Scientology ethics and justice
Scientology ethics and justice are a collection of policies and procedures by L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology. Scientology defines ethics as "the actions an individual takes on himself", and justice as "the action taken on the individual by the group when he fails to take these actions himself". The body of writings include techniques and policies of moral choices, and the rules of conduct to be followed by scientologists.
Structure and purpose
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 "ll ethics is for in actual fact is simply that additional tool necessary to make it possible to get 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 ... 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."Researcher 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 Scientologists declared a local pie shop "suppressive" for not carrying apple pie in sufficient quantities to their liking.
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 [|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.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."
Ethics reports and files
Every Scientology organization is required to keep ethics files on every person, staff or public. 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. There are numerous specialty ethics reports, but the most common ethics reports are "knowledge reports" and "Things that Shouldn't Be" reports.Justice actions
Chaplain's court
A sort of civil court process where two Scientologists can go to handle civil disputes.Arbitration
There is no arbitration procedure within Scientology or written by Hubbard; the closest procedure to what is commonly known as arbitration is the Chaplain's court. However, in 2020 Mike Rinder wrote about arbitration—explaining that members must sign contracts before doing any Scientology services, and that these contracts were drafted with typical corporate language requiring arbitration rather than lawsuits to settle disputes with the Church corporations.Ethics hearing
An ethics officer may send out a formal request to a person or persons to show up for a hearing. An ethics hearing is a fact-finding hearing, to gather information about whether an ethics violation has occurred.Court of ethics
A court of ethics is a disciplinary hearing based on evidence already collected. A court of ethics is convened by an ethics officer or an executive senior to the staff member being charged. The offenses being accused are of non-serious nature and the sentences are at the discretion of the person who convened the court of ethics. The court is not supposed to engage in investigation, but rather operate only on known evidence.Non-enturbulation order
An order to a scientologist stating that if one more ethics report is received on them, they will be declared a [|suppressive person].Committee of evidence (Comm ev)
A comm ev is a disciplinary procedure, Scientology's version of a trial or tribunal, which is "rather like a court martial but without lawyers or formal procedural norms." A scientologist is summoned to a [|committee of evidence] to answer for a list of alleged crimes or [|high crimes]. A panel of appointed scientologists in good standing are to "gather and review evidence, determine guilt, and recommend punishment."The process starts at the request of an executive who makes a formal accusation. A convening authority initiates the comm ev by appointing a chairman, a secretary, and two to five other Scientology members, the majority of which should be senior to the accused. The committee will read and hear evidence for and against the accused. The panel has two weeks to complete the comm ev process. The accused may present their own evidence and testimony, as well as bring witnesses to testify, but may not bring any legal representatives. After reviewing evidence, the committee votes guilty or not on each charge, and conviction is determined by majority vote. The committee recommends punishment and the results are published as the findings and recommendations signed by all committee members. The only means of recourse is a review by a higher level committee, which reviews only recordings and documents from the original comm ev — no new evidence to be presented.
Security checking (sec check)
s done using an E-meter.Dead file
Anyone disagreeing with Scientology or writing a nasty letter to the Church of Scientology is dead filed. Their letters go in the trash and the organization doesn't respond. Scientology magazines are not sent to persons that are dead filed.Suppression
High crimes
High crimes are serious violations of Scientology ethics policies, including publicly departing Scientology, reporting another Scientologist to law enforcement or civil authorities, or committing acts that are [|suppressive] of the organization.Suppressive person (SP)
An "SP" is a person designated as an enemy to Scientology. When a person is formally labeled a suppressive person by the Church of Scientology, a "Suppressive Person Declare" is printed on goldenrod-colored paper and posted on all public notice boards. A person thus labelled is said to have been "declared". It is a form of excommunication. To get un-declared involves doing [|A to E steps]. Until then, a declared person may only communicate with the International Justice Chief.Potential trouble source (PTS)
Someone connected to a suppressive person. According to Malko, "Any person, while active in Scientology or a preclear, remains connected to a suppressive person or group." A PTS person works with the ethics officer to work out a plan to handle or disconnect from the suppressive person in their life. Sickness and injury are considered a sign that someone is PTS. There are several subcategories of potential trouble sources. PTS Type One is a person currently in contact with an SP, Type Two is someone connected to someone who reminds them of an SP in their past, and Type Three is someone who is psychotic. There are ten other types, including PTS Type B: those with criminal records. Persons who have been labelled PTS by the ethics department are not eligible to receive Scientology auditing or training.Disconnection
is the severing of all ties with someone declared a suppressive person. When someone is declared SP in Scientology, all Scientologists are pressured into disconnecting from the SP, including close family members, employees, clients, and friends. Refusing or failing to disconnect from an SP carries the risk of being declared SP oneself.Fair game
is a retaliatory policy against perceived enemies which L. Ron Hubbard established in the 1950s, formalized in 1965, and described further in 1967. Since it caused bad public relations, in 1968 Hubbard prohibited use of the term "fair game" — but not its actions. The practice continues.Fair game is one of the penalties that can be leveled on a person for having committed a [|high crime] against Scientology, or as a penalty after a committee of evidence. In two separate court cases the Church of Scientology argued that fair game policies are a "core practice of Scientology" and are therefore protected as "religious expression". Hubbard instructed his followers that "fair game" is appropriate treatment for journalists, judges, hostile lawyers, government agencies, psychiatrists and others.