Week 1: Terrorized to Crime

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Patty was a rich businessman’s daughter. She had the best of everything all her life. Her future would have been college, a good marriage to a successful young man, and a life of comparative luxury, except that she was kidnapped by a small band of radical extremists who sought to overthrow the government by terror, intimidation, and robbery. After being raped, beaten, and locked in a small, dark closet for many days, and continually taunted and threatened, she was told she must participate with the terrorist gang in a bank robbery. If she didn’t, she and her family would be killed. During the course of the robbery, a bank guard was shot. Was her action immoral? What if she had killed the guard? What if the terrorists had kidnapped her mother or father, too, and told her if she didn’t cooperate, they would kill her parents immediately?

Discuss this case, using one ethical system.

1. Identify the facts, including all parties involved. Indicate the rights and responsibilities of each party.
2. Identify relevant values, concepts, social constraints, and any additional information necessary for an accurate understanding of the case.
3. Identify all possible ethical dilemmas for each party involved.
4. Decide what is the most immediate ethical issue facing the decision-making individual.
5. Describe one ethical system.
6. Apply that ethical system to this case. Do not use your default ethical system. Think about the ethical system you selected. How would that ethical system decide what is right and wrong in this case?
7. Describe one concept of justice.
8. Apply that concept of justice to this case. That is, do not default to what you think should be done to correct this situation. What would the concept of justice you selected say about how to achieve justice in this situation?
9. Sum it up – Resolve the ethical or moral dilemma by using the ethical system and concept of justice you described. Since you’ve describe an ethical system defining right and wrong and a concept of justice defining how to remediate this situation, what should you do?
10. Use evidence from the text, lecture, or outside sources to support your claims.

The steps above will give you practice in selecting and applying an ethical system and a concept of justice. Starting next week, your case study responses will become much more robust. Look at the upcoming assignments to make sure you are prepared.