Ethics in Criminal Justice, Fifth Edition: In Search of the Truth

Ethics in Criminal Justice: In Search of the Truth, Fifth Edition, provides an introduction to the fundamentals of ethical theory, doctrines, and controversies, and the rules of moral judgment. It presents ethics as an "umbrella of civility” under which the law becomes more meaningful and rational, and easier to obey. It also rejects the view that ethical knowledge and moral character are peripheral to the administration of justice.
The discussion is organized into two perspectives: a thematic perspective that examines ethical principles common to all components of the discipline, such as wisdom, goodness, morality, and justice, as well as the common vices of deception, racial prejudice, and egoism; and an area-specific perspective that addresses the state of ethics in policing, corrections, and probation and parole. The book covers major concepts of the Stoicism school, the hedonistic school, the virtue school, the religious school, the naturalistic school, the utilitarian school, the duty school, the existential school, and the social justice school. The works of the following are discussed: Epictetus (Stoicism); Aristippus and Epicurus (hedonism); Plato and Aristotle (virtue); Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas (religion); Hobbes and Nietzsche (naturalism); Bentham (utilitarian); Kant (duty); Sartre and de Beauvoir (existentialism); and Rawls (social justice).

• A classical approach to the study of ethics in criminal justice
• Challenges the reader to emphasize and restore ethics in their part of the criminal justice field

Sam S. Souryal is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice and former Assistant Dean at the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. A former police officer and public manager, Dr. Souryal has taught public administration, organization theory, and police management courses at the University of Wisconsin and Sam Houston State University. He has published numerous books and has been a frequent presenter at the Texas Law Enforcement Management Institute (LEMIT), International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), Texas Probation Commission Training, and the American Corrections Association. In 1999, he served as the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Indonesia. A multi-lingual educator, Souryal has also lectured in Oxford, Germany, China, Taiwan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia, Hungary, Mozambique, Botswana, and East Timor. He has also lectured at the FBI Academy. His continued involvement in both comparative and American criminal justice has earned him national and international recognition.