Ethics, emotions, politics and danger

Combining the concepts of ethics, emotions, politics and danger in the research process may seem to be a diverse range of topics to cover in a chapter of a book about the ‘realities’ of researching crime and justice. One reason for discussing these issues together is that during the processes involved where ‘real’ research happens it seems that there are inextricably linked. As Liebling and Stanko observed in a special issue of the British Journal of Criminology in 2001, which focused on dilemmas in researching disorder and violence:

… we criminologists are professionals whose task is to observe and analyse account after account of the kinds of havoc individuals, groups or the state mete out … We face moral turmoil, as we witness or become part of scenes of violence, struggle or maltreatment. Why is there so little dialogue on these matters?

(Liebling and Stanko 2001: 421)