Law 301
QUESTION 1
Throughout the course ethical theories have been applied to the criminal justice system to evaluate how, why and the dilemmas that may exist in the various groups involved with the criminal justice system. Instead of looking backward and even examining the current system lets look to the future.
What are the 5 most important questions leaders should be asking to address how the future of the criminal justice system should be handled?
QUESTION 2
You have now been elected Governor of the state of New York. You have been provided a grant by the Federal government for 1 billion dollars to be used in any way you want provided it is related to the criminal justice system. The money cannot be divided for more than one purpose. So you cannot give some money to prosecutors and some to corrections. All the money must be used for one specific purpose.
How will you use this money? Fully explain how and why? What you hope can be achieved. Why this use of the money won out over numerous other options? Ethical theories and rationales need to be used and applied.
QUESTION 3
The future is ever changing. DNA in a short time span of about 25 years has revolutionized crime fighting by helping link suspects to crimes where there was once very little evidence to find, let alone convict someone for a crime. DNA has also helped rectify injustices and helped overturn wrongful convictions throughout the country. So in short DNA has been a big game changer in a positive way.
After reading the 3 articles on DNA you can see that there is a belief that certain genes might be able to predict a future criminal such as a sex offender. For the purposes of this Essay we will assume that it is 20 years in the future and a breakthrough has occurred, whereby DNA can conclusively and reliably pinpoint a gene or allele that indicates an individual will have a very strong predilection for being a sex offender. More specifically a predilection for being a sex offender of children under 13. Doctors have also developed a technique to alter this gene but it must be done before the individual reaches the age of consent of 18. More specifically the procedure must be done prior to the individual reaching puberty.
You are now advising a newly elected president that has control of both houses of Congress [so you can pass any law, regulation or policy]. They want to know if they should use this breakthrough to try and help society. Using Ethical theories we learned in class [and applied throughout our evaluation of the criminal justice system] what advice or plan do you suggest the new President follow. Be specific in what your plan is and how it can be implemented. Analyze fully the ethical implications from all perspectives including the individual, society, law enforcement, etc. Include pros and cons and Constitutional problems that might develop. Make sure you use proper terminology for the ethical theories and explain why you are using them.
