. Cindy describes the night when she and her friends were abused by a large group of older students. They were forced to drink alcohol, and some of the senior students even urinated into their glasses and forced their victims to drink from them. They were also made to perform demanding exercises such as push-ups for almost three hours, and compelled to run around the campus a number of times. They were also verbally abused, many of the insults being gender- or race-based. Shortly after the incident, Cindy and a friend went to the neighborhood police precinct to lodge a complaint about what had been done to them. "I couldn't believe it," Cindy says. "None of the cops were ready to listen to us. Two who did pumped us for the 'juicy' details and then burst out laughing." Cindy's experience reveals that public faith in law enforcement authorities has diminished based on their reputation for treating victims badly. Although this was an isolated incident, there have been many reported instances of police cover-ups in similar cases, even in instances where students were killed or seriously injured as a result of hazing. Another instance in which law enforcement a