Ethics and Criminal Justice Research
Michael C. Braswell, Belinda R. McCarthy, Bernard J. McCarthy in Justice, Crime, and Ethics, 2019
It would be convenient to conclude that the best research is that which is conducted in an ethical fashion, but such a statement would skirt the dilemma. Conducting ethical scientific research in criminal justice and criminology can be a difficult task; it requires constant weighing and balancing of objectives and motivations. This is the exact nature of the problem: those actions required to meet the demands of scientific rigor sometimes run counter to ethical behavior. However, evaluating rather than avoiding ethical dilemmas does provide a learning experience, the benefits of which can be expected to spill over into all aspects of human endeavor. Thinking and doing in an ethical way requires practice, and conducting research provides considerable opportunities for the evolution of experience.
Overview from a Legal, Criminological and Psychological Perspective
Bernat-N. Tiffon in Atlas of Forensic and Criminal Psychology, 2022
Today, any professional who works in the field of forensic psychology (and Bernat-N. Tiffon is an exemplary representative) has to recognize that, in reality, we find ourselves before a panel of three (but not a trio of) sciences doomed to work together: law, criminology and psychology. This does not mean that we should pre-judge the importance of these three sciences or undervalue any other branches of science such as anthropology, medicine, psychiatry, toxicology and others.
Criminal Homicide Theories
R. Barri Flowers in The Dynamics of Murder, 2012
Although there is strong individual support over the notion of free will in explaining deviant behavior, modern criminology has, for the most part, moved away from this school of thought, preferring instead to focus primarily on biological, psychological, and sociocultural determinants of homicidal and violent behavior. Critical criminology is less relied upon in terms of explaining violent criminality, though is somewhat more effective in understanding social policy and the criminal justice system in relation to crime.
Social Work & Corrections in the Progressive Era: What We Remember, What We Obscure
Published in Journal of Progressive Human Services, 2023
The notion that policing, surveillance, or imprisonment could “protect” society from or “correct” illicit sexual and behavioral transgressions was central to eugenics’ hold on criminology. Criminology was just one aspect of a larger Social Hygiene Movement that brought together scientists, social workers, lawmakers, and law enforcement to further eugenicist ideals of social reproduction and racial “purity.” Kennedy (2008) describes one appeal of eugenics to the Progressive Era social worker: … eugenics’ emphasis on hereditarian, and thus seemingly unchangeable, characteristics offered a welcome explanation to social workers who were frustrated with their clients’ inability to reform their (perceived) immoral and criminal ways. (p. 31)
Applying feminist criminology to social work criminal justice research: treating addiction, mental health, and victimization
Published in Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 2021
Women are among of the fastest growing subgroups of the U.S. criminal justice population (Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2013). In fact, between the years 1980 and 2017 the number of women in prison increased by over 750%, and around 225,000 U.S. women are currently incarcerated (Bronson & Carson, 2019). Notably, the path traveled to the criminal justice system by women is often different than men. To highlight this, the field of feminist criminology was developed by several pioneering researchers. Chesney-Lind and Pasko (2013) presented the core principles of feminist criminology, which include: (1) criminology researchers often overlook the addiction, mental illness, and victimization histories that are uniquely common among women offenders; (2) most crime theories focus on male identities and therefore fail to recognize the ‘relations of dominance, power, and inequality between men and women’ (p. 3); and (3) the treatment services provided to justice-involved women by the criminal justice system rarely take into consideration the unique needs of the population, including addiction, mental illness, and victimization histories.
Of Fallacies and Errors, New and Repeated: A Rejoinder to Butcher et al. (2018)
Published in Journal of Personality Assessment, 2019
Butcher et al. (2018) characterized my correction of their use of the term mass murderer rather than serial killer as a quibble. As I noted previously, this is a meaningful distinction in the field of criminology, conveying completely different and nearly always mutually distinctive patterns of behavior. Butcher et al. (2018) justified their mistake by stating: “A simple internet search of ‘mass murderer Kaczynski’ reveals another logical fallacy in his [i.e., my] arguments: a distinction without a difference. Numerous reputable sources refer to Kaczynski as a ‘mass murderer’” (p. 3). Here Butcher et al. (2018) appeared to introduce a new form of epistemic scholarship—Googling. Any source referring to Kaczynski as a mass murderer is incorrect and, therefore, not reputable.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Atavism
- Deviance
- Evolution
- Psychiatry
- Correlates of Crime
- Utilitarianism
- Phrenology
- Treatment & Control Groups
- Anti-Social Behaviour
- Juvenile Delinquency