Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research Ethical

Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research Ethical issues in terms of research are sometimes difficult to pinpoint, but all are made in order to ensure defendant's constitutional rights and to protect any other research participants from potential harm. Many researchers note that the basis for ethical research in criminal justice is the focus on upholding accurate data reporting and the placement of strong ethical leadership within the workplace.

Both of which are detailed in Gail Rhineberger's 2006 article from the Journal of Criminal Justice Education entitled "Research methods and research ethics coverage in criminal," and in Kevin Wright's 1999 article from the Journal of Criminal Justice Ethics entitled, "Leadership is the key to ethical practice in criminal justice agencies." Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research Ethical issues in terms of research are sometimes difficult to pinpoint, and this dilemma is no different when dealing within the field of criminal justice.

Today, many articles and studies are published each year to ensure that those individuals doing research in the field of criminal justice do their work while maintaining strict ethical guidelines in order to ensure defendant's constitutional rights and to protect any other research participants from potential harm.

Kevin Wright (1999) notes in his article, "Leadership Is the Key to Ethical Practice in Criminal Justice Agencies," that morality and ethical standards from the top down is always the key in order to ethically practice and research within the field of criminal justice (p. 2). He notes that many individuals wonder about the lack of any unethical practices even in a field dedicated serving the people.

The article notes that agencies headed by strong leaders who possess ideal morality "inspire loyalty, encourage personal achievement, gain consensus and commitment amongst staff, promote dedication, ethical behavior and hard work during research and field practice" all within their respective staffs (p. 3).

How then, are these types of leaders and workers cultivated within the field of criminal justice? Many articles note that the foundations to this type of ethical behavior is not learned in the field, as much as it is taught in the classroom through focus on ethical research and practice within textbooks and lectures.

Without research in criminal justice, workers in the field would have no more than speculation to go on within their files and cases, which is what makes this research crucial to learning about the nature and extent of crime.

According to the article, "Research Methods and Research Ethics Coverage in Criminal Justice and Criminology," by Gail Rhineberger, (2006) the standards of ethical practice in criminal justice research should universally include the following: "protection of the research subject from harm, privacy and protection of anonymity/confidentiality of informants, informed consent and institutional human subjects review, officially adopted codes of ethics within institutions, adherence to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' adopted Code of Ethics, and the complete exclusion of deception and conflict of interest within research" (p. 292).

Other research on the topic has been done that backs up Rhineberger's view on protected and reliable research. Maxfield (1995) notes that it is in the search for quantitative research that ethical practices may be in jeopardy, as the search for specific numbers can lead to "misreporting or falsifying data," and he goes on to note that sharing information between different institutions can lead to unethical practice as "individual states may have varying definitions of these crimes" and may report them differently to favor their particular state (p. 113).

This notion is reaffirmed by the FBI in its report written by Yoshio Akiyama and Sharon K. Propheter entitled "Methods of Data Quality Control: For Uniform Crime Reporting Programs" (2005). This report notes, "Since there is no (mandatory) data auditing program to directly validate individual agencies' data and reporting practices, the integrity and the accuracy of data rest upon the efforts of individual law enforcement agencies in reporting accurate data and the Program's capability of data quality control" (p. 3). In conclusion, the practice of conducting ethical research within the field of.