Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit speaks directly to the Course Learning Outcomes of reflecting critically on the ethical and procedural problems and challenges that inform decision-making that concerns the dignity, culture, values, beliefs, and rights of people who come into contact or work with the criminal justice sector. It also engages the Course Learning Outcome of explaining philosophical and legal principles informing the criminal justice sector. Through contributing directly to these Course Learning Outcomes, this unit will also contribute to the over-arching Course Learning Outcome of helping students to understand and confidently navigate, and help students prepare for working in, the criminal justice system. An objective and fair criminal justice system is fundamental to a liberal democracy. Such a system, its processes, agencies, and actors can characterize the delivery of criminal justice in any given jurisdiction along a continuum from social peace-keeping in the public interest to pacification and social control in the state’s interest. Where a criminal justice system sits along that continuum can be evaluated through consideration of criminal justice ethics. This unit will help students develop their recognition and understanding of the issues that determine the moral health of the. social institution that is the criminal justice system.