Baugher 1 Alicia Baugher Professional Ethics Professor Murray 3/1/13 Word Count: 3,259 CTAP: Critical Thinking Application

Paper I. Identification

Sub Issues: 1. Is it right for Police Chief Jones to allow his to take Sylvester Smoot in for questioning when they dont have enough evidence to make an arrest? 2. Is it right to not question Smoot when they may be running out of time to save Mickey Cappa, if he is still alive? 3. Is it right to leave the neighborhood with a sexual predator they believe kidnapped one of the neighborhood children? 4. Is it right for the detectives to question Smoot at his house if he doesnt voluntarily come in for questioning? 5. Is it right to leave all the pressure of what to do on Police Chief Jones when his detectives didnt find enough evidence on Smoot? 6. Is it right to the Cappa family, to not question Smoot? Main Issue: The central issue to be resolved would be to find Mickey Cappa, because all of the sub issues are based upon the main issue; what way or how they should try to relocate Mickey. The Cappa familys son Mickey has disappeared, and the police department is doing everything that they can to try and bring him safely back home. They must find a way to talk to Smoot and see if he has Mickey hidden somewhere. Although detectives dont have enough evidence to arrest Smoot and bring him in for interrogation, they can go to his house and ask him questions that he is willing to answer. Another option would be to ask him to come in voluntarily to answer a few questions, that way the detectives can use interrogation tactics on him. The detectives can question neighbors of Smoots and see if they can find something that could be used as evidence against Smoot, so that way they will be able to make an arrest on him. Either way that they choose the detectives must work hard and efficiently to try and find Cappa; and hopefully bring him back home, safe and sound. II. Research 1. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. : This article explains the history of the Miranda Rights. The Miranda Rights stated before each arrest came about with the 1963 arrest of Phoenix resident Ernesto Miranda. Miranda was charged with rape, kidnapping, and robbery. He confessed to committing the crimes and was sentenced 20 to 30 years of prison. Even though he confessed to the crimes he was not informed of his rights prior to

Baugher 2 the police interrogation. When looking back at the case in 1966 Miranda was retired and convicted without the admission of his confession because the confession was not valid without telling him his right of remaining silent and an attorney before interrogation. This is relevant to the topic because the detectives are trying to find a way that they can use interrogation practice on Smoot in order to relocate Mickey Cappa. 2. "Missing Children List." NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. : This website lists missing children, some adults now, which have gone missing in the state of New York. The case of missing children such as Mickey Cappa is very serious and the proper steps must be taken in order to find a missing person. The family and friends of the missing children, along with the detectives that are working on these cases are really affected by the decision that is made in order to try and find the child. According to this missing childrens list there is 83 children in New York missing. This is 83 children that may never be returned home safely and 83 families devastated forever. 3. "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide." When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. : This article explains how important the first 48 hours of an investigation is. The detectives must work fast but efficiently in order to try and find the missing person and/or suspect that caused the crime. It makes it very difficult if people do not cooperate with them in order to try and find out where the person was doing and where they may be. Also the detectives must look into all of the information and evidenve that they do have and try and come to the best step to make in order to solve this case. This is what Police Chief Jones in the case of Mickey Cappa must do to find him and hopefully to return him home safely. III. Analysis

Options: 1. Ask Smoot to come in voluntarily to answer questions. 2. Police Chief Jones can approve for his detectives to question Smoot at home within legal limits. 3. Police Chief Jones can disapprove the request and tell his detectives to come up with more evidence. 4. The detectives can question the neighbors and family members of Smoot to see what he was doing at the time of Mickeys disappearance. Stakeholders: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Police Chief Jones Mickey Cappa Mickeys family Sylvester Smoot Detectives arresting Smoot Neighbors of Smoot and the Cappa family

Implications:

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Option 1: To ask Smoot to come in for questioning voluntarily could go very good or very bad for Police Chief Jones. Smoot could come in and help out Police Chief Jones and his detectives. If Smoot gives information that could place the disappearance on him, the detectives will then be able to get a search warrant and find out whether Mickey is with him or not. This will bring the department closer to knowing where or where Mickey is not. In a result this would make the Cappa family and the neighbors happy that the department is making progress trying to find Mickey. This would not go very good for Sylvester Smoot because if he refused the questioning the detectives would have even more reason to believe that he has Mickey, and if he does allow the questioning they could easily find something against him and would be able to search his house and belongings. Mickey Cappa has a chance of being saved, there is also the chance that Sylvester doesnt have Mickey and he is still kidnapped and lost. Mickey has a chance of being happy and returning home safely or he could still be somewhere worried what is going on if he is still alive. Option 2: If the detectives question Smoot at home he doesnt have to answer their questions. So the detectives will not necessarily make much progress when they question him at home. The questions could help Chief Jones and his detectives get closer to finding out where Mickey is but they cannot use a lie detector test on him at home so there is no way to tell if he is telling the truth or not. This will make Police Chief Jones and his detectives more stressed out because they have no way to prove if Mickey has been captured by Smoot once again. This in result would make the Cappa family, and neighbors angry that Mickey is still missing and nowhere to be found. Sylvester Smoot will be happy getting away with Mickey for the time being if he has him; and for Mickey, if he is still alive he will be worried and wondering if and when he is going to be saved. Option 3: If Police Chief Jones disapproves the request and tells his detectives to come up with more evidence, this will make them angry. They have already spent time trying to come up with evidence but could not find enough. The men will have to work extra hard to try and take a new approach onto things. The Cappa family will also be angry because they want their son to be found and returned back to them safely. The neighbors will be worried the Mickey is still missing and the dangers of their neighborhood. For Sylvester Smoot, this will be a lucky choice that they Chief made if he has Mickey hidden somewhere. Mickey will be affected without knowing it because it will be harder for the detectives to try and find him. Option 4: If the detectives question the neighbors and family members of Smoot to see what he was doing at the time of the disappearance of Mickey, they might be able to come up with some evidence to help them out. They could possibly find out where he was by asking the family members and neighbors and then going to that place to see if he was actually there. This could help the detectives by seeing if he was able to take Mickey at that time or not and figure out if he is a valid suspect of kidnapping. This would make the detectives and Chief Jones happy that they are making some sort of progress into solving the case. This would also make the Cappa family and the neighbors happy that Mickey may be able to be saved with the information that they had given to the detectives. Sylvester would not know that this was going on at first so it would not affect him; and Mickey would hopefully be closer to being found.

Baugher 4 IV. Application 1. Act Utilitarianism was created by the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. He came from a family of lawyers, and to become one was a set path for him until he decided that what he really wanted to do was find some way to change the legal system and social system of England to do more good for the citizens. He greatly influenced the government by creating the ethical theory Act Utilitarianism, which is based off the core principle which is, Always act in order to promote the greatest amount of satisfaction and the least amount of dissatisfaction for the greatest number of people. To determine what produces the greatest amount of satisfaction a few steps must be followed to apply act utilitarianism: Identify the ethical decision to be made. Consider all possible optional actions. Consider all people affected by these optional responses. Determine the net utility of each option. (net utility refers to the sum or total of the happiness and unhappiness caused by a specific action) Choose and follow the option that produces the highest net utility. ETHICAL DECISION What should Police Chief Jones do about Mickey Cappas disappearance? Police Mickey Mickeys Sylvester Jones Smoots Net Chief Cappa Family Smoot Detectives Neighbors Utility Jones (1person) (1person) (4people) (1person) (12people) (41people) 8*1= 7*1= 8*4= -4 * 1 = 6 * 12 = 3 * 41 = 238 8 7 32 -4 72 123 4*1= 6*1= 5*1= -1 * 1 = 4 * 12 = 2 * 41 = 144 4 6 5 -1 48 82 1*1= -8 * 1 = -6 * 1 = 6*1= -3 * 12 = -2 * 41 = -125 1 -8 -6 6 -36 -82 3*1= 7*1= 8*1= -2 * 1 = 5 * 12 = 6 * 41 = 322 3 7 8 -2 60 246

Come in Voluntarily Question at home Disapprove request Question others

Applying Act Utilitarianism: Identify the ethical decision to be made. (This would be the best way to approach the issue of Mickey Cappas disappearance in order for him to make it home safely.) Consider all possible optional actions. (I chose that the detectives could ask Smoot to come in voluntarily, the detectives could go to Smoots house to try to question him there, Police Chief Jones could disapprove the request and tell his detectives to come up with more evidence, and that the detectives could question Smoots neighbors, friends, and family to get more evidence for the case.) Consider all people affected by these optional responses. (Police Chief Jones, Mickey Cappa, Mickeys family, Sylvester Smoot, Jones detectives, and Smoots neighbors are all affected by each one of the options that Police Chief Jones makes.) Determine the net utility of each option. (This is the amount of happiness or not each option would make for each person that is affected.)

Baugher 5 Choose and follow the option that produces the highest net utility. (This is found by adding all of the happiness from each person, for each of the options and determining which one would create the most happiness.)

2. The Virtue Ethics theory of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle focuses primarily on personal character; becoming the right kind of person by developing certain virtuous character traits. The primary focus of virtue ethics is ones character, especially the personal disposition to act well in various circumstances. Teleology is one of the themes of virtue ethics based on fulfilling our purpose in life. Teleology states that, every kind of thing exists to do something unique and specific. Another key for virtue ethics is eudaimonia, this states that humans are built for happiness, people are happy when they flourish at life, by following their virtues, being healthy, wealthy, creating friends, and having knowledge. One of the most unique ethical concepts is that of the Golden Mean. The Golden Mean is a perfect balance of the extreme deficiency and extreme excess of a given virtue. According to Plato the four classical or cardinal virtues are self-control, courage, wisdom, and justice. Self-control gives us the ability to govern ourselves, to regulate our passions and appetites. Courage is to do what is appropriate in the face of fear and difficulty. Wisdom is the master virtue; this virtue tells us how to put all of the other virtues into action. And last but not least is justice; this is the key virtue of social life. Justice is to give people their due and to follow just laws by being fair. The corollary virtues which are moral virtues and intellectual virtues are based off of the four cardinal virtues. With these the decision being made is the moral right and intellectually accurate choice by following the four cardinal virtues. Police Chief Jones must have the courage to come to the appropriate decision in the fear of not knowing where Mickey Cappa is, and being ultimately responsible for doing his best to return Mickey back home safely. He must not be a coward and take the easiest way out for himself, but he also must not be reckless in the decision that he makes. Police Chief Jones must also obtain self-control, he must not take action because his detectives believe that they know in their hearts is what should be done. He cannot be insensible and not feel for them, but he must also be self-indulgent and believe that he is always right and the best of the best when he is not. He must think everything through and use self-control to help come to the correct conclusion. He must also use justice and the respect and dues to the Cappa family for their hard times of Mickeys disappearance. At the same time he must also follow just laws and be fair to Sylvester because his detectives right now dont have enough evidence to prove that he has Mickey. In the end Police Chief Jones must use the virtues of courage, self-control, and justice to come to the wisest decision to find Mickey. With this wisdom he obtains by following the Golden Mean of the virtues he will come to the most logical and appropriate decision. V. Decision Making

The wisest, most ethical decision to make would be to question Sylvesters friends, family, and neighbors before doing anything else. The detectives can ask if they know where and what Smoot has been doing for the last couple of days and at the time of Mickeys disappearance. This will help them figure out if Smoot is a valid suspect of kidnapping Mickey

Baugher 6 or not. By doing this Chief Jones and his detectives would be happy that they are making progress in the investigation. If the investigation is making progress this will make the Cappa family happy that their son is closer to being found. The neighbors will be happy too because they were able to help out the investigation and that they may be closer to having a sexual predator out of the neighborhood and an innocent child hopefully safe and sound back at home. Sylvester wouldnt know that they questioning was going on so this would not affect him; and Mickey would be making progress on being found although he wouldnt know that it was happening either. Also when applying the four cardinal virtues, courage, self-control, justice, and wisdom, questioning the people around Sylvester Smoot such as his neighbors, family, and friends, would be the wisest decision to make. VI. Evaluation 1. There is no guarantee that they will be able to prove what Sylvester Smoot was doing at the time of Mickeys disappearance. / If there is no way to prove what Smoot was doing at the time of Mickeys disappearance then it is possible that he was kidnapping him at that time. Smoot was available to take Mickey at the time and not noticed when taking Mickey because it seems that the ones being questioned do not know where he was at. This does not prove that it was Sylvester who took Mickey, but it does make him a stronger suspect. 2. You might find that it was physically impossible for Sylvester Smoot to take Mickey at the time that he disappeared. / It is possible that Smoot was somewhere else at the time the Mickey disappeared. If this is proven then the detectives will have to look harder and come up with more suspects. This will still lead the investigation further because the detectives and Police Chief Jones will know that they need to come up with new suspects and look harder into the case. The people that the detectives are questioning about Smoot could be asked other questions now to see if they can find any information on who else may have taken Mickey. 3. The people being questioned may have different stories of what Smoot was doing. / If the neighbors have different stories of what they think Smoot was doing at the time the detectives must go to those places and look into if Smoot was there or not. One of the places should be where Smoot. You may also be able to find a neighbor or family member that is covering for Smoot and helping him out. VI. Reflection

Through this assignment I have learned more about how to make the appropriate decision in a given situation. Everyone says to think it through before you make a decision, but I never really thought about just how much there is to think through. I have come to think about not only what is going to make the greater good for the amount of people, but also the four cardinal virtues. Courage, self-control, justice, and wisdom and just the right amount to help come to the perfect solution to any situation. With all of this in place the one option that stands out the most to help while applying each is usually the wisest decision to make. What is morally right or wrong is not always the best decision to make because there are exceptions to everything; but it is the best that humans seem to be able to come to agree on as the appropriate decision.

Baugher 7 Works Cited: 1. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. 2. "Missing Children List." NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. 3. "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide." When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.