1. Rules for researching Criminals & Deviants

2. Crime statistics and more so conviction statistics are inaccurate.
Research Method, Morality & Criminology in Hustlers,Beats & Others –Ned Polsky (1967)
Crime statistics and more so conviction statistics are inaccurate.
Study the “caught” criminal/deviance is convenient but does not give a true picture of “real criminals/deviants”.
Bias of official statistics
Even an intelligently constructed questionnaire misses the mark

3. Criminals need to studied in the field –”au naturel”
Use participant observation

4. Successful field research depends on the investigator’s trained abilities to look at people, listen to them, think and feel with them, talk with them rather than at them. It doesn’t not depend fundamentally on some impersonal apparatus such as a camera, or tape recorder or questionnaire. Park said a sociologist must be a good reporter.

5. Rule 1
Although you can’t help but contaminate the criminal’s environment in some degree by your presence, such contamination can be minimized if, for one thing, you use no gadgets (no tape recorder, questionnaire form) and don’t take notes in the presence of a criminal. Train yourself to remember details of action and speech long enough to write them down fully and accurately after you get home.

6. Rule 2
Keep your eyes and ears open but keep your mouth shut. At first try to ask no questions whatsoever. You need to get the “feel” of the criminal world by extensive and attentive listening. Get a sense of what pleases them. Get a sense of what bugs them. Get a sense their frame of reference. Get a sense of their language

7. Rule 3
Once you know the special language, there is a sense in which you try to forget it. You cannot accurately assess any aspect of a deviant’s lifestyle or subculture through his argot alone, although many investigators mistakenly try. The research should not impute beliefs, feelings, or motives (conscious or otherwise) to deviants on the basis of the origins of words in their argot.

8. Rule 4
Use “snowball sampling” technique. Get an introduction to one criminal who will vouch for you to others, who will in turn vouch for you with still others. It is best to start with an introduction to the most prestigious person of the group that you want to study.

9. Rule 5
If you establish acquaintance with a criminal on some basis of common interest, then, just as soon as possible, let him know of the differences between you if he hasn’t guessed already; that is let him know what you do for a living and let him know why, apart from your interest in, say poker, you are on his scene.

10. Rule 6
In studying a criminal it is important to realize that he will be studying you, and to let him study you. Don’t evade or shut off questions he might have about your personal life, even if these questions are designed to “take you down”, for example, designed to force you to admit that you too have knowingly violated the law. You need to be defined as “a square who won’t blow the whistle” (can be trusted)

11. Rule 7
You must draw the line, to yourself and to the criminal. Precisely where to draw is a moral decision that each researcher must make for him/herself. You must make your position known early on with your informants. e.g. I’m willing to witness a drug deal go down, but not a “drive-by” shooting.

12. Rule 8
There is another compromise to made, this by way of keeping the faith of the informants. It is sometimes necessary not to give too many details that could compromise your informants.

13. Rule 9
Letting criminals know where you draw the line of course depends on knowing yourself. If you aren’t sure, the criminal may capitalize on the fact to maneuver you into an accomplice role. The possibility of such an attempt increase directly as his trust in you increases.

14. Rule 10
Although you mustn’t be a spy, or pretend to be one of them, it is important that you don’t stick out like a sore thumb in the criminal’s natural environment. You must blend in with the human scenery so that you don’t chill the scene.

15. Rule 11
The final rule is to have few unbreakable rules. For example, although a field investigator can, to a large extent, plan his dress, speech, and other behavior before hand so as to minimize contamination of the environment he is investigating, such plans should be seen as provisional and subject to revision according to the requirements of any particular situation.

16. Addendum:
Do No Harm