Criminal justice practitioners suffer from a personal loyalty syndrome even though the public law does not mention the idea of personal loyalty to superiors. The personal loyalty syndrome often compels individuals to offer personal loyalty to unworthy superiors and as a result to violate constitutional provisions, legal requirements, or the public good. No organizational rules require any such loyalty. Nevertheless, criminal justice practitioners are invariably taught that issues of loyalty at the workplace are so important that a person cannot survive without personal loyalty to superiors. Employees also receive reminders that violating such a commandment is a cardinal sin that can destroy a person’s career. Proponents of personal loyalty to superiors argue that it is essential because it motivates production above and beyond duty, bolsters institutional responsibility, increases productivity, makes work more meaningful, inhibits organizational disloyalty, and ensures institutional integrity. However, each of these considerations is questionable, if not logically inaccurate. A preferable alternative would be to use a duty-based model that avoids the use of the term loyalty in the context of relations between superiors and subordinates, that strengthens dutiful supervision, and that institutionalizes professional accountability. Notes and 26 references (Author abstract modified)