Premium
RANDOM ASSIGNMENT IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH Some Ethical and Legal Issues
Author(s) -
BAUNACH PHYLLIS JO
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1980.tb01307.x
Subject(s) - objectivity (philosophy) , interpretability , criminal justice , randomization , psychology , economic justice , context (archaeology) , criminal procedure , social psychology , political science , criminology , law , epistemology , computer science , randomized controlled trial , medicine , artificial intelligence , paleontology , philosophy , surgery , biology
Randomization techniques entail sound methodological means to assign participants to groups for experimental purposes. However, prior to applying this technique to criminal justice research, several ethical and legal issues must be considered. For example, in a legal context, the objectivity afforded by the randomization process may be interpreted as “arbitrary.” Similarly, depriving control group participants of the presumed benefits of a newly launched program may be regarded as unethical. It may be possible to adapt the randomization procedure to experimental contingencies. However, caution must then be taken in carrying out the adaptation, as the methodological rigor and hence the interpretability of the results may be affected.