Ethical Behavior In Gradly Operant Conditioning

The values-learned perspective states that police officers learn their ethical or unethical behavior through indoctrination into the law enforcement organization they are a part of. The indoctrination into the subculture molds and shapes the behavior of new officers and as they learn to behave like their colleagues, what is expected of them in order to be included becomes their moral standard. One example of this from the audio recording is the officers who worked with Adrian Schoolcraft. These officers knew the things they were asked to do were unethical and illegal, however, they did as they were told anyway. Writing the required number of summons and citations was what was expected of them as part of this precinct of police officers.
Gradually
This theory holds that people learn ethical or unethical behaviors by grasping the rewards or punishment associated with these behaviors. The rewards, or lack thereof, encourage or condition a response from those receiving them. This was exemplified in the report by the compliance of Schoolcraft’s fellow officers with their supervisors demands for meeting the required number of citations. They were conditioned to follow orders, regardless of the unethicalness, because otherwise the officers would be given undesirable posts. They were also threatened with job loss, another more extreme
In the Morton trial, the district attorney also violated the constitutional issue of disclosing exculpatory evidence ruled on in Brady v. Maryland and later in United States v. Bagley. In the arson case that resulted in Willingham’s execution the methods used by the prosecutor were also unethical, but not necessarily exculpatory. The testimony of the inmate that claimed Willingham confessed to him, was immorally obtained, but not the only damning evidence used against Willingham at the time of his trial. The only way to redeem the wrongdoing in these cases would be to reverse the convictions or allow the defendants appeals. For Willingham especially, it is too late to rectify this