NCJ Number
170173
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This paper critiques Heffernan's view of the aim of criminal justice ethics courses (see NCJ-170172) and provides an alternative view.
Abstract
Heffernan advocates the use of a "contested-issues" approach that provides students with a broad range of knowledge pertinent to ethical decisionmaking without devising and applying absolute ethical principles. This critique argues, however, that one of the problems with Heffernan's approach is the way in which he uses a discussion of the teaching of ethical theory as the gateway to a discussion of the teaching of criminal justice ethics. Despite its attractions for some philosophers, ethical theory provides a poor basis for moral decisionmaking; and approaches to practical ethics that seek to derive moral judgments from the outer reaches of moral theory show little understanding of what is involved in moral decisionmaking. Moral judgment is a much more complex enterprise. Practical ethics, unlike theoretical ethics, is generated by the practical concerns of citizens, professionals, and occupants of social roles. The teaching of criminal justice ethics does not require that the students adopt some specific moral theory. The aim is to help students find a way of articulating the moral dimensions of their decisionmaking, of seeing what is at stake morally, and of assisting them to work through the situations that confront them in a way that acknowledges their moral dimensions. Further, topics on practical ethical decisionmaking that Heffernan would refer to public administration courses are also appropriate subjects for a course in criminal justice ethics. 11 notes