Professional and Personal Code of Ethics

What I value most in my life are my two daughters, my children mean everything to me and I promised myself that I would do any and everything for my kids to ensure that they would never want for anything. Upon having kids I never understood the amount of love and affection that you could have for someone. My children make me want to strive to be the best for both me and them by showing them anything can be done if you work hard for it, and not making excuses. Raising them to grow up and becoming strong women and independent and letting them know that if you want something then go for it. Another person that I value most in life is my mother, my mother is my best friend, she always allowed me to be myself and never passed judgment and has always been a positive role model throughout my life, because growing up it has always been just my mother me and brother I was able to experience everything that she went through, my mother also did not hold anything back from us and kept the communication open and honest. My mother has always been a big support system for me with helping with my children to staying with them while working weekends to coming over and spending time with them and my children adore my mother, that makes me feel grateful that she is in our lives.

My boyfriend and his family are also an important part in my life, my boyfriend who is also the father of my children and with us being together since teenage years we've been through so much together both good and bad but always managed to make it work and get through whatever the situation may have been, he is also an amazing father and has never missed a beat in his daughters lives and for that I appreciate him. As for his family they are and have always been supportive and helpful to me with keeping the kids through late nights while working and juggling school also keeping them so we can get a moment. I understand the saying now it takes a village to raise a child that statement is so true it takes so much support and assistance to allow a parent to do the things they need to do in order to be a good parent and successful, so for that, I am forever grateful and appreciative.

I also value myself and understand my potential and my capabilities to make what I want possible and not allowing obstacles that may be in my way to deter what my goals are and by using those obstacle's as motivation to keep pushing for myself and for my family. Since becoming a parent I have learned so much about myself and my capabilities, because starting my family at a young age I had to learn and grow a lot sooner than people my age between school, having a child and working two jobs, I do not have any uncertainties in my abilities.

I think I have good moral character I try to practice honesty, friendliness as well as patience, respect, and kindness. I feel that having good moral is important to try to have throughout life and treating people how you want to be treated and having respect for others are very important. I feel that in life you never know whom you may come into contact with and showing your good moral may help you succeed and get you where you ultimately want to be in life. For example in line noticing someone in front of you is short of a few cents giving the rest or when we ""pay it forward"" that's promoting kindness and maybe even compassion and showing your character.

I try to practice integrity by staying honest and also instilling good moral character to my children by advising them of the importance of staying true to yourself and standing strong for what you believe in and never doubting what you're capable of, also treating people with respect until they give you a reason to believe otherwise. Having good moral character is imperative to living a fulfilling life because having good morals ultimately determines the type of person you will grow to be and as parents we are not shaping our children for today we are molding them for the future, to eventually be good parents, wives/ husbands and honest people.

My idea of integrity is following what you believe is the right thing to do regardless of the circumstances even if it's not for all to see, as long as you practice good morals and doing the right thing is all that matters. Also, integrity can include being consistent, being consistent in our work and what we value the most. Constancy allows people to know what they can expect from you and know that what you have to offer will be nothing but the best regardless of the situation the results that you offer will always be fair and appropriate for the situation. Valuing ethics is important because it shows the kind of person you are and your morals, I think based upon your actions and behavior you're consequences are determined and most of the time our actions affect those of others. I do not think a happy life could be lived without being ethical because our word is all we have if we are constantly dishonest lie, steal or cheat people would not trust us or one to be around us due to a feeling that they would have to watch out for themselves. By living an ethical life I believe in karma when you do good for people whether it's noticed or not it will come back to you in more ways than one, and when you do wrong and are not honest you will ultimately get what you deserve.

According to Aristotle and his definition of happiness which explains the overall purpose of living a fulfilling life is based upon happiness which Aristotle viewed as Complete virtue his view was also seen as a positive for mental stability and physical. Aristotle viewed happiness as the central part and main goal in a human's life, Aristotle's virtue of happiness claims that as people we value money, pleasure, and honor believing that this is the way to happiness however, happiness is always the main goal and without happiness one is unable to live a satisfying life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and is more tempting, while the greater good is painful and requires some sort of sacrifice."" (Aristotle)

This theory may help to make ethical decisions in life because people want to be happy, maintaining certain values and character traits will allow us to ultimately be happy and enjoy the pleasures in life that matter the most. Practicing g good morals and doing the right thing is sure to ensure that we will live happily. ""Happiness depends on acquiring a moral character, where one displays the virtues of courage, generosity. Justice, friendship, and citizenship in one's life."" (Aristotle)

Employees within the criminal justice field are required to be committed to providing security, honesty, and commitment and the rights of the people it serves. For criminal justices professional maintaining and providing trust to the community is a big part of the job without trust or losing the trust of the public will cause the community to not cooperate with law enforcement as well as others in the field because they know that nothing good will come out of the situation. In order to handle ethical issues in criminal justice, the International Association of Chiefs of Police publishes a code of ethics that acts as the foundation upon which ethical practices in law enforcement are built (Removing the Blindfold) this criminal justice code of ethics include five basic principles which include: leading by example, serving the community, respecting your job and the goals, and taking responsibility, respecting the badge and office and remain impartial. It is important that criminal justice professionals have knowledge of ethics because in the criminal justice field there may be many opportunities where criminal justice professionals may want to disregard those morals but then need to quickly understand the nature of their job which is providing honesty and integrity to the citizens they protect. ""Without knowledge of ethics, criminal justice professionals may be naive about moral issues occurring within the criminal justice system."" (Removing the Blindfold) The study of ethics helps criminal justice professionals quickly recognize the ethical consequences of various actions and the moral principles involved.

Though a career in the criminal justice field can be a rewarding job, careers within this field may be presented with a few weakness, most of the field requires providing the citizens it protects with honesty and dignity sometimes remaining honest may be a difficult part of the job. Also, people that work in the criminal justice field come across many different types of people: sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities etc. and because we do not always agree with someone else's beliefs and ways not judging a person on their personal beliefs or situation is an ethical part of the job. Nowadays, many criminal justice employees are facing backlash for racial profiling, unfortunately, if you're a Caucasian officer and fatally wound a minority society will view that incident as a racially motivated crime. The criminal justice system is biased in its treatment of nonwhite defendants. This systemic racial bias was identified in a 2000 report issued by the National Institute of Corrections. The report calls the treatment of black and Latino individuals by U.S. courts and police authorities ""massively and pervasively biased."" Such racial bias occurs at every stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest to sentencing. Blacks, Latinos and other minorities are frequently subject to racial profiling, unfair police targeting, biased decisions regarding criminal charges and plea bargains, and discriminatory sentencing decisions"". (Allen 2017)

Another weakness of the criminal justice field may be officers using the nature of their jobs to deceive and intimidate people, threatening people and intimidating the people they should be serving and protecting is not an acceptable part of the job and does violate the criminal justice code of ethics. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that, while 31 percent of police officers see their primary role as that of a protector, only about 16 percent of the public has that view. At the same time, while only 8 percent of officers see themselves as enforcers primarily, 29 percent of the public view police as enforcers. (Removing the blindfold)

However, while there are disadvantages to the criminal justice code of conduct there are also positive aspects of the jobs. Criminal justice professionals have to care about people and want to maintain and protect their rights whether being a lawyer, police officer, parole/ probation officers their main priority is taking care of the public without passing judgment regardless of the situation and treated equally. Criminal justice professions protect the community and help bring criminals down and making them responsible for the crimes that they commit, which can be a good feeling knowing that you were able to get dangerous people off the street

There was a case that took place in Queens, New York in 2008 which involved Stephen Anderson and four other officers in which they were guilty of framing innocent people with planting narcotics in order to meet arrest quotas, this was known as ""flaking"". ""One of the consequences of the war in drugs is the police officers are pressured to make large numbers of arrest, and it's easy for some of the less honest cops to plant evidence on innocent People"" (Lee 2014) Officers were often under pressure and threatened to make their quotas by their bosses this activity was all caught on audio.

""According to the DPA, the NYPD has recently come under fire recently for the arrest of more than 50,000 people last year for low-level marijuana offenses- 86 percent of whom are black and Latino making marijuana possession the number one offense in the city"". (Lee 2014)

This scandal led to the arrest of eight officers after Stephen Anderson's testimony. During Anderson's testimony he stated the officer's framed innocent people in order to help fellow officer Henry Tavares whose, arrest rate was low and to keep him from being demoted, when officers have low arrest rates they are at risk of being demoted and taken off of special undercover cases, Anderson advised this practice was done on multiple occasions. The evidence provided was enough to throw out four hundred different drug cases, brothers Jose Colon and Maximo were falsely arrested by the two officers and the city settled due to false arrest for 300,000 after surveillance showed they had been framed.

So while there may be many unethical criminal justice professionals there are more honest ones that take pride in their jobs. Being ethical and having good morals is a trait that all should practice, doing well and treating people with respect can bring the good out in yourself and you'll be surprised by the good that comes from it. Practicing good morals shows the type of person that you are and the characteristics that we portray. Aristotle views happiness as the way to living a fulfilling and virtuous life, we as people value material things such as money and things that can eventually be taken away, but as Aristotle views it being the main goal and the ultimate end and what we strive for is happiness. By instilling good morals in our families and in ourselves are important to build character, materialistic things may come and go but the characteristics that we have are what really matters and will allow us to be happy in our lives. While reading the code of ethics for my career I am able to understand that the main goal is protecting and serving the community while instilling trust within the public and getting them to know that officers of the law and criminal justice field are trying to protect them and have their best interest at heart and not passing judgment. While there may be many unethical criminal justice professionals that may take their jobs for granted and have disobeyed the code of conducts of the career there are twice as many officers that are prepared to take on the responsibility of serving their community the ethical way.

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