Legal Issues in Acquiring Information about Illegal Behaviour Through Criminological Research

Ethical challenges to research in the criminal justice system

“…Improving knowledge about the law and the criminal justice system for individuals who sit on committees or manage researchers conducting research in this field would benefit everyone. We welcome Feenan's () advice to be cautious and open about the legal limits of confidentiality and to plan how to deal with ‘guilty knowledge’, avoiding undue disclosure. With regard to calculating whether the risks of disclosure of information or to ourselves constitute a price worth paying for the information, it is necessary to reflect how little clinical practice in relation to the courts is founded in evidence.…”

“…A number of UK institutions have limited researchers when either asking questions about criminal acts or providing confidentiality for sensitive information obtained in research (Lowman and Palys, ). Some criminologists have gone so far as to suggest that researchers should not undertake studies where details of offences are sought (Feenan, ), but how then would we ever really understand offending behaviour or fitness to plead? In our opinion, it was right to warn participants about the limits of confidentiality, especially on risk of imminent harm, but it would have been wrong to suggest it was likely that we would disclose information and even worse to offer no confidentiality at all.…”

Secrecy, coercion and deception in research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’

“…Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, for example, protects 'the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas'. Although there are limitations to the application of the article, such restrictions need to demonstrate a pressing social need (Feenan, 2002).…”

“…Such legislation includes provisions within anti-terrorism legislation. Dermot Feenan (2002) traces the government legislation and case law in UK and US which allows research to be confiscated, subpoenaed or kept secret. In the US, subpoenas have targeted research related to a variety of criminal activities (Leo, 1995).…”

“…For example, the home of one of Jeffrey Sluka's participants in Belfast was searched by the British Army shortly after an interview had taken place (Sluka, 1990), whilst a more tragic example is the murder of a political activist in Peritore's (1990) study on clandestine left groups in Mexico. Researchers have gone to great lengths to keep the identities of participants concealed, or to keep data safe (Feenan, 2002;Peritore, 1990;Sluka, 1990). One strategy is disutilisation, which involves various forms of self-censorship to avoid the misuse of research.…”