Researching Crime and Justice

It is encouraging to note the recent appearance of methodological textbooks in criminology and sociolegal research that move away from abstract ‘how to’ advice towards presenting and exploring real-world, lived research experiences. Both Halliday and Schmidt’s (2009),Conducting Law and Society Research: Reflections on Methods and Practices and Westmarland’s (2011)Researching Crime and Justice: Tales from the Field fall into this category. Both texts aim to provide a ‘warts and all’ insight into the realities of conducting research in crime and justice. As Westmarland (2011: 5) puts it, her book aims to provide a ‘thought-provoking guide to “being there”—smelling fear, sweat, spit, spew and semen—research’. Both Westmarland and Halliday and Schmidt have done this by interviewing experienced criminologists and using these researchers’ own words to highlight the realities of research that would not be captured in a traditional methodological text. These books emerged following discussions about the limitations

Criminal justice · Criminology · Economic Justice · Field (mathematics · Field research · Interview · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis · Data Analysis and Archiving · Law