You Are a Rookie Correctional Officer at a State Prison

question 66

Multiple Choice

You are a rookie correctional officer at a state prison. The day is coming to an end and the inmates are in their cells. As you make your rounds to count heads, one of the inmates asks you if you'd bring him a piece of dental floss. He says he has an uncooked grain of rice from dinner stuck in his back teeth and it is very painful. He only needs a small piece, surely not enough to pose any problem. According to prison rules, dental floss may only be used in the shower area, under observation. It is apparent to you that the inmate is in discomfort, and you know this inmate to be well-behaved.
To decide how you will act, you consider the ethical systems that might apply to the situation. If you decide to refuse the inmate's request because you believe your duty to your job requires you to follow the rules completely, which ethical system would this illustrate?

• A)ethical formalism
• B)utilitarianism
• C)ethics of care
• D)teleological ethics

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Definitions:

Cournot Duopolists

Firms in a duopoly market structure who compete on the basis of quantity produced, as modeled by Antoine Cournot.

Demand Curve

A graph depicting the relationship between the quantity of a good that consumers are willing to buy and the price of the good.

Total Costs

The total of all expenses involved in creating goods or services, encompassing both fixed and variable costs.

Daily Profit

The financial gain or loss a business experiences on a daily basis, calculated as the difference between daily revenue and daily expenses.