Synopses & Reviews
Police Ethics: The Corruption of Noble Cause provides an examination of noble cause, how it emerges as a fundamental principle of police ethics, and how it can provide the basis for corruption. The noble cause -- a commitment to "doing something about bad people" -- is a central "ends-based" police ethic that is corrupted when officers violate the law on behalf of personally held moral values. This book is about the power that police use to do their work and how it can corrupt at the individual and organizational levels. The material provides students of policing with a realistic understanding of the kinds of problems they will confront in the practice of police work.
Key terms supplement each chapter. Provides students of policing with a realistic understanding of problems that arise in police work. Synopsis
This book provides an examination of noble cause, how it emerges as a fundamental principle of police ethics and how it can provide the basis for corruption. The noble cause -- a commitment to "doing something about bad people" -- is a central "ends-based" police ethic that can be corrupted when officers violate the law on behalf of personally held moral values. This book is about the power that police use to do their work and how it can corrupt police at the individual and organizational levels. It provides students of policing with a realistic understanding of the kinds of problems they will confront in the practice of police work.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Value-Based Decisionmaking and the Ethics of Noble Cause 1. Value-Based Decisionmaking: Understanding the Noble Cause
2. Values, Hiring, and Early Organizational Experiences
3. Values and Administrative Dilemmas
4. The Social Psychology of Cops’ Values
Part 2: Noble-Cause Corruption
5. From Economic to Noble-Cause Corruption
6. Stress, Organizational Accountability, and the Noble Cause
7. Ethics and the Means-Ends Dilemma
8. Police Culture, Ends-Orientation, and Noble-Cause Corruption
Part 3: Ethics and Police in a Time of Change
9. Policing Citizens, Policing Communities: Toward an Ethic of Negotiated Order
10. The Stakes
11. Recommendations
12. Conclusion: The Noble Cause