The Ethical Perils of Knowledge Acquisition

At first blush, there would seem to be few ethical problems with knowledge acquisition in a law enforcement context. For that context is one of public safety and criminal justice, both worthy ends, and both more likely to be achieved the better our knowledge base. Furthermore, if our managerial philosophy for knowledge acquisition is intelligence-led, then knowledge acquisition will be a critical element in the efficient prevention, investigation, prosecution, and reduction of crime. The importance of such knowledge acquisition is necessitated and indeed reinforced by the fact that those who threaten public safety or perpetrate acts of injustice are likely to have reasons to conceal significant elements of what they plan or do. However, the case for knowledge acquisition is not as plain sailing as it may initially appear. First, there is the fact that knowledge acquisition is often made considerably more complex and ethically problematic by the fact that it is focused on activities that usually rely on concealment. And so, unlike regular modes of knowledge acquisition, those who are engaged in law enforcement may need to use extraordinary measures if needed information is to be acquired. Furthermore, some of the techniques employed to gain the requisite knowledge may also threaten other important social values. Wiretapping, for example, threatens privacy rights, interrogatory techniques may compromise the basic requisites for our humane treatment of others, and certain efforts to gain appropriate knowledge may even jeopardize public safety. That is the specter of the surveillance society. Intelligence-led policing, moreover, is premised on the value of efficiency, and though the normative *John Kleinig, author of Ethics in Criminal Justice: An Introduction (2008), is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; and Professorial Fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University. Email: [email protected] Criminal Justice Ethics Vol. 28, No. 2, October 2009, 201 222