Criminal Justice Ethics

After reviewing the tutorial on criminal justice ethics, my answer on the case would have to be Report the incident to your supervisor. I choose this answer for the following reasons: 1. Partner did not use prudence when making the decision to interview the minors alone, with no parental contact and choosing not to videotape the interview/confession. Ethical decisions were not made while conducting the interview. 2. Honesty and justice for the teens were not being considered in the decision of my partner. 3.  My job as a criminal investigator is to protect the community, respect the rights of others and serve justice to the victims. When the investigator decided to take actions into his own hands and interview the minors with no parent or guardian present and no video for evidence it not only jeopardized the case, the department as well as the community. Although the minors do have a criminal history they have the right to be treated fair and by the laws set in place to protect them until proven guilty by a judge. These rights were taken from them when the investigator did not follow department policies. Although it may be clear that these teens were guilty of this crime it is now going to be very hard to prosecute them in court because the other investigator has broken rules and been dishonest. Since it is not mandatory for the parents to be present the investigator should have at least made sure to record the interview, insuring there was enough evidence to stand up in court. If there is not enough evidence when this trial goes to court it the case may be thrown out. I now feel like it is my duty to report my partner actions to the supervisor so there will at least be record of the incident should it be brought up in the future. This will protect me as well as the department should any circumstances come up as a result of his actions. My main goal is to make sure that if these teens are guilty they are not released back into the community where they may harm others. There are rules set in place within the department to prevent these situations from occurring for this very reason. In conclusion I feel that making the choice to Report the incident to my supervisor is the most beneficial to everyone involved. The victim should have some closure and sense of security knowing these criminals are off the streets. The teen suspects are now in custody and given the rights they deserve as well as possible after the poor judgment of the other investigator. We have two potentially violent criminals off the streets and out of the community preventing them from harming more innocent people. Last we have record of the incident to help protect both investigators and the department if needed.