ABSTRACT

Building on the editors’ previous publication, Engaging with Ethics in International Criminological Research, this new book brings together a fresh collection of leading international scholars tackling ethical dilemmas in criminological research. Contributors address how they have experienced and addressed ethical issues in their research, and how they have balanced the benefits and harms of doing such research for both the researcher and the researched.

Ethical Dilemmas in International Criminological Research draws on various issues across a range of jurisdictions and political and social contexts, including cybercrime and transgressive online actions; state and police responses to crime; the war on drugs; working with traumatised participants in criminological research; punishment and prison; and sex, sexualities, and gender. Moreover, this collection aims to offer a truly international perspective, including insights from research projects in the Global South.

This book is essential reading for junior scholars just starting out with original research, as well as more seasoned researchers looking to gain insights into the challenges of criminological research in other cultural contexts. It is also instructive reading for students taking courses in criminological and social research methods.

chapter 1|11 pages

Introduction

Ethical event horizons in criminological research

chapter 3|9 pages

Gaining little things and losing big things

The ethics of using deception to gain institutional access

chapter 4|13 pages

Befriending police officers

Reflecting on the ethics of my deceptive buddy researcher tactics

chapter 6|13 pages

Cross-cultural and comparative research in Northern Ireland

Insider, outsider, Other

chapter 7|19 pages

Prison officer training

Transient identity during immersive ethnography

chapter 8|14 pages

The ethics of researching "hard to reach" populations

The case of "hidden" older illegal drug users and the attendant advantages of an ethical approach

chapter 9|17 pages

The keepers of secrets

Ethics and the emotional labour of working with privileged populations during criminological research

chapter 10|19 pages

Dreams and nightmares

Interviewing research participants who have experienced psychological trauma

chapter 11|16 pages

Fear and loathing in the Philippines

The ethics of researching President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs

chapter 12|8 pages

Conclusion

An ethical imagination