Criminology

The ethical dilemmas of investigation and prosecution
The concept of criminal justice is ingrained with the concern for justice for the victims of crime balanced with the proper treatment of those accused of wrongdoing. During the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault and homicide there are varying ethical dilemmas which come into play at various stages including the investigation, prosecution, plea bargaining, and punishment.
Ethics is the application of morality.  According to Leighton (2000) ethics is the search for principles that justify the moral standards that we seek to apply.

Sexual assaults are morally reprehensible to most people in society. The investigation of an assault follows pretty standard procedures. The police conduct an investigation, gather evidence examining the crime scene and talking to any witnesses.

They may also identify and collect any physical evidence and collect specimens that may be used as evidence if criminal charges are filed.  If they are investigating a rape and they have a suspect but not enough evidence they may be tempted to violate the law or the suspects rights in order to trap someone who may otherwise be set free. However, since police are responsible for the investigation of a crime they must follow the constraints set by their department, city ordinances or state laws.  To reduce this dilemma it is imperative that investigators follow proper procedures, chains of evidence and other procedural policies without inserting their personal beliefs about the victim or the suspect. The ramification of a wrong choice is the guilt or innocence of the suspect being called into question if there are any errors made by police.  Any police misconduct can result in a guilty person being set free or an innocent person being locked up because evidence obtained illegally is not usable.

The ethical dilemmas for prosecutors seem to occur in each staage of their decision-making process starting with whether to prosecute someone or not for a crime of rape..  Two of the major dilemas facing prosecutors in a sexal assault case are often conflicts such as  freedom of press vs. fair trial and truth vs. justice. While they may want press charges on a case they have to balance that with making sure that they do not create a situation which makes a fair trial impossible for the victim or the defendant.. They must also battle the ideas of truth versus justice. If a woman of questionable morality i.e. a prostitute accusses a successful person such as an athele of rape and their is public outcry, prosecutors have to  determine if they can convince a jury that this victim was truly raped and seek seek justice through the courts not the court of public opinion.

A homicide case generally involves collecting evidence, identifying the nature and manner of death, locating witnesses and leads and  obtaining statements.  One immediate dilema is seeing the victim as a victim. In cases where the victim is not innocent i.e. a gangbanger, an investigator may have prior knowledge of the victims wrong doing and be less inclined to investigate as thoroughly as he or she would if it was a college student. Sometimes in the investigation they may lie to the suspect implying they have evidence they do not, or consider planting evidence because they believe a suspect to be guilty. Of course the obvious ramification of making such a choice is that a killer may never be found who then is left to kill again.  This dilema is hard to reduce but one possible technique is consistent sensitivty training and reinformcent of  the purpose of thorough homicide investigations.  Similar to sexual assaults, if  the investigation is not thorough then a suspect who may be guilty is set free because of a technicality or lack of  evidence.  The  ethical dilemas facing the prosecutor in homicide cases can sometimes mirror those of investigators.  As with sexual assualts, some homicide cases prosecutors are faced with the dilema of  truth vs justice. The truth may be that a suspect is guilty but without a plea bargain that person may never be punished.