Editing Scientology ethics and justice (section)

== Structure and purpose ==

{{Quote frame|align=right|width=20em |When the individual fails to put in his own ethics, the group takes action against him and this is called justice.<ref>Church of Scientology, ''The Scientology Handbook'', 1994 hardcover edition, pg.361–362.</ref> |author=L. Ron Hubbard}}

Professor [[Stephen A. Kent]] quotes Hubbard as pronouncing that "the purpose of ethics is to remove counter intentions from the environment. And having accomplished that the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness from the environment" and "(a)ll ethics is for in actual fact is simply that additional tool necessary to make it possible to get [Scientology] technology in. That's the whole purpose of ethics; to get technology in". What this translates to, says Kent, is "a peculiar brand of morality that uniquely benefitted (the Church of Scientology) ... In plain English, the purpose of Scientology ethics is to eliminate opponents, then eliminate people's interests in things other than Scientology. In this 'ethical' environment, Scientology would be able to impose its courses, philosophy, and 'justice system' – its so-called technology – onto society."<ref name="Kent">{{cite journal|last=Kent|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen A. Kent|date=September 2003|title=Scientology and the European Human Rights Debate: A Reply to Leisa Goodman, J. Gordon Melton, and the European Rehabilitation Project Force Study |journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]]|publisher=[[University of Marburg]]|volume=8|issue=1|url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/3725 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629063543/http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/kent3.html|archive-date=June 29, 2006 |doi=10.17192/mjr.2003.8.3725}}</ref>

Researcher [[A Piece of Blue Sky|Jon Atack]] has expressed concern that, in the wrong hands, Scientology ethics can be wielded arbitrarily and absurdly, such as in the 1960s when British [[Saint Hill Manor|Saint Hill]] Scientologists declared a local pie shop "[[#SP|suppressive]]" for not carrying apple pie in sufficient quantities to their liking.{{r|atack|page=173}}

{{anchor|Ethics officer|EO}}

=== Ethics officer (EO) ===
The ethics officer is a staff member in a Scientology organization whose job is to ensure that staff members and all scientologists are correctly following procedures. The EO works one-on-one with scientologists to help them with ethics issues. In the Sea Org, this is called the [[#MAA|Master-at-Arms]]. The ethics officer works in the Department of Inspection and Reports, handles all ethics and security matters, performs ethics interviews, does investigations, and follows up on ethics orders.{{r|headley|pages=352,359}}{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=180}}

An ethics officer is expected to have ''ethics presence'' over all staff and public scientologists — likewise a senior over their juniors, and any Sea Org member over any other scientologist. Ethics presence is a person's quality of authority or command value, a combination of poise, attitude, effectiveness and enforcement. Per Hubbard, "ethics presence is an 'X' quality made up partly of symbology, partly of force, some 'now we're supposed to's' and endurance" and "as an executive you get compliance because you have ethics presence and persistence and can get mad."{{r|rinder|page=96}}{{r|hubbard-techdict|page=181}}

=== Ethics reports and files ===
Every Scientology organization is required to keep ethics files on every person, staff or public.{{r|reitman|pages=186,306}} Scientologists are required to write reports on other scientologists when they discover a behavior that doesn't follow policy. Even students in scientology-affiliated schools are required to write reports on their fellow students for rule violations, as do employees at companies run by scientologists.{{r|reitman|pages=186,306}} There are numerous specialty ethics reports, but the most common ethics reports are "knowledge reports" and "Things that Shouldn't Be" reports.{{r|hubbard-ethics|pages=267–274}}