Criminology Questions
Question 1
A moral dilemma is a situation in which a person is torn in between right and wrong in terms of morality. In this film, the order of ethical dilemmas seems to be utterly fascinating. Edmund Exley is a politician and a ladder-climber. When there was a scandal in the office, he chose to play Judas on other police officers who took part in the scandal—morally, he was right. His dilemma, however, is depicted in him being a politician. As it is the norm, there is no honest politician. Therefore, it is perplexing that he tries to demonstrate honesty in telling on other police officers. He is passionate about politics and everything that happens in the political arena.
Wendell “Bud” White hates men who are abusive to men, yet he is a very intimidating officer. Well, he is torn between maintaining his intimidating nature and disliking men who abuse women. Even in his antagonistic view, he seems to have a good side and a bad one. Ultimately, his bad side tries to overshadow the good side. White is passionate about women’s rights with respect to abuse and violence. In the middle, there is Jack Vincennes, whose dilemma lies in the lines of being a police officer or becoming a celebrity. He is a cop, yet he does not act like one and has taken other duties that are far from being a police officer. Vincennes is passionate about television and everything he does during the programs. His reality seems to be obscured by being a celebrity police officer.
Question 2
THE BLUE CODE OF SILENCE
The death of Stensland after him being fired brought all the police officers together. When White runs to the morgue to see his friend’s body, he finds out that another dead victim of the shooting was the woman he and Stensland had seen in a car the night they went to purchase liquor. Consequently, this case compels White, Exley, and Vincennes to work together in a bid to find the shooters. The three protagonists then venture into finding solving the case without incorporating the Blue Code of Silence. At a bar, Vincennes is knocking off drinks, he looks at the 50$ he had been given earlier on by Sid to set up Reynolds, and the D.A then burst them. He slowly starts regretting, and instead of going with the plan, he goes to Reynold’s room ahead of time only to find him dead—someone slit his throat.
Well, these two scenes coincide with the fact that for line officers to move back towards a balanced perspective, something has to go wrong. And indeed, in these two scenes, something went wrong. The series of deaths involving the police officers as well as people they knew, met, or had an affiliation with got rid of the Blue Silence Code. For the first time, they began working diligently to solve the murders with no ill intentions but utmost integrity. In this regard, crime became balanced, and the police officers conformed without any defiance on their stipulated duties.
Question 3
ETHICAL DILEMMAS
The film substantiates the statement’ certain forms of police corruption may be the norm, rather than the exception in American policing’. Throughout the film, corruption activities are going on that do not get documented apart from the one scandal that came out; the rest were hidden or were never known. In addition, the significant corruption in the movie basically involved the police officers themselves, and due to the Blue Silence Code, it was not easy for them to play Judas on each other. Instead, they kept quiet, knowing very well that it was wrong to do that because they were engaging in activities that go against the police code.
The scene where Sid offers Vincennes 50$ to go and burst two celebrities who had allegedly bought some marijuana, he ups the demand to 100$ owing to the fact that he will need to bribe other police patrol officers and a watch commander. Even after bursting the celebrities, Vincennes does not hand in the evidence of the marijuana he finds in the bungalow. Instead, he pockets it and tries to bribe Exley with 10$ from the money he got from Sid. While Exley refuses the bribe, it is essential to note that he knew what Vincennes was doing, yet he never told on him or reported him.
In this regard, the type of corruption that Vincennes takes part in seems normal, and even as Exley refuses the bribe, he knows too well that it is a minor thing that does not need to be given too much attention. For this reason, it is worth mentioning that the police have made individual acts of corruption too regular that they feel like it is not as important as it ought to be. With every corruption case happening at the police department not being documented, many police officers are slowly being immersed into the norm. Bribes have become the order of the day at the department in as much as there are policies and rules regarding police conduct and behavior.