Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

There is little consistency in policies concerning incentives for offenders to participate in research. With nonoffenders, incentives are routine; in contrast, many jurisdictions and granting agencies prohibit offenders from receiving any external benefits. The reasons for this prohibition are unclear. Consequently, the authors reviewed the ethical and practical concerns with providing incentives to offenders. They conclude that there are no ethical principles that would justify categorically denying incentives for offenders. Research with offenders, however, presents unique practical concerns that need to be considered when determining the magnitude and form of the incentives. In general, the incentives should not be so large as to compel participation of a vulnerable population or to undermine the goals of punishment and deterrence. The authors propose that incentives for offenders should be routinely permitted, provided that they are no larger than the rewards typically available for other socially valued activities (e.g., inmate pay, minimum wage).

Keywords

research ethics incentives offenders

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct: 2010 amendments. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

Annucci

(2004). New York’s expanded Son of Sam law and other fiscal measures to deter prisoners’ suits while satisfying outstanding debts. Pace Law Review, 24, 631-650. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol24/iss2/11

Bentley

J. P.

Thacker

P. G.

(2004). The influence of risk and monetary payment on the research participation decision making process. Journal of Medical Ethics, 30, 293-298. doi:10.1136/jme.2002.001594

Brase

G. L.

Fiddick

Harries

(2006). Participant recruitment methods and statistical reasoning performance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 965-976. doi:10.1080/02724980543000132

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, & Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. (2010). Tri-council policy statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans. Ottawa, Canada: Author. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/pdf/eng/tcps2/TCPS_2_FINAL_Web.pdf

Cobanoglu

(2003). The effect of incentives in web surveys: Application and ethical considerations. International Journal of Market Research, 45, 475-488.

Correctional Service of Canada. (2004). Guidelines 009: Research. Ottawa, Canada: Author. Retrieved from http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/plcy/doc/009-gl.pdf

Correctional Service of Canada. (2011). Commissioner’s directive 009: Research (Controlled version). Unpublished report, Correctional Service of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.

Cryder

C. E.

London

A. J.

Volpp

K. G.

Lowenstein

(2010) Informative inducement: Study payment as a signal of risk. Social Science and Medicine, 70, 455-464. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.047

10.

de Quervain

D. J.-F.

Fischbacher

Treyer

Schellhammer

Schnyder

Buck

Fehr

(2004). The neural basis of altruistic punishment. Nature, 305, 1254-1258. doi:10.1126/science.1100735

11.

Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Code of federal regulations: Public welfare, protection of human subjects (Report No. 45 CFR 46). Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/ohrpregulations.pdf

12.

Edens

J. F.

Epstein

Stiles

P. G.

Poythress

N. G.

(2011). Voluntary consent in correctional setting: Do offenders feel coerced to participate in research? Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 29, 771-795. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.62.1.87

13.

Faden

Beauchamp

(1986). History and theory of informed consent. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

14.

Festinger

D. S.

Marlowe

D. B.

Dugosh

K. L.

Croft

J. R.

Arabia

P. L.

(2008). Higher magnitude cash payments improve research follow-up rates without increasing drug use or perceived coercion. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 96, 128-135. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.02.007

15.

Fry

C. L.

Hall

Ritter

Jenkinson

(2006). The ethics of paying drug users who participate in research: A review and practical recommendations. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1(4), 21-36. doi:10.1525/jer.2006.1.4.21

16.

Grady

(2005). Payment of clinical research subjects. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 115, 1681-1687. doi:10.1172/JCI25694

17.

Groth

S. W.

(2010) Honorarium or coercion: Use of incentives for participants in clinical research. Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 41, 11-13.

18.

Halpern

S. D.

(2011). Financial incentives for research participation: Empirical questions, available answers and the burden of further proof. American Journal of Medical Sciences, 342, 290-293.

19.

Hutt

L. E.

(2003). Paying research subjects: Historical considerations. Health Law Review, 12, 16-21.

20.

Largent

E. A.

Grady

Miller

F. G.

Wertheimer

(2012). Money, coercion, and undue inducement: Attitudes about payments to research participants. IRB: Ethics and Human Research, 34(1), 1-8.

21.

Macklin

(1981). “Due” and “undue” inducements: On paying money to research subjects. IRB: Ethics and Human Research, 3, 1-6. doi:10.2307/3564136

22.

Matheson

F. I.

Forrester

Brazil

Doherty

Affleck

(in press). Incentives for research participation: Policy and practice from Canadian Corrections. American Journal of Public Health.

23.

McGregor

(2005). “Undue inducement” as coercive offers. American Journal of Bioethics, 5, 24-25. doi:10.1080/15265160500245048

24.

McNeill

(1997). Paying people to participate in research: Why not? Bioethics, 11, 390-396. doi:10.1111/1467-8519.00079

25.

National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. Bethesda, MD: Author. Retrieved from http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/belmont.html

26.

Office of the Clerk. (2012, February 16). The prison escape of former Representative William “Boss” Tweed of New York. In Art and history: Weekly historical highlights. Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved from http://artandhistory.house.gov/highlights.aspx?action=view&intID=360

27.

Reynolds

G. L.

Fisher

Cagle

Johnson

M. E.

(1999). The role of employment cycles and incentives in the recruitment of drug users. In Levy

J. A.

Stephens

R. C.

McBride

D. C.

(Eds.), Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 7: Emergent issues in the field of drug abuse (pp. 289-300). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group.

28.

Rush

M. C.

Phillips

J. S.

Panek

P. E.

(1978). Subject recruitment bias: The paid volunteer subject. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 443-449. doi:10.2466/pms.1978.47.2.443

29.

Salerno

J. M.

Najdowski

C. J.

Stevenson

M. C.

Wiley

T. R. A

Bottoms

B. L.

Vaca

Pimentel

P. S.

(2010). Psychological mechanisms underlying support for juvenile sex offender registry laws: Prototypes, moral outrage, and perceived threat. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 28, 58-83. doi:10.1002/bsl.921

30.

Schüklenk

(2000). Protecting the vulnerable: Testing times for clinical research ethics. Social Science and Medicine, 51, 969-977. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00075-7

31.

Serial killer Clifford Olson dies: Canada’s most notorious dangerous offender dead from cancer. (2011, September 9). CBC News Canada. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/30/clifford-olson-death.html

32.

Sharp

E. C.

Pelletier

L. G.

Lévesque

(2006). The double-edged sword of rewards for participation in psychology experiments. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 38, 269-277. doi:10.1037/cjbs2006014

33.

Singer

Bossarte

R. M.

(2006). Incentives for survey participation: When are they “coercive”? American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31, 411-418. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2006.07.013

34.

Smoyer

A. B.

Blankenship

K. M.

Belt

(2009). Compensation for incarcerated research participants: Diverse state policies suggest a new research agenda. American Journal of Public Health, 99(10), 5-11. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2008.148726

35.

Tetley

(2007, May 3). Pedophile payout. Calgary Herald. Retrieved from http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=a758a694-599e-4bc1-844d-4e1cda58fb7a&sponsor=

36.

Tomporowski

P. D.

Simpson

R. G.

Hager

(1993). Method of recruiting subjects and performance on cognitive tests. American Journal of Psychology, 106, 499-521. doi:10.2307/1422966

37.

Ward

Willis

(2010). Ethical issues in forensic and correctional research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15, 399-409. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2010.07.002

38.

Wertheimer

Miller

F.G.

(2008). Payment for research participation: A coercive offer? Journal of Medical Ethics, 34, 389-392. doi:10.1136/jme.2007.021857

39.

Wilkinson

Moore

(1997). Inducement in research. Bioethics, 11, 373-389. doi:10.1111/1467-8519.00078

40.

Wilkinson

Moore

(1999). Inducements revisited. Bioethics, 13, 114-130. doi:10.1111/1467-8519.00136

41.

World Medical Association. (2008). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Ferney-Voltaire, France: Author. Retrieved from http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

10.04 MB