Vic Mackey - Mackey's Morality

Mackey's Morality

Vic Mackey's morality is a classic example of selfish consequentialism. Mackey feels that his actions are justified if they produce the best consequences for himself and those close to him. While he had a solid status as a family man, he committed adultery with several women, including his fellow officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer. Mackey's personality is often viewed as sociopathic or machiavellian, believing that the ends justify the means. However, this ultimately led to his downfall, which he had narrowly avoided until the very end of the series.

His brutality is usually directed towards criminals whom he considered deserving of their harsh treatment at his hands; i.e. rapists, drug dealers, pedophiles and mass murderers. Even when he has broken these laws himself, he has often justified it to himself by doing so in order to solve what he regards as more serious crimes. For example, in the first season finale, Vic cornered a teenaged murder witness and demanded to know who murdered two police officers. Instead, the teenager refused to violate the neighborhood code of silence. Enraged, Vic pulled out a back of crack cocaine and snarled, "Fine! You're not a witness, than you're an arrest! And this is just about enough to make you a trafficker!" Horrified, the teenager said, 'You can't do that, man!" Vic grinned sadistically and said, "What, arrest drug dealers? You just made my quota for the week!" The teenager immediately revealed what he knew about the cop killing he had witnessed, provided that Vic removed the drugs from his pocket.