Dirty Harry Syndrome 1
John Doe
09/06/2011
Dirty Harry Syndrome
Professor Smith
Dirty Harry Syndrome 2
In the Criminal Justice field, law enforcement officers take an oath of office to uphold the
Constitution of the United States, enforce laws, and protect citizens. Oftentimes law enforcement
officers are confronted with situations in their line of work where they will take illegal actions to
achieve a greater good for society, which is known as the Dirty Harry problem (Dempsey, 2014,
p.167). When dealing with heinous crimes like murder and sexual battery, the Dirty Harry
problem at first glance does not appear to be an outrageous method or even a problem to
apprehend the suspect so that no other citizen becomes a victim. The only dilemma with the
Dirty Harry problem is that law enforcement officers are violating laws and/or violating the
Constitution of the United States they took an oath of office to uphold just to achieve the greater
good of apprehending the suspect. When a law enforcement officer crosses the line and takes
