Police Undercover Work - Ethical Deception of Deceptive Ethics? (From Police Ethics - Hard Choices in Law Enforcement, P 83-115, 1985, by William C Heffernan and Timothy Stroup, eds. - See NCJ-100351)

• NCJ Number: 100356
• Author(s): G T Marx
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 33 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; John Jay Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-100351.

Annotation

Arguments for and against police undercover activity are conditioned by the circumstances of particular cases. A checklist of questions can help assess the appropriateness of each decision regarding undercover activity.

Abstract

Although arguments for and against police undercover activity can be mounted (13 arguments for and 11 against undercover activity are presented), no general conclusion can be made about whether undercover work should be prohibited or justified on ethical grounds. No matter what action is taken, moral costs result. A checklist of questions is useful, however, in determining whether undercover methods are justified. The questions pertain to crime seriousness, clarity of targeted crimes, alternative means, spirit of the law, democratic decisionmaking, prosecution, crime occurrence, grounds for suspicion, and prevention. Even though an operation may be approved from the checklist, specific tactics within the operation should also be assessed with a checklist that focuses on autonomy, degree of deception, problems, privacy and expression, moral example, equitable target selection, realism, and actors. 48 notes.