Social Media and Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Organizations

Every human being struggles with what’s right and what’s wrong; What’s considered bad versus evil and what’s positive versus negative behavior.  Making unethical decisions whether it’s in our personal or professional life will always be a struggle for mankind. The advancement in technology and the use of social media, doesn’t make these decisions any easier to deal with due to the care free nature it gives us to express ourselves openly without judgment. However, the use of social media in criminal justice organizations has caused a significant amount of conflict issues with working relationships and personal relationships with coworkers and loved ones.  Ethical dilemmas in criminal justice organizations stems from employees’ actions on and off duty while using social media which can have a major impact on their professional careers. The most popular social sites that employees find themselves making unethical decisions are on Facebook and Twitter.

Social
media sites like Facebook and Twitter were created for people to connect with
their friends and family and to express themselves freely. One topic of
discussion that is addressed during meetings with the Probation Department
during unit meetings, is the high number of unethical behavior that is seen on
Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, initially created Facebook
for college students to communicate with each other from different schools however,
the site has expanded and grown for anyone to create an account and explore
Facebook to connect with their family and friends . One unique feature of Facebook
is that you can “like” just about anything from pictures to statuses, or
comments. This popular feature seems harmless and innocent but it has caused a
lot of criminal justice employees to be caught in ethical dilemmas that catches
the attention of employers especially when someone “likes” negative comments or
pictures about the organization or its members , express political views or
agendas. Another unique feature of Facebook is that you can either set your
profile page to “public”, which means anyone user can view your page or secured
it with the “friends only” setting with blocks anyone who is not your friend
from viewing your profile(Crtalic, et.al, 2015). Being that most users do not
use the “friends only” security setting, 
this too has cause negative backlash amongst criminal justice employees
because anyone is allowed to see what you post whether its something positive
or negative . In the articled by G. A., & Ussery, B. C. (2012), an
professor at Bowling Green State University expresses “there is no longer
really a boundary between off-campus and on-campus, or personal and professional
— all because of Facebook”. This statement justifies that Facebook has blurred
boundary lines of professional and personal ethics since users operate it
publicly for everyone to see and because of this, any posting, picture or
comment that is shared or “liked” is subject for employers to see and critic.
Such actions can lead to disciplinary actions such as write ups or coachings or
worse, termination of employment.

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In
the court case, Bland v. Roberts, six employees of a sheriff’s office in
Virginia were allegedly fired because of their support of the Sheriff’s
opponent in the election. Two of the discharged employees simply “liked” the
Facebook page of the political opponent prior to the election” (Marcum, T. M.,
J.D., & Perry, S. J., J.D. (2014). This type of ethical dilemma is
happening more often to government employees who use social media to express
freedom of speech, and some actions performed by government employees are
deemed unacceptable behavior by most government agencies policy on the use of
social media especially if it makes the organization gain negative attention
that could hurt productivity.

As American citizens, we all value privacy and the right to have freedom of speech to express how we feel. However, in the workforce, this constitutional right is asked to be used discreetly to protect the reputation of the organization from public backlash and in some ways, to protect the employee from being judged or discipline for unethical behavior by their employer.  Marcum, T. M., J.D., & Perry, S. J., J.D., (2014) points out, “When a citizen accepts employment in the government sector, that citizen may experience, due to governmental necessity, certain limitations on his or her free speech rights” (pg.5).  In particular, The North Carolina Department of Public Safety Social Media Policy states “NCDPS recognizes that its employees may use social media on a personal basis outside of their professional activities and that such use may include the right to exercise freedom of speech. However, NCDPS encourages its employees to use good judgment when posting to a social media site as a private citizen, especially if the employee refers to anything related to NCDPS business” (North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Social Media (2013).

From
an individual perspective, most government employees disagree with their
organization trying to limit their First Amendment right to express their
personal opinions especially on the worldwide internet that organizations have
no legal rights to or control over.  On
the contrary, management may look at government employee’s actions on social
media from a utilitarian theory approach. 
Sharp, B. S., Aguirre, G., Kickham, A. K. (2013) states “the utilitarian
theory (teleological ethics) holds that acts are judged to be morally right or
wrong not in and of themselves, but rather by the results that follow from the acts. Therefore,
no act is in and of itself right or wrong” (pg. 6).  Most government agencies are reactive
organizations, meaning they only react to certain situations when something bad
happens. For example, A probation officer informed an offender via Facebook
that the FBI is looking for them. As a public safety officer, it is against
policy to inform offenders of confidential information that has not been served
by a law enforcement officer. The offender gets pulled over for a routine
traffic stop thinking it’s the FBI that’s after hi and leads the police officer
on a high-speed chase. The high-speed chase makes national news and the
offender kills an innocent bystander during the chase. The offender is
apprehended and during interrogation, the offender tells the police officer he
was warned by his probation officer that he had a warrant and that he refused
to go back to jail. The probation officer is fired for the improper use of
social media and breaking policy and procedure of the department.  If the offender hadn’t caused national media attention
and killed someone, the department would have never acted on firing the
probation officer for warning the offender about an unserved warrant or misuse
use of the social media policy. Bratton, D., & Candy, V. (2013) even argues
that “the potential for conflict between organization and individual goals
seems inevitable when making social media accessible in the workplace”.  This is a clear example on how social media
impacts employees’ professional careers and the conflict it causes between
employee and management.

The
use of social media to communicate with offenders/clients raises another
concern when discussing ethical decision making. Some public safety officers
may feel it is ok to accept ‘friend request from clients they work with to keep
tabs on them. Voshel, E. H., & Wesala, A. (2015) points out however, that
workers “might not take time to consider the ethical complications that might follow
and being friends with a client on Facebook, in addition to being a dual
relationship, presents additional ethical concerns such as conflict of interest
and potential confidentiality/privacy violations” (pg71). This is prevalent in
the example given about the Probation Officer disclosing confidential
information to an offender via social media.

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Literature Review

The
following literature reviews will focus on professions in  the criminal justice sector ranging from
lawyers and social workers to other workforce professions to analyze the impact
social media has on employees making unethical decisions on and off duty while
also analyzing the differences and similarities of each party involved and what
steps were taken to resolve ethical dilemmas.

Privacy and Boundaries

In
a research article by Kasten (2011), he examines lawyers and professional
ethics on Social Media. He points out that attorney professional ethics applies
not only to social media but all aspects of their daily duties when using the
internet. Lawyers are asked to proceed with caution when using social media for
professional and personal use because it can interfere with court cases and may
even discredit evidence in court which can tarnish a lawyer’s reputation. The
article points out that the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct has
implemented social media laws to help address appropriate and inappropriate
behavior on social media however attorneys still find themselves caught in
ethical dilemmas when using social media that question confidentiality, risk of
unintended conflict and evasion of privacy for lawyers and their clients. The
author goes on to state that while using social media, it is unlikely to have
any form of privacy due because the web is not owned by anyone so all things
posted is unprotected by law.

Similarity,
Crtalic, A. K., Gibbs, R. L., Sprong, M. E., & Dell, T. F. (2015) article,
emphasize that “The increase in social networking media, on line and distance
counseling, and the ubiquitous use of laptops, hand-held devices, and internet
connected devices at home and in work settings have resulted in the need for
ethical standards to help guide rehabilitation professionals in service delivery.
The purpose of this manuscript is to address potential issues that can arise in
interacting with clients through social media” (pg.44). The article addresses 7
different topics of discussions however the ones related to this review
addresses disadvantages of social media, the use of social media
professionally, privately or not at all and implementing a social media policy
to address boundaries with clients (Crtalic, et al.,2015). One disadvantage
discussed was the use of social media by users and how counselors need to
educated themselves on social media privacy settings to reduce the risk of
breeches in privacy. Another disadvantage of social media usage was being
deceived by other users may portray themselves as someone else besides your
client. As Crtalic, et al (2015) states, “non-verbal communication is often
lost in an on-line platform and may lead to conflict in the counseling
relationship and that the issue of maintaining professional boundaries is
perhaps one of the most difficult to navigate, and can lead to potential ethical
dilemmas” (pg.44). Given these points, the literature points out that there
isn’t a policy in place that specifically address ethical standards and the use
of social media for counselors especially the use of social media social sites
like Facebook, Link In, and Twitter professionally and personally.  To help address ethical dilemmas, the article
concludes that ethical dilemmas can be avoided if specific social media
policies are in place.

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Additionally,
Acquisti, A., Brandimarte, L. & Loewenstein, G. 2015,  article “identified three processes which,
they expressed influence human behavior in relation to privacy concerns: 1.
Uncertainty or ignorance about the consequences of crossing the boundaries
between the private and public spheres of life; 2. Context-dependency, which
may vary by situation, be learned over time, be moderated by cultural norms and
values, and swayed by an illusion of anonymity; 3. The degree of malleability
and influence, eg. the capture and use (manipulation) of personal data for commercial
and political purposes”. Through research, the article argues that people are
unaware of the things they share on line, the consequences of personal
information being shared online and how personal information is shared through
various sites like Facebook making privacy concerns an ongoing dilemma in
society.  Acquisti et al. (2015) “the
boundaries between public and private become less defined’ and the capacity of
people to meet expectations concerning privacy ‘more difficult and
consequential” (as cited in Johnstone, M, 2016). Acquisti et al., (2015).
Points out “the empirical research on privacy reviewed suggested that social
media policies that rely exclusively on informing or “empowering” the
individual are unlikely to provide adequate protection against the risks posed
by recent information technologies”.

Legal Issues and Social Media

In
like manner, in Hearing, G. A., & Ussery, B. C. (2012) article on social
media and the workplace, it addressed different court cases on how social media
has caused problems for both employees and employers on and off duty. Also, as
stated in the article, the use of social media and technology not only impacts
every aspect of our lives but has caused numerous legal issues for employers.
Employees are now taking to social media to address work related issues but are
finding themselves in a world of trouble for certain things that are expressed
on social media. Hearing, G. A., & Ussery, B. C. (2012), talk about a case
were a company “fired an employee for posting critical comments about her
supervisor on her personal Facebook page” something that most organization
highly discouraged their employees to do in their social media policy.

Comparatively,
the article also touches bases on civil rights and first amendment cases
involved in misuse of social media in the workforce.  A female worker sued the City of Savannah
under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleging
that the city subjected her to gender discrimination and retaliation through
the enforcement of its workplace policies in the context of her social
networking activity. She argued that her former employer was liable for the
Facebook comment because it allowed employees to post comments and photos on
social networking sites during company time and for company purposes (Hearing,
G. A., & Ussery, B. C., 2012).

When
first amendment rights are questioned, the article points out that employer’s
actions must be balanced with constitutional rights however the Supreme Court
has made laws questioning when first amendment rights apply to government
employees. The Supreme Court states “when a citizen enters government service,
that citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her
freedom. Specifically, when employees make statements pursuant to their
official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment
purpose” (Garcetti v. Cebellos, 547 U.S. 410, 418, 2006). Furthermore, the
Supreme Court also states that if a government employee makes statements outside
of their professional duties, they are entailed to their first amendment rights
because they are acting as citizens not government officials at that time.

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In
conclusion, the literature argues that the examples of the legal issues
illustrated causes a major concern for employers. Employer’s must not only
monitor conduct and performance but also the use of social media in the
workforce. If certain policies and procedures are not put in place, there can
be significant consequences for both parties involved including intensive legal
action.

In
contrast to the previous article addressing legal issues, McNelis (2014)
literature review argues that there should be a statue or policy in place to
address the use of social media for off duty employees while also using a
review of litigations involving social media to validate her claim. Since no
such law is in place by the National Labor Relations Act, employees who are off
duty should be allowed to post pictures, comments or status on social media if
its non-work related behavior. Even though there are some states who address
off duty use of social media, the literature suggests every state should
implement off duty policies to protect the employer and employee.

Work Force Productivity

As
an employer, it is extremely important for employees to be productive in the
workplace producing positive results for the organization. The negative use of
social media has raised concerns on job performance and interactions with
coworkers. In Walden (2016) research, it concluded that social media provided a
lack of work-life balance and that the employers being interviewed felt like
their coworkers were trying to keep tabs on them when social media use is
allowed in the workplace. Some employees felt like the use of social media in
the workplace allowed them to take “mental breaks from the stressor of the job
and will eventually incorporated by their employer for daily use while other
veteran employees felt the need for social media at work causes tension and
stressor in the workplace and didn’t really care for the use of social media at
work. Walden (2016) argues the study further demonstrates that “social media
have markedly divided functions in the context of work and the complex division
between personal and professional boundaries that employees conscientiously erect
in the face of ongoing pressure to merge these realms” (pg. 361).

Communication styles

Being able to effectively communicate with someone is single handedly the most important skill you can possess in the workforce. In Pattnaik, B. K., & Mishra, S. (2014) research on communication styles of managers, the review focuses on the differences in communication styles in managers in public and private sectors. The study used 3 styles of communication to conduct the study: 1. Assertive, 2- non-assertive and 3- aggressive. Pattnaik, B. K., & Mishra, S. (2014), points out, “Non-assertive, assertive and aggressive styles of communication may bring out different kinds of reactions among the employees, and, in turn, might influence job attitudes, work motivation and organizational effectiveness” (pg.185). The research further concludes that managers in private sector managers use more aggressive and assertive styles of communication than public sector managers when communicating with their employees. Pattnaik, B. K., & Mishra, S. (2014) argues “communication is also for developing the correct attitude of the individual towards his organization, work, his colleagues and environment. In the communication process, what is told will be important but what will be perhaps more important is how it is told because the manner of communication will primarily determine the effectiveness of communication than mere context only” (pg.178).

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Findings

During
construction of this research paper, I found that there’s not enough research
conducted on social media and how it effects public service employees on and
off duty. Research conducted either focuses on the legal issues employees face
when misuse of social media occurs or how social media laws should be in place
to avoid ethical dilemma in the workforce. These findings are further backed up
by El Ouirdi, A., El Ouirdi, M., Segers, J., & Henderickx, E. (2015)
research on employees use of social media technologies.

El
Ouirdi, et al.,2015, identified 5 main themes of social media usage researched
the most by scholars.  The 5 themes were:
legal aspects and policy, human resources management, knowledge management,
learning and communication. Most scholars were interested on the Legal aspects
and policy of social media in the workplace so more literature reviews had been
produced on this theme the most. Literature reviews on communication in the
workforce had the lowest amount of research conducted by scholars. Research on
communication and the use of social media by employees, lacked both qualitative
and quantitative studies. As El Ouirdi, et al.,2015 points out, “It is
surprising to see that an important field such as internal communication has
received scant attention in social media scholarship” (pg.459). Furthermore, Pattnaik,
B. K., & Mishra, S. (2014) shows the importance of internal communication
by stating “Organization cannot exist without communication. If there is no
communication, employees cannot know what their co-workers are doing,
management cannot receive information input, and supervisor cannot give
instructions” (pg. 184).

Due
to the lack of research on internal communication themes between employees and
employers on the use of social media at work, my research on communication
styles in the workforce were extremely limited as well as the effects social
media usage have on employees on and off duty.

Recommendation

To
further review the use of social media and the ethical dilemmas employees face
on and off duty, I would use more of a qualitative methodological approach.
Walden (2016), states “Analysis of qualitative interviews shows that personal
social media contribute to environmental surveillance in the workplace on
multiple levels” (pg.353).

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This
approach would allow my research to collect data by observing employees in the
workforce and interviewing them on how they feel about ethical dilemmas and the
use of social media at work. Also, qualitative research would be more effective
to address this research topic because the data is reported by the people who
are most affected by this problem.

Sample

As
mentioned in my recommendation, I would use a qualitative approach, including
interviews with employees. The sample would consist of about 100 public safety
workers who engage in the use of social media daily. These employees would be
interviewed and ask a series of questions that would include: Do you use social
media at work? Have you ever said anything about a coworker or supervisor on
social media? Can you tell me some ethical dilemma that can occur when an
employee misusages social media at work and privately?  Have you faced any reprimand for misusing
social media by your employer? How do you feel about the internal communication
you have with your employer? I would also interview management to compare and
contrast my findings on the effects of social media in the workplace and look
for peer review articles to support my findings.

I
would also interview each participant individual in a private setting to
minimize stress and tension of the participant being scrutinized by their
responses. A private setting may also help the participants to feel more
comfortable and honest with their answers. After the sample, I would combine
the data I collected to justify that public safety employees experience ethical
dilemmas on and off duty when using social media.

Conclusion

Ethnical
decisions are hard to obey by in your personal and professional life. An
unethical decision can happen at anything within an organization causing
conflict on and off duty. Social media plays an important role when dealing
with ethical dilemmas and the affect it has on our professional careers. Due to
the lack of research on the topic, public safety officers should use good moral
judgment to eliminate conflicts within their organization and reduce risk of
disciplinary actions and lawsuits relating to unethical behavior on social
media. Even though more research is needed, I am confident that scholars will
help fill the gap in the future as this discussion of social media in the
workplace will continue to cause problems amongst public service organizations.

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References

Acquisti, A.,
Brandimarte, L. & Loewenstein, G. 2015. Privacy and human behavior in the
age of information. Science, 347(6221): 509-514. Cited in Johnstone, M. (2016).
Privacy, professionalism and social media. Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Journal, 23(7), 23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1761653263?accountid=27965

Bratton, D., & Candy,
V. (2013). Federal government ethics: Social media. International Journal of
Management & Information Systems (Online), 17(3), 175. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1418458128?accountid=27965

Crtalic, A. K., Gibbs, R.
L., Sprong, M. E., & Dell, T. F. (2015). Boundaries with social media:
Ethical considerations for rehabilitation professionals. Journal of Applied
Rehabilitation Counseling, 46(3), 44-50. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1728268404?accountid=27965

Department of Public
Safety (2013). Communications Office. Social Media Policy.

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El Ouirdi, A., El Ouirdi,
M., Segers, J., & Henderickx, E. (2015). Employees’ use of social media
technologies: a methodological and thematic review. Behaviour &
Information Technology, 34(5), 454-464. doi:10.1080/0144929X.2015.1004647

Hearing, G.A. (2012).
“The Times They Are a Changin’: The Impact of Technology and Social Media
on the Public Workplace, Part I”. The Florida bar journal (0015-3915), 86
(3), 35-39.

Kasten, S.W.
“Professional ethics and social media”. Boston bar journal
(0524-1111), 55 (3), 40-45.

Marcum, T. M., J.D.,
& Perry, S. J., J.D. (2014). WHEN A PUBLIC EMPLOYER DOESN’T LIKE WHAT ITS
EMPLOYEES “LIKE”: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT. Labor Law
Journal, 65(1), 5-19. Retrieved from
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McNelis, K. (2014).
Off-duty statutes and social media: The need for protection regardless of
whether speech is concerted. The Review of Litigation, 33(1), 219-248. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1544870517?accountid=27965

Sharp, B. S., Aguirre,
G., Kickham, A. K. (2013). Managing in the Public Sector: A Casebook in Ethics
and Leadership, Vitalsource for Capella University, 1st Edition. [Bookshelf
Online]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781269204408/

Pattnaik, B. K., &
Mishra, S. (2014). COMMUNICATION STYLE OF MANAGERS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR. Social Science International, 30(1),
177-187. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1542686463?accountid=27965

Voshel, E. H., &
Wesala, A. (2015). Social Media & Social Work Ethics: Determining Best
Practices in an Ambiguous Reality. Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics,
12(1), 67-76

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Walden, J. A. (2016).
Integrating Social Media into the Workplace: A Study of Shifting Technology Use
Repertoires. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 60(2), 347-363.
doi:10.1080/08838151.2016.1164163

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