3 ms·

I had the same examples in mind. Funny innit how prosecutors can't seem to reconcile morals and ethics.

• saghm 3y ago
  Is this really specific to prosecutors? I feel like it would work in reverse with an incompetent prosecutor and a defense lawyer who knows his client is actually guilty. What stands out to me in those examples is that the difference is occurring because of a conflict between an explicit, codified set of rules (the code of ethics that lawyers operate under) and a perceived greater good that isn't being enforced or codified. To me, this makes it seem like the difference between ethics and morals is that ethics are codified and enforced in some sense (i.e. there's some authority with the ability to mete out punishments for violations), whereas morality covers right and wrong independent of consequences. I think in a moral context, the intent of an ethical code is to define the morality of various actions, but the question of whether something abides by those ethics is orthogonal to whether the action is moral or not; people might agree that a code of ethics says something but disagree whether what it says is moral or not.
  • euroderf 3y ago
    Fair points. In any case prosecutors have discretion, and they are where "tough on crime" runs head-on into basic humanity.