Wednesday Evenings 6:00p.m. to 8:30p.m.
August 19th, 2026 thru December 8th, 2026
Course Alignment
IAI Number:CRJ901
IAI Title: Police Ethics
Faculty Contact Information
Wednesday by appointment only.
Chief Michael Johnston (ret.)
mjohnston512@gmail.com
Course Information
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the vocabulary of ethics – i.e. morals, ethics and values.
- Explain the ethical responsibilities of law enforcement of the Criminal Justice System.
- Examine the major arguments supporting the importance of studying ethics in the criminal justice field.
- Identify and explain the major ethical codes applicable to criminal justice situations.
- Analyze an ethical dilemma common to criminal justice.
- Articulate ethical issues in the prosecution of criminal cases.
- Introduction
- Police Professionalism
- The Nature of Police Work
- Why Be Ethical?
- What Is Character?
- The Development of Character
- Ethical Formalism
- Utilitarianism
- An Ethic to Live By
- Judgment Calls
- Types of Police Misconduct
- The Causes of Police Misconduct
- Practical Applications
- The Law Enforcement Code of Ethics
- Being a Good Officer
Attendance up to 160 points
Participation up to 50 points
Midterm Exam 100 points
Final Exam 100 points
Group Assignments 50 points
A 100% – 90%
B 89% – 80%
C 79% - 70%
D 69% -- 60%
F 59% – 0%
460 Total points
Business, Technology & Human Services
Dean, Paul Carlson; 815-802-8858; V105; pcarlson@kcc.edu; Division Office – W102; 815-802-8650
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non-Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu.
Students are expected to attend class on time. If you are not going to make class or will be late for class, please send me an email in advance to notify me of your absence or late arrival.
Classroom discssions will remain professional and respectful at all times.
Keep cell phone use to a minimum. If you must engage in a lengthy text or phone conversation, please leave the classroom.
Students are expected to turn in assignments on time. No credit will be given for an assignment that is turned in late unless exigent circumstances prevented you from submitting it on time.
 | | | Learning Objective and Activity |
Week 1: | Course Introduction and Ice Breakers | ||
Week 2: | Recognizing Ethical Decisions: Ethics and Critical Thinking | Chapter 1 | Develop the ability to understand the essence of good character. Distinguish between morals, values, and ethics. Recognize the concept of moral relativism. Understand the importance of critical thinking to ethics. Movie: The Emperor's Club Movie discussion |
Week 3: | Virtue Ethics: Seeking the Good | Chapter 2 | Understand the centrality of moral virtue to understanding the ethics of Aristotle. Appreciate the hierarchy of goods and the difference between real and apparent goods. Recognize the distinctions among virtue ethics, stoicism, and hedonism. Increase understanding of the linkage between the moral virtues in pursuing real goods. Movie discussion |
Week 4: | Formalism: Carrying Out Obligation and Duty | Chapter 3 | Understand the nature of deontological ethics. Recognize the centrality of duties versus inclinations in Kantian ethics. Increase the ability to isolate the categorical imperative from any set of facts presented in an ethical dilemma. Movie discussion |
Week 5: | Utilitarianism: Measuring Consequences | Chapter 4 | Understand the nature of teleological ethics and its differences from deontological ethics. Recognize the centrality of the principle of utility in the ethics of John Stuart Mill. Develop an appreciation of why utilitarianism is sometimes called consequentialism. Increase the ability to distinguish objective ways to assess the total happiness produced by an action. Movie discussion |
Week 6: | Crime and Law: Which Behaviors Should Be Crimes? | Chapter 5 | Understand the differences between the consensus view and conflict view of criminal law. Appreciate the ethical issues posed by “quality of life” offenses. Distinguish the major perspectives on crime causation: classical, positivism, structural, and ethical. Develop an appreciation for the linkage between Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and ethics. Understand Gilligan’s ethics of caring. Movie discussion |
Week 7: | Continue Crime and Law (continued) | | |
Week 8: | Midterm and Movie | | |
Week 9: | Police How Should the Law be Enforced? | Chapter 6 | Understand how the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Bill of Rights provide the principles for police stops, searches, arrests, and interrogations. Appreciate the threshold of “stop and frisk” and its differences from probable cause in evaluating situations for police. Recognize the differences among nonfeasance, misfeasance, and malfeasance in assessing police decisions. Develop an appreciation for the different causes and circumstances of police corruption. Evaluate the relationship between codes of ethics and |
ethical principles in producing consistent conduct. Movie discussion |
Week 10: | Police: How Should the Law Be Enforced? (continued) | Chapter 6 | Movie discussion Journal Article #2 due |
Week 11: | Courts: How Should a Case Be Adjudicated? | Chapter 7 | Appreciate John Rawls’ theory of justice and the “greatest equal liberty” principle. Recognize the importance of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct for prosecution and defense conduct. Understand what a “mob lawyer” is and the proper role of a defense attorney in criminal cases. Assess the scope of a prosecutor’s discretion and its implication for ethical conduct. Evaluate the nature of plea bargaining and the ethical dilemma it creates. Understand the ethical underpinnings of sentencing decisions. Movie discussion |
Week 12: | Punishment and Corrections: What Should Be Done with Offenders? | Chapter 8 | Understand the distinctions among the four purposes of criminal sanctions: retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Recognize the issue of disparity in sentencing, how sentencing guidelines were designed to reduce disparity, and the ethical issues involved. Assess the issue of correctional ethics and the situations in which ethical decisions become crucial in correctional settings. Understand how corporal punishment and innovative sentences can be evaluated from an ethical perspective. Distinguish the issue of punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and how capital punishment and life in prison can be evaluated using ethical principles. Movie discussion |
Week 13: | Liability: What Should Be the Consequence of Unethical Conduct? | Chapter 9 | Understand the nature of civil remedies for ethical misconduct, such as compensation and blacklisting. Recognize the double standards often placed on public officials regarding liability for conduct that is accepted when acting as private citizens. Evaluate the ethical dilemmas posed by sex |
offender notifications laws. Distinguish “right versus right” ethical dilemmas. Assess the liabilities faced in unethical individual, corporate, and government misconduct Movie discussion | |||
Week 14: | The Future: Will We Be More or Less Ethical? | Chapter 10 | Recognize the importance of the “24- hour test.” Evaluate the ethical dilemma in the case of the Unabomber. Appreciate the reason behind the establishment of the CDC panel of ethicists. Understand the ethical distinctions between killing and letting die in a medical context. Recognize the ethical importance of the story of Alfred Nobel. Movie Discussion |
Week 15: | Final exam topic discussion Review | ||
Week 16: | Final Exam | Final Exam | Final exam |
College Policies, Resources and Supports
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide.
KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:
- Clubs and organizations
- Counseling and referral services
- Office of disability services
- Student complaint policy
- Transfer services
- Tutoring services, etc.
The materials on this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course. Further information regarding KCC's copyright policy is available at https://kcc.libguides.com/copyright.
|Course syllabus/calendar is subject to change.