Rittle and Webber reflection essay: For your essay you will read a classic in social policy. Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webber coined the term “wicked problems” to denote difficult and often contradictory requirements placed on individuals and institutions when dealing with social dilemmas. There are many examples of “wicked problems” but in the criminal justice field you can think of issues like the war on drugs, mass incarceration, gun control, crime control in general, and so on as being “wicked problems” because there is no real solution to them. In other words, the arena of social problems is like a perpetual game of whack-a-mole rather than a game of chess where there is a final gambit and endgame.
When applying ethics to “wicked problems” it should be obvious that concepts of good or bad are not objective because the question is “good or bad for whom” and even more importantly 4 “what do we mean by good or bad”. After carefully reading the article (available in doc sharing) you will write a reflection essay.
For your essay you must address the following:
What strategies can be employed to “solve” “wicked problems” (make sure you reference the article)?
What are some other possible ways to tackle “wicked problems” in your view?
When approaching “wicked problems” what kind of ethical principles presented in your text do you think are best suited for dealing with these problems?
Give an example of a “wicked problem” in the criminal justice system (do not pick one that I have mentioned above) and explain how you would approach it based on the ethical concepts you have studied thus far.
This review should be about five pages in length – double spaced. I accept only 12-pt font – Times New Roman. Any other font is 10 points off. Citation page is not included in page count.
