Foundations of Criminology: Ethical Issues in Criminology

CRIMINOLOGY

CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY

Foundations of Criminology: Ethical Issues in Criminology

Component - I - Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof(Dr) G S Bajpai Registrar

National Law University Delhi

Paper Coordinator

Dr Navin Kumar,

University of Delhi

Content Writer/Author

Dr. Shivantika Sharad,

University of Delhi

Content Reviewer

Component - I (B) Description of Module

Description of Module

Subject Name Criminology

Paper Name Criminal Psychology

Module No. M-7

Module Name/Title Foundations of Criminology: Ethical Issues in Criminology

Pre-requisites Understanding of criminal behaviour and knowledge of ethics

Objectives To study the variety of ethical issues that faces the field of criminology and also delineate some code of conduct to be followed

Keywords Comparative criminology, code of ethics, institutionalized racism, miscarriages of justice

Table of Contents Module

1. Introduction

2. Learning Outcome: Completion of this module shall help a student appreciate the range of ethical issues that the practice of criminology entails, and some of the ways to deal them.

3. Topic Name 1: Ethics in Criminological Practice 4. Topic Name 2: Ethical issues in Criminology a) Ethical issues regarding interaction

b) Ethical issues regarding corruption c) Ethical issues regarding brutality

d) Ethical issues regarding off duty behaviour e) Ethical issues regarding criminal profiling

f) Ethical issues regarding crime control (discriminatory practices) g) Ethical issues regarding technology

h) Ethical issues regarding wrongful convictions/ miscarriages of justice i) Ethical issues regarding information sharing/ withholding

j) Ethical issues pertaining to victims 5. Topic Name 3: Ethical Code of Conduct 6. Summary

1. Introduction

As the noted legal philosopher Lon Luvois Fuller stated in his book The Morality of Law (1964) that even if a human is answerable only to his/her conscience, (s)he will answer more responsibly if (s)he is compelled to articulate principles on which (s)he acts. No discipline dealing with human behaviour and human beings can exist without having ethical principles of conduct. So is true of Criminology. The situation is even more exigent for this discipline, as there is an inherent paradox – crime being the complete antithesis of ethical conduct.

Hence, a number of ethical issues face the law enforcement officials, criminology professionals and other legal/judicial service providers. The diverse nature of ethical issues faced, the principles and considerations that would apply to a situation of ethical dilemma and its consequences have been deliberated in the following section. A small section on Code of ethics for criminologist has also been given.

Consider the following scenarios:

Scenario What shall be done?

Scenario 1: "You are a criminologist, and a father of a ten year old boy Sumit. Your son Sumit is invited to a birthday party of his neighbourhood friend Keshav. Sumit and Keshav are friends, but they study in different schools. You take your son to the party and you find a lot of Keshav’s school friends already there. While having their regular chit chat, you overhear Keshav’s school friends talking about a man called Ashok who gives them sweets at the gate of the school. There was a lot of hushing and shushing and exchanged glances at this point, and it became clear that there was something fishy. You also find out that some of the parents of these kids know and have asked their kids not to talk about it. What would you do?"

The welfare of vulnerable groups like children, overrides other concerns. Its probably a case of suspected child abuse, and this must be disclosed to the proper authorities for investigation. It should also be brought to the notice of school even if the suspicion is vague.

Scenario 2: A criminologist is out on the eve of Diwali to shop at a local shop. This particular shopkeeper is quite well known in the community for his community service and the help he provides for crime prevention programs. The shopkeeper offers a costly hamper to the criminologist as a Diwali gift.

The instance might seem simple, yet it has an inherent moral dilemma. The moral choice is whether the criminologist shall accept benefits in the course of performing her duties.

In cases like these, it is usually left up to the discretion of the officer whether or not to accept a gratuity. However, as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch; the gift may come with hidden expectations from the person giving it.

So, in this scenario, the person should refuse the gift, suggesting that the shopkeeper can donate it to some orphanage or blind school. The gift could become an obligation later on for some unprofessional favours.

2. Ethics in Criminological Practice

The above scenarios are examples of ethical dilemmas faced in criminological practice.

Scenario 2 represents something that is called an ethical slippery slope in the field of ethics.

Ethical slippery slope argument says that if we allow something relatively harmless today, we may start a trend that results in something currently unthinkable becoming accepted. In other words, a relatively small first step can culminate into a significant negative effect through a chain of related events. The question here is “When I do what I am about to do, what other actions might follow?” More often than not, there is no coming back from the slope, except falling down. Hence, it is also called an ethical slippery cliff. So acceptance of a gift might seem harmless today, but can lead to unintended consequences. The first scenario deals with the rights of the community to be safe and protected and the duty of the criminology professional to warn and protect. Three issues need to be considered by any professional, more so by a practitioner of criminology, when making a decision about how to act are:

• What is Legal: The legal standard is typically the minimum acceptable level to meet the requirements of the law.

• What is Ethical: what is the most I should do for this individual? What is in his/her best interest?

• What is Moral: When I put my head on the pillow tonight, how will I feel about what I am about to do? Will I be completely guilt free? Can I tell my partner, my employer and my children?

It is prescribed that one should ask the moral question first, followed by the ethical and then legal while making ethical decisions. The field of ethics deals with “systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour” (Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy). Ethical issues in criminal justice have been addressed on both a philosophical and historical level. Since the standard code of ethics that needs to be upheld is translated subjectively by individuals, it could result in the possibility of ethically questionable conduct.

Such ethical issues have become an increasing challenge in criminal justice. Every professional of criminology has to face situations that call for ethical decision making at every step that is involved to process a criminal case. Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr. P. C.) is the procedural law for conducting a criminal trial in India. The procedure includes the manner for collection of evidence, examination of witnesses, interrogation of accused, arrests, safeguards and procedure to be adopted by Police and Courts, bail, the process of

criminal trial, a method of conviction, and the rights of the accused of a fair trial by principles of natural justice.

3. Ethical issues

Following are some of the ethical issues in the field of Criminology.

3.1 Ethical issues regarding interaction

Interactions of criminologists with community members or criminals (innocent until proven guilty) or victims can often be misconstrued, or sometimes be used against an officer. Hence it’s important that criminologists restrain from any kind of interaction that could be questioned. For instance, an officer may restrain a potentially dangerous citizen, and be accused of excessive force. While interacting with people criminologists also need to consider people’s willingness to share information and to be part of the legal system. This is also referred to as self-participation on the part of the public. Participation of the civilians should be encouraged by the Legal Services Authority.

“The confidence of people is the greatest asset that the police enjoy in investigation of crimes and maintenance of law and order. In the present day scenario, this confidence is at its nadir where the police are increasingly losing public confidence. If Police itself is seen as the transgressor of law and abuser of the power, the public develops repugnance towards the same making the duties of the police officials even more difficult affecting the investigation system adversely thereby having the same effect on the Criminal Justice System” (Mishra, Mathur and Zehra, 2015, p. 53)

Victim satisfaction is an important area of study. Satisfaction with justice processes, through fairness, respectful treatment and behaviors, and desired outcomes, is both ethically desirable and a necessity for effective justice (Hough, Ruuskanen, & Jokinen, 2011).

3.2 Ethical issues regarding corruption

Corruption in criminal justice is a common theme. In India particularly corruption has plagued the criminal justice system for years.

India has been ranked 79th out of 176 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2016 by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International. Many a times public servants, law enforcement personnel and criminology professionals may be put

into positions where they are offered large payoffs to ignore illegal conduct. Public confidence is gradually decreasing in the criminal justice system and to restore the confidence it is essential that a regular review of all cases is done at various levels – police, judiciary, prison.

3.3 Ethical issues regarding brutality

It is a known fact that crime and criminals are seen with a lot of abhorrence and criminals are treated with a lot of disrespect. Professionals of criminal justice system at times treat the suspects of crime cruelly. There appears to be a growing need to engender criminal prosecution for officers whose actions result in injury or death. Dealing with human rights issues of the suspects or criminals is a significant ethical problem faced. Ethical issues also arise when an unusual or cruel punishment is administered, another ethical problem is when human rights such of prisoners, and women are violated. Capital punishment is also part of human rights ethical problems (Banks, 2004).

3.4 Ethical issues regarding off-duty behaviour

Consider this situation: A law enforcing officer Rakesh is invited by a friend Mitin at his place to celebrate Mitin’s success. Rakesh discovers that some of Mitin’s friends are using cocaine and other drugs in his backyard, where Mitin also is spending considerable time. Rakesh is taken aback as being a law enforcing officer he faces the dilemma whether or not he should report his friend to the authorities. If he reports his friend’s wellbeing is jeopardy and if he doesn’t he is not upholding the principles of ethics.

Several codes have been established for acceptable conduct of professionals of criminal justice and they are expected to abide by it without expressing bias or personal views during work hours and in their personal lives. Even during off hours, they should be setting an example for the common citizen.

Unfortunately, those who should be regulating law can often get away with bending or breaking laws themselves. This is a common thing to be seen in Indian law enforcement officers. For example, in the case of Priyadarshini Mattu (described in Module 2 of this unit) the accused was the son of high ranking police officer, and the courts pointed out the tardy and lax nature of initial investigation (that led to the acquittal of the accused by the law court before being finally convicted by the High Court). Unethical activities by these individuals are an issue because the person in question is often treated with a lighter punishment or law

enforcement turns a blind eye because of association with a policing or governing organization.

3.5 Ethical issues in criminal profiling

Criminal profiling or offender profiling is wrought with many ethical and professional issues. It is used in complex investigations and, in a number of jurisdictions, as expert evidence in criminal trials. Despite its significance, many profiling standards fall short of the recommendations offered by Psychological societies and Psychometricians. Processes and procedures of criminal investigation and profiling are as important as the outcomes. As Chifflet (2014) points out that little research has been undertaken to assess the actual accuracy of generated profiles. This lack of objective evidence of validity in this area is necessary to be thought about. Michael Boylan (2011) suggests a model based upon psychological/behavioral data, witness data, and forensic profiling data that fits the legitimate uses of criminal profiling as an investigation procedure.

3.6 Ethical issues in crime control (discriminatory practices)

Crime control and discrimination: it has been widely noted that minority groups are disproportionately more likely to be “stopped and searched” as compared to non-minority groups. Biases exist in our culture against specific groups, for example slum dwellers, tribal communities, north-eastern population, lower socio economic status people. A lot of inter- regional stereotypes, prejudices and discriminatory practices drive the needle of suspicion towards innocent people. A number of incidents show how racial biases and stereotypes have been institutionalized.

3.6.1 Institutionalized Racism

The racial prejudice and bias of people also gets reflected in the functioning of institutions.

For instance, apathetic attitude of police and their reluctance to accept racial violence/crime as racially motivated. This attitude is prevalent in media reporting in their rather wilful negligence of incidents and selective representation in popular media. North east Indians have borne the brunt of institutionalized racism. Some such instances that have occurred recently are:

 An incident where students from Manipur were asked by CISF personnel to provide Adhaar card and other identity proofs even after showing their student identity cards

to prove that they are “Indians” since they thought that the students looked like

“foreigners”.

 Another instance is of a Manipuri student Monika Khangembam, who was going for an international conference with a valid Indian passport on 10^th July, 2016 who was asked irrelevant questions like the number of states in India by an immigration official at IGI airport as she did not “look Indian enough” for him. Details of the case can be found on http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/07/12/the-monika-khangembam- incident-is-part-of-a-much-bigger-indian-p_a_21430977/

 In 2007, the Delhi Police decided to solve the problems of security faced by the north-easterners in Delhi, particularly women, by coming up with a booklet entitled Security Tips for North East Students asking north-eastern women not to wear

“revealing dresses” and gave kitchen tips on preparing bamboo shoot, akhuni, and

“other smelly dishes” without “creating ruckus in neighbourhood.” For more details read the Hindu article: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/lets-stop-pretending- theres-no-racism-in-india/article3466554.ece

Institutional racism more significantly comes to fore when victims of racist attacks seek remedy through law. The experience double prejudice at the hands of the police or investigating officer in the form of attempts by the police to suppress or make light of the crime, the tendency to cast aspersions on the character of the victims or complainants and refusal to register FIRs, or of putting unnecessary pressures on the victims to withdraw the case, etc. It is interesting that all the recent protests are as much against police apathy as they are about racial prejudice at the mass level.

3.7 Ethical issues regarding technology

Since technology has shrunk the world so much that everything seems to be just a click away, it is posing ethical threats on all several counts. One such threat comes from the social media. Police cases are being tried in the court of public opinion on the internet. We keep getting WhatsApp messages of videos on “officer caught on video”. Social media is also used to publicize cases in an effort to bias the jurors. In some cases, law enforcement also takes to social media as a means to defend the actions of officers under scrutiny.

Development of a sound social media policy is essential for criminal justice system.

3.8 Ethical issues pertaining to wrongful convictions/Miscarriages of justice

Wrongful convictions always question the credibility of the entire criminal justice system. It harms public perception of and faith in the system. However, often criminologists are seen justifying such miscarriages of justice by resorting to their overarching goal of reducing crime. They say that such errors are not so important and are only unintended consequences of their efforts to reduce crime. The question is whether such unintended consequence is a “price worth paying” for ensuring community safety and reducing crime risk. It becomes even more challenging in jurisdictions involving death penalty or any other extreme punishment.

At times compensation has to be paid to such cases, and at times it leads toward commissions of inquiry. The inquiries consistently revealed major systemic problems, including questionable conduct by prosecutors and defence counsel, failure to disclose information, and flawed investigation by law enforcement agencies. The inquiries recommended considering an independent review body to investigate claims of wrongful conviction.

3.9 Ethical issues related to information sharing/withholding

There are also ethical problems resulting from information sharing as well as information withholding, from a client, from the police or even from the courts. The problem could be associated with confidentiality issues and privileged communication. For example, during research participation one may be tempted to leak out some of the information gathered (Banks, 2004). Withholding of sensitive information could also jeopardize the wellbeing of people involved.

3.10 Ethical issues pertaining to victims

Justice for victims is hard to attain. It is oft stated, that a victim is "twice victimized: once by the offence and once more by the process". It is extremely important on the part of the criminology professional to address the needs of victims and protect their rights. Victims of rape and domestic violence for instance are asked to recount their experiences and details of the crime again and again. This has deep psychological impact that adversely affects their wellbeing. Victim shaming is another issue that needs to be seriously considered.

4. Code of ethics

Ethical codes of conduct, for any practitioner, help in discriminating the right behaviour and the wrong behaviour. No profession can ever be called a responsible profession without its

own code of ethics. Apart from the general rules of integrity, objectivity, competence, fairness, confidentiality, and professionalism, following are some of the code of ethics that American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the Board of Criminology (Republic of the Philippines) prescribe. These serve as guidelines for everyday professional conduct.

4.1 General Principles:

The general principles primarily deal with enhancing the general well being of societies, groups and individuals. This can be attained by not contributing in any way to any kind of social injustice such as discrimination, oppression, or harassment in their own work, by avoiding incompetent, unethical, or dishonest use of criminological knowledge. While doing their duty criminologists ought to be just, impartial and reasonable.

A criminologist of any country is the upholder of law of that nation and must ensure that he is a prime defender of that system of law, professionally as well as in their private life.

Since study of crime is full of risks, criminologists should not knowingly expose their colleagues’ or researchers’ or any person’s wellbeing in jeopardy, without their consent.

They are committed to free and open access to knowledge, to public discourse on findings, and to sharing sources of those findings whenever possible. They maintain high levels of competence in their work that requires knowledge of theory and research. They treat everyone including crime victims and those accused or convicted of crimes with respect and dignity. They neither coerce nor obtain through manipulations personal favors, sexual activity or economic or professional advantages from any person. They shall recognize the limitation of their authority and at no time use the power of their profession for personal advantage The Criminologists show a genuine willingness to help which is essential to their public image and their ability to do a good job.

4.2 Specific guidelines

Apart from these general principles there are some specific guidelines for the various roles of a criminologist. As is true for any ethical dilemma that we face in our life, every Individual practitioner of criminology should appraise the ethical requirements of a specific situation, search for a range of alternatives, take help from colleagues/experts, and then decide on an ethical course of action. They also need to take responsibility for those actions. Hence “one size fits all” cannot be the approach while deciding on an ethical course of action. The ASC delineates guidelines for criminologists in the field of research, publication and review

process (as editors and authors), in teaching and supervision, as evaluators, employers, employees and also as experts. They need to maintain objectivity and integrity in the conduct of criminological research, and abide by the highest possible technical standards in their research. They should respect and protect the rights of research populations, their students, and colleagues; and maintain the principles of informed consent (Permission given with full knowledge of the risks involved, probable consequences, and the alternatives) and confidentiality as well as ensuring safety and security while conducting research.

It should be noted that these code of ethics do not seek to impose a single model of ethical practice, but they provide a frame of reference to encourage and support reflective and responsible ethical behaviour in criminological research and practice. This framework of principles helps in making decisions which have greater possibilities to reflect the principles, values and interests of all those involved in a particular situation.

Summary:

This module describes in detail a variety of ethical issues that face the field of criminology.

Criminal procedure comprises of a number of steps that call for ethical decision making.

Some of these ethical issues comprise of nature of interaction with offenders/community, ethical issues regarding corruption, ethical issues regarding brutality, ethical issues regarding off duty behaviour, ethical issues regarding criminal profiling, ethical issues regarding crime control (discriminatory practices), ethical issues regarding technology, ethical issues regarding wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice, ethical issues regarding information sharing/ withholding and ethical issues pertaining to victims wellbeing.

Apart from the issues, the module also discusses some general principles as well as some specific guidelines regarding the code of ethics to be followed by a criminologist.

REFERENCES:

Banks, C. (2004). Criminal Justice Ethics. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Boylan, M. (2011). Ethical Profiling. The Journal of Ethics, 15(1–2), 131–145.

Chifflet, P. (2012/2015). Questioning the validity of criminal profiling: an evidence-based approach. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 48(2), 238-255.

Fuller, L.L. (1964). The Morality of law. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Hough, M., Ruuskanen, E., & Jokinen, A. (2011). Trust in justice and the procedural justice perspective: Editors’ introduction. European Journal of Criminology, 8(4), 249-253.

Website referred:

https://www.asc41.com/code%20of%20ethics%20copies/ASC_Code_of_Ethics_Draft.pdf https://www.scribd.com/document/294917349/Board-of-Criminology-Ethics

http://legalbeagle.com/6028332-ethical-issues-criminal-justice.html