Ethics & Deviance and Civil Liability

Ethics and Deviance and Civil Liability
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Utilitarianism and Deontological Ethics in Law Enforcement
The utilitarian ethical system measures the morality of a particular action based on the resultant consequences of the action while on the hand the deontological ethical system measures the morality of an action based on an individual’s duty or obligation (McCartney, 2015). According to utilitarianism, a decision or action that makes the majority of the people happy is considered to be ethical. The two ethical systems are in most cases used by law enforcers when they are faced with moral dilemmas. Regardless of a police officer’s level of experience or rank, they have to exercise their discretion in their daily activities. In some instances, the law enforcers are expected to make quick decisions without consulting policy procedures or their superiors and things can turn out to be very complicated. Every decision made by a police officer is scrutinized by their leaders and therefore most officers apply the utilitarian ethics when dealing with complex issues (McCartney, 2015).
A perfect example is when a police office is supposed to arrest a person smoking marijuana during a demonstration to push for the legalization of the drug. Since the majority of the people in that country are in support of the push for marijuana legalization, the officer may decide not to arrest the culprit in order to make the majority of the people happy. Apart from making the majority happy, failure to arrest will stop violent confrontations with the demonstrators that may lead to loss of lives and destruction of property. The problem with the utilitarian ethics is that the system only focuses on the consequences of an action even if the action is wrong. Deontological ethics require the police officer to arrest the culprit even if the arrest will lead to violent confrontation because it is his duty to arrest anyone breaking the law (McCartney, 2015). Failure to arrest the person smoking marijuana means that the officer will have failed in his duty.
The Distinction between Crime and Torts Committed by Police Officers
Civilians have a right to sue officers when they violate their civil rights, and in such instances the victim is supposed to receive compensation from the state in what is commonly referred to as civil liability. It is possible to sue law enforcement officers because they have qualified immunity. The most notable difference between crime and tort is in terms of remedies but, in both cases the accused must have committed an offense. The remedy for tort is in form of damages while the remedy for crime can be imprisonment, a fine or both. There are three types of torts that can lead to liability for damages and these include the strict liability tort, intentional tort and negligent tort. Strict liability tort happens when the plaintiff is placed in danger by the defendant with or without the absence of negligence. The defendant may be in passion of a dangerous weapon or product that put the life of the plaintiff in danger.
Police officers that cause injury or harm deliberately are liable for intentional tort lawsuits and a perfect example is when an officer assaul...