Ethics in Criminology Research - Criminology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Criminal Justice

Download Ethics in Criminology Research - Criminology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Criminal Justice in PDF only on Docsity! Ethics in Criminology Research Docsity.com Ethical behavior (definition) • Behavior is ethical insofar as it follows the rules that have been specifically oriented to the welfare of the larger society and not to the self-interest of the professional • To act unethically is to act unprofessionally Docsity.com Josef Mengele • Josef Mengele and the other camp doctors - masterminds of the horrors of Holocaust - were found to be psychologically normal. They were men of fine standing, cultured, husbands who morning and night kissed their wives, fathers who tucked their children into bed ... Docsity.com Tuskegee Syphilis Study • In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study that was called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male." Docsity.com Tuskegee Syphilis Study • The study involved 600 black men--399 with syphilis and 201 who did not have the disease • Researchers told the men they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness • In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years. Docsity.com • At the Fernald School in Massachusetts during the 1950s, in experiments conducted in part by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, mentally retarded boys in the school's "science club" were fed radioactive calcium and iron with their breakfast cereal. Boys who agreed to participate received club privileges, including extra milk and trips to baseball games and the beach. Docsity.com • In a long-running experiment at the University of Cincinnati, ended in 1971, 88 poor, uneducated and mostly African-American patients with incurable cancers were exposed to heavy doses of full-body irradiation -- a procedure that was largely abandoned as therapy by the 1960s. Lawsuits still in court allege that the subjects, some of whom died hours after treatment, were not provided palliatives against the side effects of nausea and vomiting because the researchers did not want the drugs to interfere with their data collection. Docsity.com Other examples • In 1960’s live cancer cells were injected into elderly patients at a Brooklyn hospital without their knowledge (Jones, 1982) • U.S. military services exposed their own soldiers to mustard gas and radiation (chronic ailments and death) Docsity.com Cold War Experiments • 1950’s, using code names like Bluebird, Artichoke, the CIA, FBI, and U.S. military experimented with behavior-control devices and interrogation techniques (drugs, hypnosis, shock therapy, surgery, radiation) on unsuspecting citizens • If death or injury occurred these agencies provided cover-up Docsity.com House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee (1986) • Uncovered that during 30 years federal agencies had conducted exposure experiments on American citizens • Injecting plutonium, radium, and uranium • Feeding uranium to elderly patients during an experiment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Feeding patients real fallout from a Nevada test site • U.S. Military employed former Nazi doctors /scientists for conducting the experiments Docsity.com The Nuremberg Code • Voluntary consent • Fruitful results for the good of society • Anticipated results will justify the performance of experiment • Avoid all unnecessary physical or mental suffering • No research should be conducted where there is …reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur • The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved Docsity.com Zimbardo’s simulated prison experiment • Subjects –males, undergraduate, paid volunteers • Role of either guard or prisoner • Mock prison was constructed in the basement of Stanford university • Experiment was to have lasted for two weeks but Zimbardo cancelled the study after 6 days because of possible harm Docsity.com What went wrong? • Individuals became carried away with their roles • Guards behaved aggressively and dehumanizing toward prisoners • Prisoners behaved ether passively or were hostile • Subjects did consent to participate in the study, but they did not expect the consequences Docsity.com Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” (1974) • Psychologist at Yale University, conducted a study focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience • Germans are different • Character flaw “Readiness to obey authority without question, no matter what outrageous acts authority commands” • Everything in the experiment was staged except one person-subject • Milgram changed a lot in his initial script because people were obeying too much Docsity.com Results • "two-thirds of this studies participants fall into the category of ‘obedient' subjects, and that they represent ordinary people drawn from the working, managerial, and professional classes • 65% of all of the "teachers" punished the "learners" to the maximum 450 volts • No subject stopped before reaching 300 volts • The theory that only the most severe monsters on the sadistic fringe of society would submit to such cruelty is disclaimed Docsity.com Ethical issues of Milgram’s experiment • Milgram made a judgment about there is no possible psychological damage to the subjects • Milgram interviewed subjects afterwards • 83% said they were glad to participate • 1.3% said they were sorry • However, Milgram could not know that only 1.3% would be sorry Docsity.com