Does anybody know of any comparitive statistics, which show how lawyers stack up against dentists? In terms of: crime rates, arrest rates, incarceration rates, etc.
Just intersted if anyone has ever done such acomparison (and comparisions to the genreal public as well)! 
Just a nitpick:
The issue of which group is more ethical has nothing to do with the issue of which group produces more criminals. Ethics for professionals has to do with how they do their jobs (e.g.: does the lawyer talk about confidential information with others?).
As to which group may prove to be the less moral statistically, who cares? Suppose lawyers produce more criminals from among their ranks on a per lawyer basis? What difference does it make? <shrug>
I know one datum doesn’t make a statistic, but I give you Tiradentes. 
I don’t see why a statistical analysis of the criminal tendencies of two professions can’t be valid…I would think that the results would tell whether one or the other group was composed of people who have different views of morality. Anybody know if arrest records are kept, which list the arrestee’s profession? How about court records of felony convictions? :mad:
Ralph: IMO DSYoung was drawing a distinction between professional ethics and morality (and one might again draw a distinction between immorality and illegality) – many acts regarded as immoral by large proportions of the population are not regarded as illegal, and many technically illegal acts are not regarded by many as immoral.
But to focus on DSYoung’s point: It may be against the canons of the legal profession to use privileged information obtained from a client to help guide one’s own investments. But unless covered by insider trading laws, that may not necessarily be illegal. For DS to tell you something his client told him in confidence is completely against the ethical canons. But only in very rare circumstances would it become illegal. As a hypothetical, it may be against the ADA code of ethics for a dentist to date a patient. But it’s hardly illegal.
Since your question specified “ethical,” that is more than a tangential point. Is doing something legal but against the canons or professional code of ethics included in your definition? Or must it be illegal?
If the legislature passes a law which a lawyer or dentist considers immoral to follow, is he acting morally or immorally if he refuses to obey that law? Civil disobedience and all that.
For a lawyer, at least, these are not random, hypothetical questions, but ones he may have to grapple with at any time. It’s not hard to set up a hypothetical where the same might be true for a dentist.
See, e.g., Sarbanes Oxley, which requires an attorney to violate the attorney client privilege by ratting on a client. But that’s a federal law; state laws still require an attorney to maintain the privilege, and do not provide an excuse (except that in certain states, disclosure is permitted to prevent death or serious bodily harm). So if SOX requires me to disclose, but state law precludes me from disclosing, what do I do?
Or she. 
ralph124c, your thread title is misleading, because you’re not really looking for information about ethics; you’re looking for information about criminal activity of two professions. I think that from that information, you’d like to extrapolate to a thesis regarding these professions’ ethics. I’m unaware of any databases such as the ones you seek, but you ought to consider looking at the state licensing boards. In California at least, I can be disciplined for committing a crime of moral turpitude. This includes things like drugs, drunk driving, mail fraud, etc. So state licensing boards may be a place to look.
Anecdotal–my Dad has sold dental equipment, repaired it, & brokered dental practices for years.
He’s had a darn good number of deadbeats.
How are lawyers at paying their bills promptly?
So, let me get this straight-you are saying that an ethical person can be a criminal, and that a criminal can behave ethically…hmmmm! So you go on to say that there is no corellation between thw to…intresting point of view.
Glad you understand. Of course, you aren’t keeping what she ACTUALLY said in mind. She said that a person can be a criminal, and still be professionally ethical. I might never violate the rules that govern attorney conduct, but be a rapist. Professionally, I’m ethical; morally I’m scum. :dubious:
And with that, you will also understand my point of view that there will not be an answer to your OP found in General Questions. Let’s move this to Great Debates.
samclem
ralph124c, my most sincere apologies. I thought you were asking a question, and wanted responses to that question. I didn’t understand that you simply wanted to set up a strawman so you could knock it down. Consider my ignorance fought.