Topic

Ethical Violations of Public Responsibilities (The Case of Lee Baca and Graham Spanier)

Instructions

In the past two months, two individuals who consider national leaders were convicted and sentenced to jail for what many consider to be ethical violations of their public responsibilities. One was former LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, and the other was former Penn State University President Graham Spanier.

Do some research on these men, the charges against them, and the ultimate verdict. Then write a short essay (not to exceed 1500 words) that compares the two cases and describes the following:

The situations they found themselves in
An ethical moment you believe they faced?
Describe the decision they made and whether it was moral, amoral, or immoral
Do you see any differences between the two men and their decisions?
What decisions do you think they should have made?
The two men were both found guilty by a jury of violating the law. Do you think jail is an appropriate sentence?
After reviewing these cases, do you believe they are similar? What would you have done in these situations?

Answer Preview

Both national leaders made decisions that violated both the law and human rights. For example, it was amoral for the former LA County Sheriff Lee Baca to make false statements despite the fact that he knew that the activities he was engaging in were unethical and unacceptable. On the other hand, it was immoral for the former Penn State University President Graham Spanier to engage in child sexual abuse. Graham Spanier made the wrong decision of failing to inform law enforcers about Jerry Sandusky’s incident that could tarnish the image of soccer programs. In essence, both national leaders needed to make ethical decisions that would uphold the law and respect human rights but their actions and decisions violated the law and disrespected human rights.

Word Count: 900