Utilitarian and Deontological Approaches to Criminal Justice Ethics, Essay Example

In the television show M*A*S*H, Colonel Lacy continues to populate the operating room via his unapologetic recklessness in armed combat, thereby conveying his general disregard for human life. Hawkeye decides to take matters into his own hands by performing an unnecessary operation on Colonel Lacy in order to distract him and make sure je does not engage in military combat.  From Hawkeye’s perspective, removing Lacy from the vagaries of the war would unequivocally save the lives of many soldiers despite the irony in the situation. From a utilitarian perspective, it is clear that Hawkeye was justified in his decisions to deploy the battalion commander as a way to serve the good of the community as a whole, i.e. saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. His moral position on the issue was thus correct from a utilitarian vantage point because the ends justified the means. The utilitarian approach to  ethics embedded within the criminal justice system is based on “the fundamental rule of morality,” meaning that the system must promote the well-being and “greatest good” for as many people as possible (Braswell et al, 1991, p. 34). As such, an individual’s action is tested with regards to  his or her morality when situated within the contingencies it occurred within. Such a teleological perception of human actions and consequences insinuates that actions that are rendered moral must always create both good and beneficial ramifications. Such a scenario more often then not results in the inducement of please and joviality (Gold, 991, p. 1). To preserve the lives of innocent soldiers despite defying the order of his superiors, Lacy can be dicursively framed as moral due to the fact that he protected the whole populace of soldiers rather than merely savagely engaging in murder and rape. As such, it is unequivocal that utilitarian proponents contend that “an action ought to be done if and only if that action maximizes the total amount of pleasure (or minimizes the total amount of pain) of all parties affected by the action” (Gold, 991, p. 1). Although the status quo was transgressed, Lacy still acted in a moral manner in which the ends justified the means.

References

Braswell, M., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (1991). Justice, crime, and ethics. Cincinnati, Ohio: Anderson Pub. Co.

Gold, J. (n.d.). Utilitarian and deontological approaches to criminal justice ethics. Naratoma. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://ebooks.narotama.ac.id/files/Justice,%20Crime,%20and%20Ethics%20(6th%20Edition)/Chapter%202%20Utilitarian%20and%20D