Criminal Justice Ethics



Criminal Justice Ethics

Homelessness

Homelessness has been a critical issue for almost a decade now. Issues like housing, domestic violence; education, financial crisis and medical care are some of the reasons that cause people to become homeless. Advocates are working on their parts to reduce the issue to some extent, but no one has come up with a permanent solution to the issue as yet. Homelessness is not only a social issue, but an ethical issue as well as it poses drastic mental health issues to individuals, especially women. Government has initiated a number of programs for the betterment of homeless individuals, especially women, but the goals maintained cannot be realized until these initiatives are implemented with the true spirit of servicing the needy and homeless people, enabling them to live in this ever-changing and demanding world, with self-esteem.

Q1. Why would a homeless person refuse help from a police officer on a cold, rainy night?

There might be a number of reasons for a homeless person to refuse help on a cold, rainy night from a police officer. There are many reasons why a person ends up on the street. It might be because of a loss of job, illness, financial hardship or in the case of homeless women where they become that way due to abuse from spouse, rape or sexual assault etc. they choose to be homeless instead of facing another beating from their spouse or another rape from any person. One they become homeless, they find out that they have simply jumped into fire instead of a true safety.

In some cities being homeless is considered a crime. This adds fear to those who have no other place to go. In cities where homelessness is a crime, there is an increased possibility of arrest as well. Increased exposure to the police officer increases the chances of running into dangerous consequences. In particular, homeless women may not perceive the police as providing safety and protection. They might be suspicious of the police officers because they no longer perceive the police as a source of help.

One reason for a homeless woman refusing help from a police officer on a cold, rainy night might be due to reason that some police officers utilize their position to harm or even harass women. Another reason could be the approval of the new law which plans to lock away people for being homeless. As the law has assigned the police officers to patrol the city and keep homeless people out. The woman in this case refused help from the police officer because she might have thought of getting arrested for being homeless as she was yelling at the police officer to “Get away...leave me alone! Why don't you chase criminals or something instead of bothering me? I have not done anything” (Leighton & Reiman, p.23). These words from the woman display her fear from the police because she is terrified and thinks it is better to freeze in a cold, rainy night instead of ...