The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Law for ethnographers
Open accessAbstract
Despite a long history of ethnographic research on crime, ethnographers have shied away from examining the law as it relates to being present at, witnessing and recording illegal activity. However, knowledge of the law is an essential tool for researchers and the future of ethnographic research on crime. This article reviews the main relevant legal statutes in England and Wales and considers their relevance for contemporary ethnographic research. We report that researchers have no legal responsibility to report criminal activity (with some exceptions). The circumstances under which legal action could be taken to seize research data are specific and limited, and respondent’s privacy is subject to considerable legal protection. Our review gives considerable reason to be optimistic about the future of ethnographic research.
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In the citing paper
“In England and Wales, to legally access researchers' data, police must apply to a court for a warrant (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 6-8).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 6-8
In the citing paper
“Police and courts can apply for access to researcher's data and have done so in the UK, Canada and the USA (Dekeyser and Garrett, 2018; Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017
In the citing paper
“Garrett's legal representatives argued that research data comprise 'special procedure material' and should be treated as confidential but this was not successful (see Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 7).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 7
In the citing paper
“Failure to appear could result in a prison sentence of up to 3 months for contempt of court (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 8).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 8
In the citing paper
“Researchers can be legally obliged to disclose information about respondents, or make available research data (British Society of Criminology, 2015; Coomber, 2002b) but usually only under limited and specific circumstances (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017
In the citing paper
“Failure to do so could result in being in contempt of court (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 7).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 7
In the citing paper
“The court would have to be persuaded that there was material likely to be of interest to an ongoing investigation or criminal trial (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 5).”
From Information security for criminological ethnographers (2024) · cites this paper as Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 5
Citations
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No references could be resolved yet.
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Information security for criminological ethnographers
Kindynis, T., & Fleetwood, J. (2024) · Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal · doi:10.1177/17416590231219746 · Cited by 6
“Failure to appear could result in a prison sentence of up to 3 months for contempt of court (Elliott and Fleetwood, 2017: 8).”
InfluentialSelf-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Elliott, T., & Fleetwood, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Goldsmiths University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Fleetwood, Jennifer
- Venue
- Methodological Innovations
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2059-7991 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2753869962
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Methodological Innovations (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Goldsmiths (University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal Studies and Policies
- Social Sciences › Law › Law, Rights, and Freedoms
- Keywords
- respondent privacy, research ethics, England and Wales law
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