Impact and the Reflexive Imperative in Criminal Justice Policy, Practice and Research

Abstract

This chapter is a

Researching inside police custody in four jurisdictions: ‘Getting in’, ‘getting on’, ‘getting your hands dirty’ and ‘getting through it’

“…These findings have implications for how we understand the situating of researchers in the field and the factors influencing researcher reflexivity. These include not just the influence of a researcher's social origins, but also the institutional dynamics of the police and the cultural norms of the academy and the politics of police research (Souhami, 2020;Armstrong et al, 2017;Lumsden, 2017). In terms of social origins, in the case of my research, my gender, race, but also my nationality (both my Englishness and my accent) all influenced the research.…”

“…. that their insight about social worlds and processes (as socially constructed, and mediated by tensions and intersections between agency and structure) also apply to themselves, the social worlds of the academy and to their own work’ (Armstrong et al, 2017: 12). In practice, this means researchers acknowledge their positionality and consider how they affect the research process (e.g.…”

“…Although it may be imperfect (e.g. undermining all claims to truth or encouraging navel gazing; Armstrong et al, 2017: 23), ultimately, reflexivity encourages ‘critical dialogue’ vital to democratic societies (Fassin, 2013: 29), which recognises that neither academics nor the police have a monopoly over the truth (Henry, 2017; McAra, 2017: 165; Wood and Williams, 2017). In this piece, I therefore offer an account of one version of this ‘truth’ about the police custody research process, though by locating this in relevant academic literature enables broader exploration of the meaning of this account, for example, for police–academic collaboration.…”

Fighting for the “Right” Narrative: Introduction to Conflicting Narratives of Crime and Punishment

“…However, the boom in demands for reflexivity (c.f. Armstrong et al 2016;Lumsden and Winter 2014) has not led to a clear concept. Reflexivity is understood and interpreted very differently (Lynch 2000;Riessman 2015).…”