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Criminology is not an abstract discipline. It is designed to have real world, real-life implications and thus must be undertaken with care. However, human beings' behavior cannot be perfectly controlled, and no experiment conducted in the field can be isolated from variables that may potentially affect the results, even with the inclusion of a control group. A faulty experiment could have far-reaching effects.
Beyond the ethics of studying crime, there are also methodological questions. What branch of the social sciences does criminology encompass? Psychology? The natural sciences? Sociology? History? This question influences the assumptions, patterns, and standards of evidence to which research is held. It has been said that the "paradigm for criminology should not be tied to any particular discipline" because of its multidisciplinary nature (Laub 2006: 240). However, this means that creating a universally agreed-upon body of ethical standards can be extremely difficult. The standards of falsifiability and rigorous scientific evidence may be different in the eyes of a qualitative researcher with a background in sociology vs. A scientist studying the neurology of the
... This lack of a universal code of ethics may make criminology even more apt to fall into the dangers of theoreticism (the desire of researchers to confirm existing theory) and territorialism (or the desire to protect their discipline as superior) even though its multidisciplinary nature should theoretically make it less vulnerable to these problems.
There are no easy answers to these questions. At minimum, every researcher must weigh the potential costs of doing the research in terms of the impact to the population vs. The positive benefits of doing research, including the dissemination of knowledge. Additional scrutiny must be applied to research on juveniles and when conflicting ethical paradigms arise regarding the methodology of different types of research in the field, researchers should always err on the side of caution.
References
Laub, J. (2006). Edwin H. Sutherland and the Michael-Adler report: Searching for the soul of criminology. Criminology, 44(2), 235 -- 257. Retrieved from http://www.ccjs.umd.edu/faculty/userfiles/27/laub2006.pdf
Criminal Behavior Approaches to Understand Criminal Behavior Psychological Approaches Sociological Approaches Biological Approaches Psychosurgery Chemical Methods of Control Imagine yourself having a walk in the premises of your house and a stone come flying through the boundary wall and hits you. As a layman, one might face difficulty in defining this incident. It can be termed as an assault, an act of violence or a criminal offence. This is a layman's term to define this act but
Sociological theories of criminal behavior do not discount individual-level learning but focus more on the surrounding culture and environment. To explain criminal behavior, sociologists usually center on conflict theories, strain theories, labeling theories, and social control theories. Conflict theories have their roots in Marxist philosophy. They reveal how class conflict can create impetus for deviance and also lead to general anomie. Strain theory similarly suggests that criminal behavior can result
" These authors purport that although mood and behaviour may constitute a vital part in disorderly outcomes of drinking scenarios, other social factors can equally contribute influences. These factors, according to these authors, can be categorized by the following factors: the attitude and motivations that young binge drinkers bring to drinking, the social and peer group norms under which they operate, and features relating to the drinking environment. Reasonable Investigations In the journal
On the other hand, his wife said that they dated for about nine months and then were engaged for about a year before they got married. There was some discrepancy in the Personal and Progress notes of Mr. W pertaining to the involvement of Mr. W in women during his time in high school, however, which does not have much role to play in this case. Mr. W claimed
Leaders in society understand the need to resist putting unfair labels on people; this has been a positive trend over the recent past. Feminist Theory: Feminist theories suggest, "…criminal justice decisions reflect male dominance and functioning to support patriarchy"; in short, the system is bias against women (Akers, 1999). This has changed society because women's liberation, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, have made it illegal to discriminate based
Likewise, full-body tattoos are considered deviant behavior and people who are completely tattooed are ostracized from some elements of society, but that behavior has never been considered illegal. In contrast, most people do not consider jaywalking or speeding to be extremely deviant behavior. On the contrary, most people have probably engaged in these criminal behaviors and may even be habitual offenders, but one would be unlikely to label them