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Ethical Violations in Criminal Justice

Ethical standards are present in all professional fields where they guide the conduct of the people within the fields. Within the criminal justice system, there are various ethical considerations which are influenced by the extensive nature of the sector.  Ideally, the criminal justice system starts from the field officers enforcing directives at the community level to legislative processes that develop policies for the sector. Often, the main disregard for ethical guidelines occurs in the area of law enforcement.  The focus of this discussion is the shooting of a non-verbal man in Costco stores at Corona California in June 2019.

On 14^th June, 2019, Kenneth French, aged 32, was shot dead by Salvador Sanchez, who was a Los Angeles police officer but off duty from Corona police station. The shooting occurred at a Costco store, and the parents of Kenneth French were also injured and had to be rushed to the hospital, as reported by nbcnews.com (Fieldstadt, 2019).  In the aftermath, officer Sanchez was not arrested as the court processes began. The incident elicits ethical concerns because, in contemporary settings, issues surrounding law enforcement ethical considerations revolve around the necessity of force, upholding legal and individual rights, and off-duty life.

Ethical Perspectives Regarding the Incident

The incident elicited ethical concerns because Kenneth French, together with his parents, were not armed. Thus, there was no justification for the police officer to use deadly force, which involved killing Kenneth on the spot, shooting his father on the chest and abdomen, and lastly shooting Mrs. Paolo French from the back.  Both shots by the officer were deadly, which evidently indicate the intention of the officer to kill. As such, the shooting was not only unethical, but also illegal. Moreover, the officer stated that he was acting in self-defence after having been attacked by Kenneth when he was holding his infant baby. In this regard, Kenneth was non-verbal and only knocked Officer Sanchez down from behind. Furthermore, even if Kenneth had attacked the officer, he was not justified to shot his parents. Additionally, as an officer, there are particular levels of force that are allowed, especially on unarmed civilians, especially since the officer was off duty. Lastly, after recovering from their injuries, the parent of Kenneth French indicated that they begged officer Sanchez for their lives as well as that of their son to which the officer failed to listen opting to use deadly force.

Division of the Involved Officer

The involved officer, Sanchez, was a police officer with the Los Angeles police department who was stationed at the Corona police station. As such, the incident belongs to the law enforcement division of the U.S. criminal justice system. Ideally, the division upon which an incident of ethical violation falls is influenced by the department of the criminal justice that has jurisdiction over such issues (Souryal & Whitehead, 2019). For instance, whereas the shooting at the outlet falls within the law enforcement segment, the subsequent litigation and court issues fall within another division, which is the courts.  The officers, as well as the three victims of the incident, were from California though it was their first meeting. As a result, both the law enforcement officer, and the victims – French and his parents – did not know each other’s personality, behaviors, occupations, as well as limitations.  The information is vital because it played a big part in the incidence since the officer was not aware that Kenneth French was non-verbal.

Reasoning for the Criminal Justice Involvement

The main reasons for the involvement of the criminal justice system in the issue were the need to maintain trust within the community after the incident sparked public unrest. The involvement was also driven by the need to streamline punishment for law criminal justice system stakeholders when they violate the provided standards. Primarily, even after the shooting, the officer involved was not arrested, and this indicates lack of respect for civilian life. This means that it was imperative that the criminal justice system moves in to evaluate the facts related to the case and depict integrity in handling all legal matters. Additionally, the incident sparked public outcry, bringing to the fore the rising incidences of police brutality and killings within the U.S. Similarly, the timing of reporting the incident was delayed as most international news agencies acted in reaction to the demonstration by various human rights activists asking for justice after the shooting, especially after eyewitnesses and CCTV footage of the incidence failed to be released.  Therefore, even though officer Sanchez had violated various guidelines of police work, such as the use of unnecessary deadly force, the criminal justice system had a task of maintaining its image as a system with high integrity and equal fairness.

Interest Groups

The incident elicits interest from other areas, specifically the human rights aside from the criminal justice system. Ideally, human rights personnel are worried about the lack of respect for an individual’s rights by law enforcement officers (Anderson & Ichiho, 2017). Similarly, the executive arm of the government is an interest group since such incidences are linked to leadership. As such, people will develop a feeling that the current leadership is ineffective, and thus the tendency of police officers to violate primary ethical considerations of their work and fail to be arrested.

Conclusion

The ethical concerns sparked by the shooting of Kenneth French in Costco store could have been avoided. Ideally, the officer could have used friendlier force as his ‘purported’ adversaries were unarmed. Moreover, he should not have extended the use of deadly force to the parents of Kenneth French as they had not provoked him.  Fundamentally, the issue elicits concerns about the ability of criminal justice personnel, such as Law enforcement officers, to make correct judgments.  In this regard, had the officer made a sound judgment, the shooting could have been avoided.