Course Code: PFP 256
Academic Year: 2025-2026
The complex intersection of social justice and criminal justice is a reality that individuals working as police officers, and other justice professions, must champion and navigate on a daily basis. The need to critically examine policing practices, and the impact on communities, has resulted in calls for police reform. In this course, students will examine a variety of professional ethical codes including power and privilege in public and private policing, accountability and misconduct, abuse of power and police use of force, the provision of ethical and moral service to the community, the policing institution, the legal profession and punishment itself. A key focus will be on understanding the community experience, and the complex contemporary issues facing police services. Students will also explore the philosophical and ethical foundations of justice and its impact on citizens, professionals in law enforcement and the criminal justice industry alike. Students will apply ethical decision-making models in a variety of police-related scenarios that may present themselves in their personal and professional life.