Personalizing Your Ethical Reflections

Personalizing Your Ethical Reflections

By Joseph Parish

As I sit here at my desk and ponder my response to this article's title, I think back to day one when I first started learning about ethics. I saw basically a naive individual, unfamiliar with the topic and approaching the subject cold turkey. Although the subject of ethical behavior was not entirely new to me the scenarios one could imagine could be elaborated upon and astound your imagination. In many circumstances there are no quick black and white answers for the hypothetical situations which I would place myself in. All issues would require a great deal of reflection to achieve a measure of logical and ethical response.

It was through these imaginary encounters that I commenced to develop meaning within my ethical perceptions and indulgence. No one ever implied that such insight would be easy and it developed into a real thought provoker, to say the least. When evaluating such standards, we have to scrutinize the situation from all different angles in order to fully appreciate our answer when we eventually arrive at it. One of the major concepts which I have come to accept is that there is frequently more than one correct course of action. Naturally, all courses must be tempered with ethical and moral behavior, but in view of those constraints we find several paths leading to our final conclusions.

I have developed three learning points which I propose to follow in my future endeavors. The first is the necessity towards developing a strong understanding of how ethics come into play within the criminal justice system. I have gained knowledge about formulating moral decisions which reflect favorably upon my professional aptitude. As a public servant, I would adhere to an explicit code of ethics and I am not expected to deviate from that code. Serving and protecting my community signifies a challenge for my obligations of moral integrity and ethical concerns. I must exhibit characteristics which tribute to my selected position such as honesty, law-abiding behavior, active self-control and above all placing the needs of others before my own. My private life should be above reproach at all times and exemplary in nature. Personal forces should never be allowed to influence my professional decisions. In all, I should exhibit an uncompromising role in the pursuit of my activities and duties with public trust being accepted honestly and with an understanding that I should do all in my power to live up to this trust.

Secondly, I have come to appreciate how the role of good ethics in one area of public safety affects the other phases of our career field. Each is reliant upon the others to nurture trust and moral character. I often find the term moral behavior applied to evaluating my personal conduct as compared to society's norms while the term ethical behavior implies my conduct and behavior in dealing with professional matters. These are the foundations of our various codes of ethics. I have had to choose between moral and ethical behavior in most of my daily dealings. As a public employee, I would have a legitimate moral obligation to the citizens, those offenders to whom I may help and above all to myself. Our final goal should always be to achieve goals and to achieve them without compromising values, morals or ethics.

Lastly and no less important, I have developed an understanding of making accurate and wholesome ethical choices. I often encounter confusing crossroads where I must decide which path to follow. Both may appear ethical and morally installed, but one may be more appropriate than the other. Without developing an ethical roadmap, I could be lost in the moral paths towards proper decision-making.

It has been said that if a decision is deemed to be morally and legally acceptable by the community then the decision is deemed ethical. I must question the use of the word legally in this respect. Decisions may be legal, but not necessarily ethical in the strictest sense. We must determine these minor differences in order to make accurate decisions.

I have learned that one person's set of principles may very well differ from another person's point of view. I base this difference upon the influences weighed by the person as they grew up. I have seen how a culture or religion will dictate and influence the person's set of values. I have seen that in order to have a problem we must identify it. We may perceive that an offender is being bullied by a correction officer, but unless the victim is willing to attest to this, we are in no position to rock the boat. This amounts to not being able to verify that a problem exists. I suppose that the best test for determining the correct course of action is to consider the Golden Rule. Ask yourself how the effect of my decision will affect others decision-making upon myself.

In conclusion, these thoughts have opened up my eyes to the finer details involving ethical behavior and moral fortitude. I believe it will make me a better public employee, regardless of the specific field I chose to work in.

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