Advancing Qualitative Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice

For several decades qualitative research has been under-represented in criminological and criminal justice research. This book is designed to promote the understanding of qualitative research designs and to encourage their use among those seeking answers to questions about crime and justice. To this end a number of top qualitative scholars have been assembled to provide their insights on the topic. The chapters that appear delve into the state of qualitative methods in the discipline, the potential ethical and physical hazards of engaging in ethnographic research, how to make sense of and interpret participants? stories, innovative ways to collect data, the value of using mixed methods to understand crime and justice issues, effective strategies for teaching fieldwork, and the inherent rewards of a career spent speaking with others. This book will be an ideal introduction for students and scholars of Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Sociology, regardless of whether their primary methodology is qualitative or quantitative.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

Introduction: Advancing Qualitative Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology Heith Copes 1. The Prominence of Qualitative Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice Scholarship Richard Tewksbury, Dean Dabney and Heith Copes 2. Moving Beyond Our Methodological Default: A Case for Mixed Methods John J. Brent and Peter Kraska 3. Collecting and Analyzing the Stories of Offenders Lois Presser 4. What can ‘lies’ tell us about life? Notes towards a framework of narrative criminology Sveinung Sandberg 5. Finding Offenders: Exploring the Active versus Incarcerated Debate Heith Copes, Andy Hochstetler, Scott Jacques and VolkanTopalli 6. Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological and Criminal Justice Inquiry Using On-line Data Thomas J. Holt 7. The Case for Edge Ethnography J. Mitchell Miller and Richard Tewksbury 8. Dangerous Intimacy: Toward a Theory of Violent Victimization in Active Offender Research Scott Jacques and Richard Wright 9. In the Classroom and on the Streets: How to Teach Qualitative Field Research to Criminology/Criminal Justice Graduate Students Robert G. Morris and James W. Marquart 10. On the Way to the Field: Reflections of One Qualitative Criminal Justice Professor’s Experiences Mark Pogrebin

Heith Copes is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. His research interests include criminal decision-making as it relates to various types of illegal behavior including drug distribution, automobile theft and identity theft. His research has been published in a variety of journals, including Social Problems, the British Journal of Criminology, Deviant Behavior and Justice Quarterly.