A Right to Know? Using Access to Information as Method in Critical Criminological Research

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Sociology of Knowledge
• Public Policy

Background:

• Critical criminologists in Canada face significant barriers accessing prisons for research.
• Institutional gatekeeping and the policing of knowledge limit traditional qualitative inquiry methods.
• Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests have emerged as an alternative data collection strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the political dimensions of institutional gatekeeping in Canadian carceral settings.
• To highlight how ATIP requests are utilized as a method to circumvent research access barriers.
• To critique the limitations of transparency and accountability in government information access.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of institutional gatekeeping politics.
• Case studies detailing strategies for acquiring records from the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).
• Examination of ATIP requests as a method for qualitative inquiry.

Main Results:

• Two case studies illustrate successful strategies for obtaining records via ATIP after research applications were denied.
• The study reveals that government transparency, despite access to information legislation, remains largely a public myth.
• A lack of transparency is linked to the dominance of administrative criminology in Canada.

Conclusions:

• ATIP requests serve as a crucial, albeit indirect, method for critical criminological research in Canada.
• The current system prioritizes administrative criminology, devaluing critical perspectives and restricting information flow from carceral spaces.
• True transparency and accountability in accessing carceral data are undermined by systemic barriers.