Doorbell footage of a neighbor's teenager
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
Someone has scratched the paint on three cars parked on your street overnight. In your neighborhood's online group, which has about 900 members, one of the owners asks everyone to share their doorbell camera footage, and another member comments that whoever did it should be publicly named. Your camera clearly shows a 14-year-old boy who lives two doors down scratching one of the cars. You know that his father died four months ago and that his mother is raising him alone. The repairs to the three cars are estimated at $2,400 in total. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Empathy and compassion
- Critical thinking
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests how you weigh the car owners' claim to repairs and evidence against a grieving 14-year-old's privacy in front of 900 neighbors. Separate the two requests in the group, because sharing footage with the owners is a different act from naming a child publicly. Name everyone involved: the boy, his mother, the car owners, and the neighborhood that has to live together afterward. Consider talking privately with his mother first, sharing the footage only with the affected owner or the police, and keeping it out of the online group. Commit to a sequence of steps and explain why. If the station brings in a conflict between a family's request and another person's need for evidence, look for a way to meet that need without broadcasting the footage.
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