Police Investigations: Ethics and Expectations

• In Event: Special Crimes and Ethics of Investigation in India

Abstract

Decision making in police investigations has been seldom researched. Even less research has focused on the ethical aspects of sensitive police investigations. This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in police investigations and uses as an example, investigations into a unique crime - dowry deaths as a result of burns in India. Death of a woman as a result of dowry related harassment is a phenomenon peculiar to India and has attracted special media, political and legal attention since the 1980s. The research into the medico-legal aspect of the classification and investigation of dowry related burns deaths revealed that although the law circumscribes legal response and police officers themselves feel they have no discretion in the investigation, the police, in fact, exercise discretion at several points in the investigative process. The way in which this discretion is exercised is influenced by several factors: organisational sub-culture, political dictats, legal requirements, procedural necessities, social expectations, and available forensic support. These factors lead to possible perversions in the way discretion is exercised by the police, for noble or corrupt reasons, and have serious consequences for victims and alleged perpetrators of this crime. The research flagged up the absence of a discourse on ethics in Indian policing and the lack of guidance on ethical decision-making in the exercise of discretion. In this paper, I discuss the implications of political, legal, sub-cultural and social expectations and the absence of ethical guidelines on the use of discretion in sensitive police investigations.

Author

• Jyoti Belur, University College London