Abstract
In this chapter a very important species of police corruption is analysed, namely, so called noble cause corruption: corruption undertaken to achieve a good purpose. I argue that while noble cause corruption in policing is a pro tanto moral wrong and typically undermined criminal justice processes and purposes (as well as the moral character of police officers), it might be morally justified all things considered in some instances.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
I am assuming here that the law appropriately tracks reason-based ethical principles.
- 3.
The above case study was provided in a suitably disguised form by Father Jim Boland, Chaplain to the NSW Police.
- 4.
See Delattre for a discussion of such extraordinary situations, and the need—as he sees it—for consultation with senior experienced police officers.
- 5.
This view in relation to dirty hands is espoused by C.A.J. Coady. On the other hand, Coady seems also to be endorsing a version of moral absolutism, and if so, he would not want to accept a range of what I would regard as morally justified acts of noble cause corruption.
- 6.
Max Weber seems to want to avoid the whole problem by defining political leadership purely in terms of one of its distinctive means, namely the exercise of physical force. This seems to me to be an unjustifiably narrow and negative view of political leadership and politics more generally.
References
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Miller, S. (2016). Noble Cause Corruption in Policing. In: Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Policing—Philosophical and Ethical Issues. SpringerBriefs in Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46991-1_3
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