Resolving Ethical Dilemmas through Utilitarianism

This assignment discusses an ethical dilemma where a molester is punished with three years jail and ten strikes of cane, despite committing a heinous crime. The utilitarian theory is applied to understand the decision-making process of the judge, highlighting the tension between the severity of the crime and the punishment assigned.

Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA
Ethical Dilemma
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ETHICAL DILEMMA
Ethical Dilemma refers to the ethical problem of decision-making of a person,whena
person goes through thecontroversy of the right and the wrong moral philosophy.
In the article, the ethical dilemma is on the part of legislation, and it pivots around the
fact that even after molesting six girls in a single week, the culprit was punished only with three
year jail and ten strikes of cane. The judge, Sandra Looi herself admitted that it was a heinous
crime and for each molests the culprit deserved 2years imprisonment, yet, the sentence given to
him was too liberal (Lee, 2018). The law is stuck with ethical dilemma between the intensity of
the crime and the punishment assigned.
The ethical theory that can be complied with this context is Utilitarianism, that focuses on
the benefit of the maximum (Christians et al., 2015). The laws were framed to benefit the mass
so that the system remain unbiased. However the theory of Utilitarianism puts the judges into
ethical dilemma where the crime was potent enough to negatively impact on nascent minds, yet
the shackles of law restricts the court to make the punishment severe.

2ETHICAL DILEMMA
Reference list
Lee, G. (2018). Nurse molested 6 girls in 2 weeks; he stuck masking tape on fingers to avoid
detection. The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 April 2018, from
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jail-caning-for-nurse-who-molested-six-girls-in-
two-weeks
Christians, C. G., Richardson, K. B., Fackler, M., Kreshel, P., & Woods, R. H. (2015). Media
Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, CourseSmart eTextbook. Routledge.