Dangerous Intimacy: Toward a Theory of Violent Victimization in Active Offender Research

Abstract

Active offender research contributes to criminology, but a major concern for active offender researchers is that they will be victimized in the course of their work. With that concern in mind, experienced criminologists have recommended strategies for minimizing danger during research, but they have done so in a largely atheoretical manner. This paper calls for the development of a theory of violent victimization in active offender research, and poses the question: What determines the amount of violent victimization in such research? Answering this question is important because it has the potential to provide practical strategies for reducing victimization and, in turn, increasing the amount of research conducted and the number of insights that flow from it. This paper theorizes that active offender researchers are less likely to be threatened or physically harmed as they become more familiar with recruiters, criminals, and their relational ties. The paper concludes with a set of theoretically situated, practical tips for how criminologists might reduce the amount of violent victimization in active offender research.

Notes

1. Note that while a criminal simultaneously can be a recruiter or researcher, a recruiter cannot simultaneously be a researcher because, by definition, a researcher records data but a recruiter does not. If the “recruiter” records data, then that recruiter is a researcher (even if the researcher “recruits” criminals for research).