Do the ends justify the means?
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a new show on the Fox reality channel that can best be described as a mixture between Cops and Punk’d. In this bizarre series, even for Fox, fugitives are lured into unusual sting operations, humiliated by the show’s host and supporting cast, and then, of course, placed under arrest and escorted off by the Sheriff’s deputies. Almost 400 fugitives have been taken into custody as a result of the series.
Arpaio’s position is that since fugitives sign waivers to be on the show, there is no harm in the humiliating arrest tactics. The sheriff further justifies his tasteless tactics with a premise that the ends justify the means. That is, it doesn’t matter how the fugitives are caught, as long as they are.
The infamous Maricopa County Sheriff has been accused of violating human rights, discrimination, and a long list of other offenses. There are approximately 2,100 pending lawsuits against him and his department.
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