Reference no: EM133202470

SCENARIO #1: Ethics of Sniping and Negotiating 

With disturbing regularity we hear of a person, usually a man, who takes his family hostage and provokes a standoff with the police. Often the man has a gun and fires shots out the window in the direction of the police. In some cases, members of the family are killed, bystanders wounded, and police officers shot. These hostage-takers usually have significant family problems, employment problems, substance abuse problems, and sometimes are mentally unstable. When surrounded by police, they have little to negotiate for other than to surrender because their loved ones are being held hostage with them.

You are a hostage negotiator for the police department in the middle of such a situation in which you are talking by telephone with a man who is holding his own family hostage, is making unreasonable demands, and is shooting out the window. One bystander has already been hit by gunfire. After many hours of unsuccessful attempts to get the man to surrender, you are asked by your supervisor to try to lure the man near a window at the rear of the house because a police sharpshooter has a clear shot to that position. The intention is to kill the hostage-taker.

Evaluate the moral permissibility of luring the hostage-taker into a position to be shot.