Lecture 3 - Ethics and Criminal Justice Research Flashcards
Research Ethics and Potential Issues
Research Ethics: Ethical standards that are accepted by the scientific community and hold researchers responsible for their professional conduct
Potential Issues:
* Different across cultures, society, and time
* Enforcement and accountability
Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (TCPS2) - 2022
Governs the standards and procedures of research in Canada.
Ethical considerations:
* Respect for human dignity
* Respect for free and informed consent
* Respect for vulnerable persons
* Respect for privacy and confidentiality
* Respect for justice and procedural fairness
* Balancing harms and benefits of research
* Minimizing harm to participants
* Maximizing benefit of the research
Assessments of Review Boards
Primarily assess:
* Acceptability of study risks to human subjects
* If study procedures include adequate safeguards
Types of Review
* Exempt: No risk
* Delegated Review: Minimal risk
* Full Review: Greater than minimal risk
Key Ethical Considerations
No Harm - Minimal risk (no more than everyday risk)
* Physical
* Psychological/Emotional
* Legal
* Social
* Economic
Voluntary Participation
* Informed consent
* Threatens generalizability - since some people do not want to partake in the study
Special Populations
* Incarcerated populations - power and coercion
* Youth - Consent is given by both guardian and child
* Other groups - Mentally ill, ethnic minority, seniors
Anonymity & Confidentiality
* Anonymity: Identity of participant is unknown
* Confidentiality: Identity of participant is not shared
Deception - Sometimes necessary (must be justified)
* Active Deception - Deception by commission (actively misleading participants - giving false information)
* Passive Deception - Deception by omission (omitting parts of study or not telling participants key information)
Debrief after study can mitigate harm
Honor commitments & Respect participants
* Follow through on expectations and agreements - mutual trust between researcher and participant
Scientific Misconduct
* Objectivity (No bias)
* Appropriate Statistics (true and complete)
* Reporting transparent results - Don’t hide negative findings, study weaknesses, etc
Legal Liability - Confidentiality agreements can stop researcher from reporting crime
* Becoming accessory to crime
* Obtaining knowledge of participant’s criminal acts
Additional Considerations
* Staff Misbehaviour
* Research causing crime
* Withholding desirable treatment
Example of Unethical study: Tearoom Trade Study (Humphreys)
Humphreys studied homosexual acts between strangers who met in public restrooms in parks, commonly known as “tearooms”. He offered to be a lookout and observed the acts. He then noted the license plate numbers of participants, tracked down their names and addresses through police, and conducted a survey to obtain personal information from the men at their homes
Key Ethical Considerations
* Active Deception
* Voluntary participation - No Informed Consent
* Harm - Psychological (created trust issues for participants)
* Confidentiality - Risked by tracking license plate numbers and obtaining personal details
Example of Unethical study: Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo)
Researchers simulated a prison environment to examine the impact of situational factors on behaviors. Male college students were selected and assigned to roles as prisoners and guards. They signed a contract that they would be confined, put under constant surveillance, and have their civil rights suspended – but would not be subject to physical abuse. The participants readily accepted their roles. The “guards” became aggressive, and the “prisoners” became passive. “Prisoners” were subjected to various forms of abuse. Participants displayed intense reactions and 5 were released early due to extreme signs of anxiety and depression. Initially, participants wanted to leave the study but were told they could not do so, were only allowed to leave after extreme psychological harm.
Key Ethical Considerations:
* Harm - Prisoners were subject to various forms of abuse (psychological and physical)
* Voluntary participation - Prisoners were not allowed to leave experiment after asking to do so
* Honor commitments and respect for participants - the mutual trust between researchers and participants was breached when they were psychologically abused and unable to leave study
* Special populations - the actual prisoners in the study were subjects of power and coersion, not given a choice of whether or not they wanted to participate in the study
* Deception - The researcher omitted the part where the participants would not be able to leave throughout experiment
Belmont Report
- Respect for persons - Individuals must be allowed to make their own decisions about participation in research, and those with limited capacity to make such decisions should have special protections
- Beneficence - Research should do no harm to participants and seek to produce benefits
- Justice - The benefits and burdens of participating in research should be distributed fairly
