George T. Felkenes

Attitudes of police officers toward their professional ethics

Abstract Professions are guided by codes of ethics to aid them in performance of their duties and to ensure maintenance of high standards of conduct. Police officers are faced with a maze of obligations in the performance of their official duties. The “Law Enforcement Code of Ethics” and “Canons of Police Ethics” were created to make explicit the conduct considered appropriate for police officers and to guide them in the performance of their duties. This study investigates how police officers in several police agencies view their professional ethics. Some of the broader questions examined in the study are the following: Do police officers have a clear understanding of the “Law Enforcement Code of Ethics” and the “Canons of Police Ethics?” Do they feel constrained by agency, societal, or other factors from behaving professionally? Do they consider their ethics adequate to guide professional conduct, and are they willing to abide by the principles? The responses indicate reliance on personal ethics in situations where standard police ethics are not clear, and suggest the need for further research in police ethics.

Implications of hiring women police officers: Police administrators’ concerns may not be justified

This article addresses the issue of whether affirmative action programs have an effect on the job attitudes of employees, the particular case being that of the Los Angeles Police Department. It draws on the findings of a larger study of the organizational impact of a legally mandated affirmative action program, and focuses on the ratings for job commitment and job satisfaction given by a sample of officers, stratified by gender and race, following introduction of an affirmative action recruitment program. A ‘cross‐sectional’ survey design is used, which as the authors acknowledge, is not strictly capable of identifying change or causality. However, the authors argue that the findings of generally positive job attitudes, with almost no difference by gender or race, indicate that the introduction of an affirmative action program need not result in a negative reaction in the police organization.

Criminal justice doctorate education: Some observations on student expectations

Abstract Criminal justice doctoral education is a recent addition to the curriculum of academic institutions in the United States. In some ways it is unique, for example, in the number of professional and career persons found in the programs. In other ways it religiously adheres to traditional academic values such as rigorous admission and retention criteria. This article reviews the difficulties perceived by criminal justice doctoral students and compares these with concerns of doctoral students in a closely related academic discipline, sociology. The discussion looks at the criminal justice doctoral candidate. An attempt is made to understand why these students exhibit enthusiasm and hard work. The situational elements confronting doctoral students in criminal justice also are considered. Finally, one of the most crucial realities of the doctoral students life, attributes and actions of faculty members, are reviewed in some detail because these attributes and actions have a significant impact on a students progress through a doctoral program and on the advancement of knowledge in the discipline.

Liberty, restraint, and criminal justice: Gerald Ford's presidential concerns

Abstract This article addresses a number of criminal justice issues that Gerald Ford wrestled with during his political career from Congress to the presidency. The objective is to paint a reasonably clear picture of Fords general philosophy of criminal justice and criminology by focusing on the logic and organization behind his policy positions on some of the more salient criminal justice aspects. The research utilized original materials in the Ford Library at the University of Michigan. It indicates that Fords positions on issues involving criminal justice were influenced by his personality and leadership style, although the impact on crime policy was not direct. Fords specific policy pronouncements and statements of political positions on crime-related issues deal with two major concerns: crime prevention and criminal corrections and punishment. Both are discussed in this article.

Extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction: Its impact on criminal justice

Abstract Public international law recognizes the right of states to protect themselves and their subjects against threats and damage from within their territory and outside. In the international sphere, the means and methods of national protection are restricted by the extraterritorial jurisdiction of courts and the laws they enforce. Criminal justice today is being confronted on an ever increasing scale by international criminal offenses that impinge on domestic concerns: drugs, securities and financial manipulations, money laundering, and terrorism, to mention only a few. This article discusses some of the issues that arise under the United States Constitution when criminal justice agencies are called upon to enforce U.S. laws beyond U.S. territorial limits. The principles of extraterritorial jurisdiction are discussed along with a number of United States court cases pointing to the importance of this new area of criminal justice.

Managing reductions in criminal justice education programs

The types of changes facing criminal justice education administrators and faculty mandate attention to the real world of fiscal stress and the concomitant problem of student declines. Current trends emphasize that all of those involved in the criminal justice education field must look beyond short-term cyclical problems involving the delivery of criminal justice educational services. The issues of fiscal tension and student declines require hard choices, the development of new administrative skills, and the recognition that new behaviors will be mandatory for criminal justice education administrators during the rest of the eighties.