Graduate seminar overview and academic practice

Concept of Ethics in Criminal Justice Research

Ethics is one of the most important issues in the field of criminal justice given its consideration as the mainstay of professionalism in this discipline. The significance of ethics in the criminal justice field is attributable to the fact that the various professionals or actors in this field exercise discretion when making decisions and need to enforce the law in the process. Therefore, ethical considerations are critical in decision-making processes involving discretion, due process, and force. Additionally, such considerations are necessary in criminal justice research, which plays a crucial role in criminal justice practices. This paper focuses on examining the concept of ethics in criminal justice research and potential ethical questions/issues that criminal justice researchers are likely to face.
As previously indicated, professionals and actors in the criminal justice field are faced with various situations that require ethical decision-making. An example of these professionals who need to make ethical considerations and decision-making in their work is criminal justice researchers. Ethics and scientific research are interrelated concepts, particularly in the criminal justice discipline (Wolfgang, 2010). Research processes and activities in criminal justice studies requires making ethical decisions in light of what is right and wrong and/or good and evil. Therefore, the concept of ethics in criminal justice research refers to principles governing the conduct of a criminal justice researcher as he/she acquires information/knowledge relating to the practice. Based on these governing principles, the criminal justice researcher needs to consider the perceptions of right and wrong or good and evil when acquiring information.
Some examples of situations that pose ethical questions include publication of research findings, potential obstruction of justice during the research process, and how to protect the privacy of research participants (Wolfgang, 2010). Criminal justice researchers can address these ethical issues through seeking for written informed consent from participants when conducting the study, maintaining confidentiality and privacy of these participants, and adhering to ethical principles and standards like utilitarianism throughout their work.
In conclusion, ethics is one of the major issues in the field of criminal justice given that the various professionals and actors in this discipline face situations that require ethical considerations. Criminal justice researchers are among professionals who need to make ethical considerations in their line of work. Ethics in criminal justice research entails the principle governing standards utilized by researchers to acquire and utilize information/knowledge for research purposes and for enhancing criminal justice practices. As a result, these professionals are faced with varying situations relating to safeguarding research participants and information obtained from the study. Criminal justice researchers can get around the emerging ethical issues/questions through maintaining privacy and confidentiality, seeking written informed consent, and applying ethical principles and standards.
Research Focusing on Police Patrol
Police patrols have been widely used as one of the major techniques towards crime prevention and control. In this regard, patrols by law enforcement officers have been utilized as the premise for arresting crime suspects and helping to deter potential involvement in criminal activities. However, this issue has attracted considerable attention in the recent past, particularly with regards to the effectiveness of police patrol in crime prevention and control. While the case for police patrol has been well established in existing literature, there are questions/concerns on its effectiveness in crime prevention and control. This paper examines research focusing on police patrol in terms of research methods and limitations for the findings. An overall evaluation of the effectiveness of police patrol in crime prevention and control is also included in the paper.
Police patrol has been the subject of numerous studies because of its role in crime prevention and control. One of the recent studies that have been conducted on police patrol is a study by Alison Wakefield on the value of foot patrol. Wakefield (2008) conducted the study on the premise that foot patrol has become prominent in British policing policy. The study focused on examining whether foot patrol by law enforcement officers and other policing agents can meet the high expectations of policymakers and citizens. In this regard, the researcher conducted a comprehensive literature review on social surveys, empirical studies, and policy documents on foot patrol. The study found that foot patrols by police officers are valuable when rendered in a more accessible, common, visible, and knowledgeable manner based on local people and issues. However, the findings are limited on the premise that they focused on the public’ expectations rather than what happens in the patrols and relied on a flawed basis of analysis.
As previously indicated, police patrols are employed to help in prevention and control of crime by law enforcement officers. Since police patrols are carried out using different techniques and based on the community, they are effective in crime prevention and control. Additionally, police patrol is effective in crime prevention and control since it enables police officers to conduct inspections on areas where crimes are likely to occur. The inspections in turn help in preventing possible crimes or lessening the occurrence and impact of the crimes.
In conclusion, police patrol is one of the methods employed by police agencies and personnel to prevent and/or control crime. As a result, this method has attracted considerable attention and been the subject of numerous studies. The study by Wakefield (2008) examines the significance of foot patrol by police officers and found that such patrols are effective when they are responsive to local people and problems. An overall assessment of police patrol demonstrates that it is effective in prevention and control of crime.
Research Focusing on Deterrence
Crime deterrence is one of the major goals of law enforcement and criminal justice system because of the significant negative impacts of crime on the society. As a result, controlling crime has been the subject of legislative, executive, and judiciary efforts in the recent past. One of the major components of the concept of crime deterrence is the idea that the fear of arrest and punishment would prevent people from engaging in criminal activities. Law enforcement officers and the criminal justice system have employed several measures that are geared towards crime deterrence. While some of these measures have helped address the problem, others have failed and contributed to numerous studies on crime deterrence. This article examines research studies that focus on deterrence, the limitations in efforts to accurate evaluate deterrence, and the impact of the limitations on research.
Rupp (2008) conducted a study of crime and deterrence through a comprehensive review of literature. The comprehensive review of literature on crime and deterrence utilized meta-analysis as the research methodology. The study found that the results of an empirical study on the deterrent effect of punishment are not distinct from the research design. When examining the deterrent effect of punishment, the type of crime and population play a critical role in the research process and results. Paternoster (2010) conducted a study that analyzed what is really known about criminal deterrence through a review of empirical studies on this topic. The study found that there is minimal deterrent effect for legal sanctions and it is very difficult to accurately measure the deterrent effect brought by the criminal justice system.
While these studies provide significant findings on crime deterrence, they are limited in the sense that they do not precisely measure the extent of deterrent effect brought by the criminal justice system. Moreover, they are simply based on reviews, which may not be actual indicators or measurements of deterrence. The limitations of these studies are reflections of the difficulties in measuring deterrence in the criminal justice system, which in turn affect criminal justice research. The limitations in efforts to accurately measure deterrence are attributable to the complex link between expectations of deterrence and what the criminal justice system delivers. These complexities are attributable to the fact that accurate measurement of deterrence requires consideration of various factors including crime situations, offender attributes, and how legal sanctions are implemented. The limitations affect criminal justice research through making it difficult to incorporate these various considerations when conducting the study.
In conclusion, crime deterrence is one of the major objectives of the criminal justice system and law enforcement activities. Consequently, several measures have been adopted by law enforcement and the criminal justice system to promote deterrence. However, the ineffectiveness of some of these measures has contributed to numerous studies on this issue. Existing studies provide significant findings on deterrence but fail to accurately measure it because of complexities in determining the impact of legal sanctions on crime deterrence. These complexities affect criminal justice research through generating several considerations that are relatively difficult to include in a single study or research process.
Research on Inmate Socialization and Subcultures
Inmate socialization and subcultures is one of the major issues in today’s incarceration facilities. Inmate socialization and subcultures are considered critical issues because prisoners are not only affected by the formal organization of incarceration facilities but are also affected by the informal organization. The informal organization of prisons includes unique set of informal beliefs, attitudes, values, roles, and norms. Given the impact of inmate socialization and subculture on the experiences of prisoners, the issue has been the subject of numerous studies. This paper evaluates research on inmate socialization and subcultures in terms of how these ideas are similar to research on criminal justice personnel and different factors at work in creating a criminal versus a criminal justice worker.
Research on inmate socialization and subcultures can be traced back to the work of Clemmer who introduced the concept of prisonization, which refers to general culture of inmate subculture in 1940 (Paterline & Orr, 2016). Since then research on inmate socialization and subcultures has been centered on two major models i.e. deprivation and importation models. Deprivation model focuses on the problems and pressures emanating from the experience of incarceration in the creation of an inmate whereas importation model focuses on pre-prison socialization and experience on inmate social system (Paterline & Orr, 2016). However, most of recent research emphasizes deprivation model in terms of distinctive language, inmate code, beliefs, values, and norms. On the contrary, similar research on criminal justice personnel at various levels demonstrate that formal organization influences the development of these personnel. In this case, criminal justice personnel are mostly the by-product of their education and training as well as the formal culture of their organizations. In this regard, there are different factors at work in creating a criminal versus creating a criminal justice worker. Criminals are created through their pre-prison socialization and experiences while incarcerated whereas criminal justice workers are shaped by their education/training and organizational culture.
In conclusion, research on inmate socialization and subculture and research on criminal justice personnel at various levels demonstrate that the development of criminals and criminal justice workers is influenced by different factors. While criminals’ development is influenced by pre-prison socialization and their experiences while incarcerated, the development of a criminal justice worker is a by-product of education/training and organizational culture.
References
Paterline, B.A. & Orr, D. (2016, December). Adaptation to Prison and Inmate Self-Concept. Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Science, 4(2), 70-79.
Paternoster, R. (2010). How Much Do We Really Know About Criminal Deterrence? Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 100(3), 765-824. Retrieved from http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7363&context=jclc
Rupp, T. (2008, July 1). Meta Analysis of Crime and Deterrence: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Retrieved from http://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/1054/2/rupp_diss.pdf
Wakefield, A. (2006). The Value of Foot Patrol: A Review of Research. The Police Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.police-foundation.org.uk/uploads/catalogerfiles/the-value-of-foot-patrol/foot_patrol.pdf
Wolfgang, M.E. (2010). Confidentiality in Criminological Research and Other Ethical Issues. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 72(1). Retrieved from http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6222&context=jclc