Importance of Critical Thinking in Ethics and Professional Behavior

Ethics in Criminal Justice Administration Analysis
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Ethics in Criminal Justice Administration Analysis
Importance of critical thinking on the relationship of ethics and professional behavior
Critical thinking aids in ethical decision making. Since there is a range of possible directions the professional can take in every ethical situation, critical thinking helps the professional make the best decisionCITATION Eil09 \p 303 \l 1033 (Gambrill & Gibbs, 2009, p. 303). The professional evaluates the facts and makes the best decision. That process of evaluating the facts requires critical thinking. The ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of the situation is not always evident and can only be arrived at after careful consideration of the facts and variables of the situation. The professional must consider many variables and facts to conclude what constitutes to be wrong and what constitutes to be right. Hence ethical decisions are made through the process of critical thinking, which entails careful analysis and evaluation of all factors and variables for a particular case and finding the optimal solution.
Critical thinking reduces the likelihood of making the wrong decision for every ethical decision. When the professional incorporates the critical thinking process into any ethical situation, he/she is more likely to make decisions based upon truths and verified information rather than unknowns and variables. While making the wrong ethical call is not evidence of a lack of critical thinking, the likelihood of making wrong ethical calls is greatly reduced. It is difficult to clearly define rules of ethical engagement; hence they are guided by principles rather than rules. And to ensure that the professional always makes the same decision as any other, the principles of ethics for every profession are predetermined. However, each ethical situation has its uniqueness, which compels the professional to critically evaluate the facts of the situation before making a decision. During this phase, the professional needs to think critically on how to approach the situation and ensure that he/she makes the decision that best serves the interests of the parties involved.
Critical thinking builds and or strengthens the relationship between ethics and professional behavior. On the contrary, a lack of critical thinking compromises the ethical decisions of a professional. He/she is more likely to make wrong decisions. Thus, any respectable competent professional must be a critical thinker. The relationship between ethics and professional behavior is critically hinged on critical thinking. Without critical thinking, the professional is likely to make wrong ethical calls, which could destroy his/her career.
Ethics training for law enforcement officer’s seminar – proposal
Law enforcement officers need to be trained on ethics. Law enforcement officers possess enormous power, and they can use it against the people they have sworn to protect CITATION Ste15 \l 1033 (McCartney & Parent, 2015). While the power is permitted under specific circumstances, it is important for law enforcement officers to know when to legally and appropriately use them. Otherwise, they’d leave the people powerless and disenfranchised. Here below are some of the areas where law enforcement officers must be trained to apply the best ethical conduct.
1 Off-Duty Life
It is important that law enforcement officers always have their best behavior even when not on active duty. In most cases, the officers are known to the public, and they are expected to be in their best behavior consistent with their occupation. Embarrassing off-duty behavior embarrasses their agency, the officer, and the occupation. It is important that law enforcement officers do not excessively abuse alcohol, get into extreme debts, engage in inappropriate domestic behavior, misuse their badge of office to obtain favors from the general public, etc.CITATION Ric18 \p 26 \l 1033 (Parent & Parent, 2018, p. 26). All these behaviors embarrass the officer and the agency. It is the expectation of the agency and the public that the officer keeps his/her private life unsullied as an example to all.
When officers are on their best behavior when off-duty, they are actively defending the reputation of their agency. The public continues to trust the officer and the agency at large. The public also trusts the officer's judgment and hence builds a good relationship between the public and the law enforcement officers. If the relationship is strong enough, the public helps the officers root out crime in their community. On the other hand, if the public loses trust and confidence in the agency because of some off-duty officers' conduct, policing the community becomes harder because it is hard to work with the community to root out ...