Citation

Campbell R, Fehler-Cabral G. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2017; 60(3-4): 476-482.

Affiliation

Harder and Company Community Research, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ajcp.12176

PMID

28921557

Abstract

We conducted a collaborative action research project with stakeholders in Detroit, Michigan, to develop long-term policy strategies to resolve ~11,000 untested rape kits that were discovered in a police storage facility in August 2009. In our research, we uncovered overwhelming evidence of victim-blaming behaviors and fundamental disrespect of rape survivors by the police, which directly contributed to their decisions not to submit kits for forensic testing. We had an ethical responsibility to report these negative findings accurately and completely, and in doing so, we were concerned that police stakeholders might disengage from the action research project and hamper our other ethical responsibilities to promote general and public welfare. In this article, we examine the ethical challenges of balancing accountability, collaboration, and social change.

© Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Language: en

Keywords

Action research; Criminal; Ethics; Justice system; Police; Rape; Rape kits; Sexual assault; Sexual assault kits