Solution Manual for Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice, 9th Edition

Solution Manual for Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions

in Criminal Justice, 9th Edition

To download the complete and accurate content document, go to:

https://testbankbell.com/download/solution-manual-for-ethical-dilemmas-and-decision
s-in-criminal-justice-9th-edition/

Visit TestBankBell.com to get complete for all chapters

 CHAPTER 8 – Law and Legal Professionals

CHAPTER 8 CONTENTS

The Role of Law

Justifications for Law
Paradigms of Law
First, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers
Law and the Legal Professional
Legal Agent or Moral Agent?
Ethics for Legal Professionals
Culture and Ethics
Conclusion
Chapter Review
Study Questions
Writing/Discussion Exercises
Key Terms
Ethical Dilemmas

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
3  
 
1. Understand the justifications for law, including protections against harm to others,
offensive conduct, harm to self, and harm to societal morals.
2. Explain the role of law in society and the paradigms that have developed to
understand how law is formed and enforced.
3. Compare the idea of our criminal law system as an adversarial system to other
descriptions of how the courtroom works and the relationships between the legal
professionals.
4. Present the controversy concerning the role of advocate as legal agent or moral
agent.
5. Describe the history and source of legal ethics for attorneys and judges. Explain
the types of ethical rules that exist and compare them to the subculture of
winning.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Students often perceive law as a given. The intent of this chapter is to sensitize them to
the idea of law as created by interest groups and dynamically responsive to power shifts.
It is also a tool of behavior change, i.e., civil rights legislation.

The ABA ethical codes have the force of law, however, disciplinary proceedings are
fairly rare, and there is a subculture in the law that promotes putting the client’s interests
ahead of everything, and winning is valued over all else.

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 CHAPTER OUTLINE

4   I. The Role of Law

  § Our laws serve as the written embodiment of society’s ethics and morals.
§ Natural law refers to the belief that some law is inherent in the natural world and
can be discovered by reason.
§ Positive law refers to those laws written and enforced by society. This type of law
is of human construction and therefore fallible.
§ Early codes of law did not differentiate between what we might call public
wrongs and private wrongs.
§ Two different areas of law can be distinguished today: criminal law and civil law.
§ Good Samaritan Laws, common in Europe, are legislation that prohibits passing
by an accident scene or witnessing a crime without rendering assistance.

Media Tool
Watch the video about a Good Samaritan at this site and discuss the positives and
negatives of being a Good Samaritan: http://6abc.com/traffic/good-samaritan-killed-
helping-accident-victim-in-nj/1110885/

What If Scenario
What if you saw someone in need? Would you help? Should people be forced to help?

5   II. Justifications for Law

  CO 1: Understand the justifications for law, including protections against harm to
others, offensive conduct, harm to self, and harm to societal morals.
A. Preventing Harm to Others
§ The major justification for corrective (criminal) law is prevention of harm.
§ Social contract theory explains that law is a contract. Each individual gives up
some liberties and, in return, is protected from others who have their liberties
restricted as well.
§ Thomas Hobbes’s (1588–1679) claim that self-preservation (the law of the
jungle) is paramount and John Locke’s (1632–1704) view that property is a
natural right created the foundation for the social contract theory.
§ Hobbes said that in order to avoid this war of all against all, people needed to
be assured that people will not harm one another and that they will keep their
agreements.

6   B. Preventing Offensive Behavior

  § There are some actions that do not exactly harm others, but give rise to disgust
or offense.
§ Such actions as public lewdness, disturbing public behavior, noise, or other
actions that infringe on the quality of life of others can be the subject of laws,
and individuals who flaunt such laws may be fined or punished in some way.
§ Some of these laws, such as vagrancy laws, have been overturned by the
Supreme Court for unduly infringing on personal liberties but others have

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 been upheld, such as “no camping” ordinances to dissuade the homeless from
congregating in a downtown area.
7   C. Preventing Harm to Self (Legal Paternalism)
 
§ Laws that protect people from their own behavior.
§ Examples include: seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, speed limits, drug
laws.
§ In Paternalism’s restrictions, if the decision-making ability of the person is
somehow impaired (age), the restriction should be as limited as possible, and
the laws should seek only to prevent a serious and irreversible error.
§ Paternalistic laws can be supported by an ethics of care.
§ Utilitarianism would also support paternalistic laws because of the net utility
to society that results from protecting each of its members.

8-­‐9   D. Preventing Harm to Societal Morals (Legal Moralism)

  § In legal moralism law is a moral agent of society, some say in areas where
there is no moral agreement.
§ Examples: sexual behaviors, gambling, drug use, pornography, and even
suicide and euthanasia.
§ Whether an action is moral or immoral is a different question from whether
there should be laws and governmental sanctions regarding the behavior.
§ Appellate courts have typically drawn a line between action and speech when
it comes to hate-crime legislation.
§ In limited legal moralism there are laws only when violation is of universal
standard of morality, as opposed to merely a conventional standard (prevents
the situation of some groups forcing their moral code on others).
§ Discretion in enforcement patterns is most pronounced in these “gray” areas
of crime.

Class Discussion/Activity
Review with the class the four justifications for law. Have the class decide which is the most
valid or important reason. Which justification is most prevalent today?

Media Tool
What justification of law is at issue in this video segment? Discuss offensive behaviors and
rights after watching the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUaIZmiCjlQ

10  
III. Paradigms of Law
  CO 2: Explain the role of law in society and the paradigms that have developed to
understand how law is formed and enforced.
§ A paradigm is a fundamental view of the world around us. It is a way of constructing
and organizing knowledge.
• In a Consensus paradigm, society is a community consisting of like-minded
individuals who agree on goals important for ultimate survival; law is
functional.
• In a Conflict paradigm, society is made up of competing and conflicting

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 interests; law is a tool used by those in power.
• In a Pluralist paradigm society is made up of competing interests, but more
than two basic interest groups; law is tool of power group or coalition.
11-­‐12   A. Consensus Paradigm
  § Law serves as a tool of unification.
§ Durkheim names two types of law:
• Repressive, criminal law that enforces universal norms (mechanical
solidarity).
• Restitutive, civil law that developed because of the division of labor in society
and resulting social interests (organic solidarity).
§ Consensus thinkers—Bentham and Beccaria
§ In natural law, certain behaviors are so inherently heinous that they go against
nature.
§ Consensus in people’s definitions of what constitutes criminal behavior.
§ There are three elements:
• Law is representative. It is a compilation of the do’s and don’ts that we all
agree on.
• Law reinforces social cohesion. It emphasizes our “we-ness” by illustrating
deviance.
• Law is value-neutral. That is, it resolves conflicts in an objective and neutral
manner.

13   B. Conflict Paradigm
  § Criminal definitions are relative.
§ Those who control major social institutions determine how crime is defined.
§ The definition of crime is fundamentally a tool of power.
§ Examples: laws against only certain types of gambling or against the use of only
certain types of drugs; differential sentencing of crack cocaine than on powder
cocaine; corporate wrongdoing as regulatory.
§ There are three elements:
• Law is repressive.
• Law is a tool of the powerful.
• Law is not value neutral.

14   C. Pluralist Paradigm
  § Law arises from interest groups, but power is more complicated.
§ Power is exercised in the political order, the economic order, the religious order,
the kinship order, the educational order, and the public order.
§ Law and social control constitute the public order, and powerful interests affect
the law by influencing the writing of laws and the enforcement of written laws.
§ Pluralism views law as influenced by interest groups that are in flux.
§ Coalitions and shared interests may shift the balance of power.

Class Discussion/Activity
Have the class complete the exercise below, “Courtrooms in the Movies.” Discuss with the class.

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 See Assignment 2

IV. First, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers

§ Public has little confidence in lawyers’ abilities to live up to ideals of equity, fairness,
and justice.
§ Various law scandals in the news
§ Exonerations by Innocence Projects across country

15   V. Law and the Legal Professional

  CO 3: Compare the idea of our criminal law system as an adversarial system to other
descriptions of how the courtroom works and the relationships between the legal
professionals.
§ The ideal of the justice system is that two advocates of equal ability will engage in a
pursuit of truth, guided by a neutral judge.
§ Actual practices in our justice system maybe quite different.
§ Blumberg refers to the practice of law as a confidence game because the prosecutor
and the defense attorney conspire to appear as something they are not—adversaries in
a do-or-die situation.
§ Another perspective describes our courts as administering bureaucratic justice—in
which each case is treated as one of many; the actors merely follow the rules and
walk through the steps, and the goal is efficiency.
§ The bureaucratic system of justice is seen as developing procedures and policies that,
although not intentionally discriminatory, may contribute to a perception of
unfairness.
§ One other perception of the criminal justice system is that of Samuel Walker’s
wedding-cake illustration.
• This is a model of justice in which the largest portion of criminal cases forms
the bottom layers of the cake and the few “serious” cases form the top layer;
the bottom-layer cases get minimal due process. Because the public is exposed
only to the top of the wedding cake, people develop a highly distorted
perception of the system.

What If Scenario
What if you could change the way the legal system operates and make it something other than an
adversarial system? Would you change it? If so, what types of words would characterize it other
than adversarial?

Media Tool
What is the role of the lawyer in this segment? How good a job do you think he does in
representing his client? In what ways would he act differently under a non-adversarial system?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwp0hoI0Ajw

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 See Assignment 4

16-­‐19  
VI. Legal Agent or Moral Agent?
  CO 4: Present the controversy concerning the role of advocate as legal agent or moral
agent.
§ Many lawyers believe that loyalty to the client is paramount to their duties as a
professional.
§ Others argue that an attorney must never abandon his or her own moral compass and
if the client desires some action that the attorney would not countenance, ethics
demand that he or she convince the client not to do so or withdraw.
§ The conundrum of what to do when a client wants you to commit some act contrary
to good conscience occurs in both civil and criminal law. The following are types of
positions described and defended:
• Legal agent: The lawyer is neither immoral nor moral, but merely a legal tool.
• Special relationship: The lawyer is expected to dissuade the client from taking
unethical or immoral actions, but loyalty would preclude absolutely going
against the client’s wishes.
• Moral Agent: The client’s interests come first only as long as they do not
conflict with the lawyer’s morality and ethical code.
§ Shaffer and Cochran offer a slight different typology, describing the godfather, the
hired gun, the guru, and the friend.
§ Cohen suggests some principles for attorneys to follow to be considered moral:
• Treat others as ends in themselves and not as mere means to winning cases.
• Treat clients and other professional relations who are relatively similar in a
similar fashion.
• Do not deliberately engage in behavior that is apt to deceive the court as to the
truth.
• Be willing, if necessary, to make reasonable personal sacrifices–of time,
money, popularity, and so on—for what you justifiably believe to be morally
good cause.
• Do not give money to, or accept money from, clients for wrongful purposes or
in wrongful amounts.
• Avoid harming others in the process of representing your client.
• Be loyal to your clients, and do not betray their confidences.
• Make your own moral decisions to the best of your ability, and act
consistently upon them.
§ Cohen argues that training and socialization into the culture of law create the legal
agent role and encourage a type of noble-cause corruption. In the legal profession, the
noble cause is a winning a case.
• In a culture that supports “ends” thinking (winning) over “means,” rules are
no more likely to control misconduct by lawyers than they do some police
officers.
§ Research indicates that the position taken by attorneys depends partially on whom
they represent, with public defenders taking a more authoritarian role and appear to

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 support the attorney as a “guru” or moral agent who tells the client what to do;
attorneys for corporations are apt to follow a more client-centered approach.

Class Discussion/Activity
What role should lawyers assume in their duties, legal agent or moral agent? What are the
advantages of each? What are the disadvantages?

What If Scenario
What if you were a lawyer representing someone you know is guilty of a vicious crime? Should
this matter to how you defend them in court?

20-­‐22   VII. Ethics for Legal Professionals

  CO 5: Describe the history and source of legal ethics for attorneys and judges. Explain
the types of ethical rules that exist and compare them to the subculture of winning.
§ Formal ethics standards for lawyers and judges were originally promulgated by the
American Bar Association in the Model Code of Professional Responsibility.
§ Lawyers:
• In 1983, the ABA switched its endorsement to the Model Rules of
Professional conduct. The Model Rules continue to be revised periodically,
responding to changing sensibilities and emerging issues.
• Today’s Model Rules cover many aspect of the lawyer’s profession, including
areas such as client-lawyer relationships, the lawyer as counselor, the lawyer
as advocate, transactions with others, public service, and maintaining the
integrity of the profession.
• Rule 3.8, “Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor,” requires the prosecutor to
pursue justice rather than simply a conviction.
23   A. Ethical Guidelines for Judges
  § To help guide judges in their duties, the Model Code of Judicial Conduct was
developed by the ABA. The latest version was undertaken beginning in 2003,
with the final document submitted to the membership in 2007.
§ This code identifies the ethical considerations unique to judges.
§ It is organized into four canons, which are overriding principles of ethical
behavior, and under each canon there are more specific rules.
§ The four canons of the code are:
• A judge shall uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and
impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance
of impropriety.
• A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially, competently,
and diligently.
• A judge shall conduct the judge’s personal and extrajudicial activities to
minimize the risk of conflict with the obligations of judicial office.
• A judge or candidate for judicial office shall not engage in political or
campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity, or
impartiality of the judiciary.

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Class Discussion/Activity
Consider the ethical dilemma discussed in Situation 1 below. Have the class complete it and
discuss in class.

What If Scenario
What if you could impose ethical standards on the legal profession but had only one sentence to
make your point? How would that sentence read?

See Assignments 1 and 3

24   VIII. Culture and Ethics

  § The Model Code of Professional Responsibility dictated that lawyers should be
“temperate and dignified” and “refrain from all illegal and morally reprehensible
conduct.”
§ Law schools have been criticized for being singularly uninterested in fostering any
type of moral conscience in graduating students.
§ Ethical issues have received more attention in recent years, and most law schools now
have a variety of public service clinics where students help the poor, elderly,
immigrants, and/or criminal clients.
§ In a highly critical overview of the legal profession, Glendon proposed that legal
profession has changed in dramatic ways, not all of which have been for the better.

IX. Conclusion
§ The chapter explored the role and justification for law and how our paradigms affect
how we see it function in society.
§ Rules defining ethical conduct for legal professionals come from their state bar, but
the ABA has promulgated Model rules that most state bar associations either adopt
completely or adapt.

KEY TERMS

laws: Formal, written rules of society.

natural law: The idea that principles of morals and rights are inherent in nature and not
human-made; such laws are discovered by reason but exist apart from humankind.
positivist law: Human-made law.
Good Samaritan laws: Legislation that prohibits passing by an accident scene or
witnessing a crime without rendering assistance.
legal paternalism: Refers to laws that protect individuals from hurting themselves.
legal moralism: A justification for law that allows for protection and enforcement of
societal morals.
consensus paradigm: The idea that most people have similar beliefs, values, and goals
and that societal laws reflect the majority view.
conflict paradigm: The idea that groups in society have fundamental differences and that
those in power control societal elements, including law.

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

pluralist paradigm: The concept that there are many groups in society and that they
form allegiances and coalitions in a dynamic exchange of power.
bureaucratic justice: The approach in which each case is treated as one of many; the
actors merely follow the rules and walk through the steps, and the goal is efficiency.
wedding-cake illustration: The model of justice in which the largest portion of criminal
cases forms the bottom layers of the cake and the few “serious” cases form the top layer;
the bottom-layer cases get minimal due process.

ETHICAL DILEMMAS

Situation 1
You are a D.A. and are prosecuting a burglary case. The defendant is willing to plead
guilty in return for a sentence of probation, and you feel that this is a fair punishment
because your evidence may not support a conviction. However, the victims are upset and
want to see the offender receive prison time. They insist that you try the case. What
should you do?

Ethical Judgment: You should do what your professional opinion dictates.

Moral rules: One should do one’s duty.

One should serve the public good.
One should strive for justice.
One should not waste resources.

Ethical system: The moral rules are consistent with both ethical formalism and with
utilitarianism. The reason why the judgment is correct differs between them however.
Under ethical formalism one should do one’s duty. As a prosecutor one serves justice and
the community and the victims are part of the community, but the prosecutor is not an
advocate for the victims per se. Justice is fairness; if any other burglary would have
received probation, then it is not fair that this burglar does not because of the victims.
Utilitarianism would be more concerned with the waste of resources; it is not good for
society to utilize too much prosecutorial time, or prison beds, for offenders who could be
deterred through probation.

CLASSROOM ASSIGNMENTS

1. Have students revise/rewrite the Model Rules or the ethical code used in your state.
(CO 5)
2. Have students discuss and develop a list of the legitimate functions of law in society.
You can focus on a specific law or laws that target certain types of crimes (e.g.,
victimless crimes). (CO 2)
3. Watch Primal Fear and discuss in class the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by the
legal professionals portrayed in the movie. (CO 5)
4. Have students write a five-page essay describing the adversarial system. (CO 3)

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Solution Manual for Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice, 9th Edition

EXERCISE

“Courtrooms in the Movies”

There are many movies that examine corporate greed and criminal actions to pursue
profits over the well being of individuals. Watch one or two movies, such as The Insider,
Class Action, Michael Clayton, or Erin Brockovich. What is the screenwriter’s view of
corporate America? Does the movie support a consensus, conflict, or pluralistic view of
law? Explain.

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Visit TestBankBell.com to get complete for all chapters