PHIL 211: Ethics for Criminal Justice

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Class Program
Philosophy
Distribution
Humanities Lecture
Credits 5 Lecture Hours 55
A study of the principal ethical theories and their application to individual and social morality tied to the field of Criminal Justice.
Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge or skills:

  1. Demonstrate understanding of major ethical theories such as Virtue Theory, Kantianism, and Utilitarianism and other foundational theories.
  2. Explain how to apply major ethical theories to contemporary moral problems and the criminal justice field.
  3. Evaluate in writing several philosophical issues related to ethical behavior.
Institutional Outcomes
IO1 Communication: Students will be able to communicate clearly and effectively.
IO3 Human Relations/Workplace Skills: Students will be able to demonstrate teamwork, ethics, appropriate safety awareness and/or workplace specific skills.
Course Content Outline
  1. Major ethical theories.
    1. Virtue theory
    2. Kantian Deontological theory
    3. Utilitarianism
    4. Other ethical theories
  2. Why Be Ethical?
  3. Ethics for Correctional Professionals
  4. Ethics for Law Enforcement Professionals
  5. Determining Moral Behavior
  6. Morality, Ethics, and Human Behavior
  7. The Ethics of Law and Social Control
  8. Corruption and Ethics
Department Guidelines

A writing component and a minimum of two exams over the material is required. Other grading instruments will be based on a number of different assessment tools selected by the instructor and designed to meet the needs of the coursework. This may include short essays, quizzes, in-class discussion, attendance, research paper on a major philosopher, philosophical issue or movement, etc.

PO5 should be assessed: Students will be able to solve problems by gathering, interpreting, combining and/or applying information from multiple sources.