Why Does Pollack's Paradigm For Ethical Decision-Making In Policing Fail?
1.What is a moral dilemma?
A moral dilemma exists when the agent must decide to act in a morally repugnant way, to achieve a morally exemplary end. It is a situation, in which it is difficult to decide, either because the action is not clear, or the right course of action carries some negative consequences. In moral dilemma situation, obligations and responsibilities are in conflict. The expression “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” vividly captures the definition. That is, in a dilemma, there appears to be no right answer or solution.
2. How does Pollack’s paradigm for ethical decision-making in policing fail?
Sometimes, the same conclusion to an ethical dilemma can be reached using several different ethical systems, but sometimes using different ethical …show more content…
Those assumptions include:
- The “operative assumption of guilt” Police must assume that the person they are working with is guilty in order for him to do the job efficiently. This guilt the police hold on to, does not disappear until he’s taken the appropriate actions to prove or disprove it; sometimes those actions include “dirty” ones. Even though, all accused are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
- The “worst of all possible guilt” Police believe the suspect is very dangerous. Routine stops that have escalated to more serious and sometimes fatal encounter have been documented, so if it happened once, it could happen again. The officer must have this assumption as thinking otherwise could get the officer killed.
- The “great guilty place assumption” is based on the concept of suspicion. Suspicion of others is a regular constant feature of their work, due to the work environment, whereby they confront bad actors on regular
A moral dilemma exists when the agent must decide to act in a morally repugnant way, to achieve a morally exemplary end. It is a situation, in which it is difficult to decide, either because the action is not clear, or the right course of action carries some negative consequences. In moral dilemma situation, obligations and responsibilities are in conflict. The expression “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” vividly captures the definition. That is, in a dilemma, there appears to be no right answer or solution.
2. How does Pollack’s paradigm for ethical decision-making in policing fail?
Sometimes, the same conclusion to an ethical dilemma can be reached using several different ethical systems, but sometimes using different ethical …show more content…
Those assumptions include:
- The “operative assumption of guilt” Police must assume that the person they are working with is guilty in order for him to do the job efficiently. This guilt the police hold on to, does not disappear until he’s taken the appropriate actions to prove or disprove it; sometimes those actions include “dirty” ones. Even though, all accused are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
- The “worst of all possible guilt” Police believe the suspect is very dangerous. Routine stops that have escalated to more serious and sometimes fatal encounter have been documented, so if it happened once, it could happen again. The officer must have this assumption as thinking otherwise could get the officer killed.
- The “great guilty place assumption” is based on the concept of suspicion. Suspicion of others is a regular constant feature of their work, due to the work environment, whereby they confront bad actors on regular