The small town of Yellow Falls has had a rash of attacks on young children in the last month. After each attack the sheriff department has conducted long and stressful manhunts. Several days into the last manhunt, they announced that they were closing in on the suspect. Unfortunately, the suspect died shortly before the sheriff’s department was able to arrest him. The sheriff department chose not to notify the media of this fact. They continued to quietly hunt down the suspect. The town began to calm down but then another attack occurred.
The sheriff was not sure what to do. His town was understandably upset. Local citizens began to picket the Sheriff’s office and the newspaper ran multiple op-eds expressing their frustration with his department’s inability to protect the innocent children.
A sergeant approached the sheriff and suggested that they pick up the old homeless man who lives outside the city. The sergeant argues that while there is no reason to believe that the homeless man has committed the crimes, if he is arrested and they build a case against him, it is possible that the town will return to normal. Besides, the homeless man has TB and if he is in custody he will receive health care to palliate his disease. It may be possible, he argued, to convince the homeless man to plead guilty in exchange for health care and three meals a day.
Ought the sheriff to agree to arrest the homeless man?
1. Read the case, twice at least.
2. Respond to each of the writing prompts with complete sentences. Answer each question completely. There is no word count. 1. Is there an ethical issue? If so, identify it here. 2. What else might you want to know about this case?
3. Who are the stakeholders? Who has a stake in the sheriff’s decision? Be as thorough as possible by listing ever possible group of stakeholders you identify.
4. Imagine you are the sheriff. You are up for reelection this year and you are concerned with what is best for you and your career over the long run. This means you are an ethical egoist. Go to the text and follow the steps for resolving this case with ethical egoism.
5. Imagine you are the sheriff. You are up for reelection this year and you are concerned with what is best for your community. This means you are a rule utilitarian. Go to the text and follow the steps for resolving this case with rule utilitarianism.
