This paper is intended to examine ethical issues in Criminological research and criminal justice. This paper will analyze the multitude of ethical concerns, as well as discuss the confidentiality requirements as it pertains to criminological research. Criminology, as defined by the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Criminology, is the scientific study of the causes of crime, prevention of criminal behavior and the functioning of criminal justice institutions. Ian Hay, a distinguished criminologist from the Flinders University of South Australia states that many few criminologist have written about topics regarding research ethics (Mark Israel I. H., 2005). Several, however, have orally shared their research in ethics and research committees. Furthermore, this paper will outline ethical issues confronted by criminologist. These ethical issues include, for example, confidentiality, informed consent, as well as the method and integrity of the research being conducted. As such, a plethora of researchers find it rather difficult to act ethically. According to Professor David Dixon, a criminologist …show more content…
As discussed, there are several ethical issues which are confronted by criminologist. However, researchers and criminologists may need to procure new methods to respond to them. Notably, Internet based research poses great problems in verifying the identities and status of participants (British Psychological Society, 2007). The Economic and Social Research Council states that information held in a public domain is not subject to scrutiny by research ethics committee. To enumerate, information gathered through public websites are not considered to be data collection. However, personal emails within a closed chat room or connection are likely to be interpreted as private. Furthermore, the use of data from such websites would generally require the informed consent of
Banks, C. (2013). Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice, Edition 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
When delving into the various theories under the umbrella of criminology, one must research and gain knowledge about each idea to understand how it stands alone and among all of the theories. These should be compared against each other to determine what similarities they may have, which overlap and strengthen the foundations of understanding criminal behavior. Then they shall be examined for contrasting points, which distinguish and possibly prove weaknesses within the theories. Doing so can help criminologists determine the accuracy and credibility of the theories and help achieve a deeper knowledge of criminals and antisocial behaviors.
Chapt6 [2] Haralambos and Holborn 2002 [3] Merton. R 1968 [4] Hagedorn 1996 new perspective in criminology, chapter 13
Williams, S (2004) Textbook on Criminology. US: Oxford University Jones, S (2003) Criminology. Great Britain: Cromwell Press. WWW. Theguardian.co.uk WWW.Newsfilter.co.uk
Schmalleger, Frank. Criminology: A Brief Introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Prentice Hall., 2011.
Newburn, T., (2013) Criminology Tim Newburn. (2nd ed). 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14.4RN: Routledge.
Maguire, M., Morgan, R., and Reiner, R. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
The three eras that have characterized the field of criminology over the past 100 years are the “Golden Age of Research,” the “Golden Age of Theory,” and an unnamed era that was “’characterized by extensive theory testing of the dominant theories, using largely empirical methods’” (28). The “Golden Age of Research” era spanned from 1900 to 1930 according to John H. Laub. This era is identified as focusing heavily on the collection of data surrounding crime and the criminal. This data was assessed without “any particular ideational framework” (28). The second era, the “Golden Age of Theory,” spanned from 1930 to 1960, also according to Laub. This era is also rather self-explanatory, it is described by the development of theories; however, Laub
Lilly, Robert J., Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context And Consequences. 5th ed. California: SAGE.
That is a very simple explanation of public criminology that incorporates much of its diversity. This quote is of great importance to gaining an understanding of public criminology, as it is not only about incorporating the public in the generation of knowledge, but more about activism. It is about directly gaining knowledge through different people’s experiences and eventually changing opinions through public presentations. Through many sources, this broad term will be analyzed and described as clearly as possible, drawing from course presenters’, course readings, and research.
Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, Application. Akers Ronald L., Sellers Christine S. 2013. Retrieved from http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199844487/guide1/study_guide.pdf
Lilly, J. Robert, Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Morgan, R., Maguire, M. And Reiner, R. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Banks, Cyndi. Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2009. Print.