I need help do you agree with my classmates discussion questions

Classmates 1.

One of the first ethical principle brought up in Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, is voluntary participation, which can be difficult to determine in the field of criminal justice research. Interviewees or participants in a research study might be offered a small payment in order to participate in a research study. In medical research experimental participation must be voluntary. This further means that individuals should not be forced to participate. One ethical issue with voluntary participation is that individuals who have low incomes might be tempted to participate in a research when they are offered money to do so. This is explained in Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology.: To people with very low incomes, small payments may be an incentive to participate in a study they would not otherwise endure. Dr. Hart recruited addicts by offering them a chance to make $950 while smoking crack made from pharmaceutical-grade cocaine. (Tierney. J, 2013).This raise the question, whether this is a voluntary research or not, since the participants were already in a vulnerable situation and maybe in need of money. Since voluntary participation is based in informed consent, It requires that subjects understand the purpose of the research, possible risks and side effects, possible benefits to subjects, and the procedures that will be used. If the participants are addicts in a vulnerable situation, it raises the question whether the participants have the capacity to understand the research study fully.

Classmates 2.

Carl Hart conducts in-depth and informative research on crack addicts. His interest in this subject is parked by his own experience and observation while growing up in a drug-ridden environment. Although his study is interesting, it does pose some ethical issues. The general principle and possible harm to subjects lack as it does not outweigh the outcome of the study. Crack cocaine is a very addictive substance and known addicts from the street are enrolled without any medical review or past health screening. That is a danger to the subject that outweighs the outcome of the research. Also, no rehabilitation is involved following research which implies subjects may overuse or continue to use long after the research.

Another unethical practice that stands out in the article is deception. Through his research, Carl deceives his subjects by providing participants doses of crack cocaine in an unknown amount, nor agreed to. He also is not clear, in why they have enrolled in the study or why he is conducting the research. According to our E-Text, deception is done by concealing our research role when investigating drug dealers and users (Maxfield 63). That implies that Carl Hart is possibly associating with them to obtain illegal drugs (Maxfield 63).

His and most prudent ethical issue is legal liability. Carl Hart allows and aids his patients to commit a crime over and over by using an illegal substance under his watch for research. He has full knowledge that cracks cocaine is illegal while providing the substance to his patients. Fortunately, federal law protects researchers from legal action in most circumstances, provided that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect research data (Maxfield 64).