NCJ Number
208527
Date Published
2004
Length
92 pages
Annotation
This report considers the impact of research ethics governance on criminological research in Australia and suggests strategies for improving the governance process.
Abstract
Over the past few years, social science researchers in Australia have expressed concern about the impact of research ethics governance on their research. The policies in place in Australia designed to govern research ethics were originally developed to meet the needs of medical researchers. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) demanded that universities establish local Human Research Ethics Committees (HREC's) to govern research involving humans. The current study analyzed the nature of the structure of governance regulating research ethics in Australia, especially concerning its impact on criminological research that often involves prison populations and victims of crime. The major ethical issues encountered during the course of criminological research were considered and include the sensitive nature of the inquiry, the potentially vulnerable state of research participants, and the attitudes of professionals within criminal justice institutions. One of the main compounding problems for criminologists is that traditional avenues of research are being closed to them by HREC's due to an uncritical application of principles related to confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent. Strategies that can be employed to improve the ethics governance process of the HREC's include the development of expertise in both research methodologies and in research ethics among criminologists. Criminologists should also lobby for structural change in the policies, procedures, and systems adopted by HREC's. The final section of the report offers case studies that illustrate some of the decisions of HREC's and how the decisions were handled by criminologists, many of whom protested the decisions with some success. Exhibits, bibliography