NCJ Number
86270
Date Published
1982
Length
40 pages
Annotation
The most effective approach to the development of ethics in criminology, given the pluralism of orientations, is the Socratic notion of ethics as dialogue.
Abstract
The development of ethics through dialogue has the advantages of permitting discussion in the midst of pluralistic values, providing a way to classify and organize the complex contributions to the growing literature, and facilitating understanding of what contributors have said. Trade ethics emerges when all sociologists in the dialogue agree that the standards for good ethical behavior can be derived from or are equivalent to principles for good trade behavior. Ethical dialogue is not served by the establishment of a code of ethics such as the Code of Ethics of the American Sociological Association. A code essentially aims at settling any debate and eliminating dialogue on ethical issues. Criminologists tend to discuss ethics with one another in three basic ways. First, there is the 'spirited polemic,' where the debaters recognize there are no conclusive, rational moral arguments, so each seeks to reduce the opponent's argument can be called 'invidious translations,' where the moral argument of one's opponent is reduced to empty talk. Another device for debate is the 'sensitizing tale,' where the reader or listener is acquainted with an ethical problem and compares what the author did to what he/she would do. The latter device succeeds in keeping the ethical dialogue open, since it does not presume that there is any one answer to the tale. Criminologists are only competent to discuss the ethics of the trade from the perspective of what is good criminology or what is good for criminology. Judgements on the ethics of criminology from any other perspective must be left to moral philosophers. Sixteen notes and about 90 bibliographic listings are provided.