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“Going Public”: Accessing Data, Contesting Information Blockades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Justin Piché
Justin Piché
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Memorial University, St John's, NL A1C 5S7, Canada, jpiche@mun.ca, www.tpcp-canada.blogspot.com
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Extract

Among prison scholars it is well known that access to penal institutions for the purposes of conducting research is not a given. For instance, in the Canadian context, some social researchers have been effectively barred from conducting studies inside prisons or have had to modify their research designs in order to enter the carceral. The ability to obtain unpublished records on imprisonment policies and practices in Canada has also been cited as a cumbersome process that often results in non-disclosure of the documents sought.

Beyond data collection, social researchers have also raised concerns about the challenges of communicating their findings to publics outside the academy. In criminology, in particular, scholars have been concerned with the perceived lack of influence academic work has had on public policy and public opinion. These interventions, while not novel, have resulted in calls for a public criminology, renewing a discussion on how to disseminate research to non-academic audiences.

Although much of the access to information literature is focused on the techniques used to obtain data as well as the barriers encountered during the process, and the public criminology literature is centred principally around the question of how to reach and influence those outside the halls of the university, few have examined how data collection and dissemination activities shape subsequent information flows. Here, I am not referring to the moments when and sites where the “policing of criminological knowledge” occur that mediate access to data sources and diffusion opportunities based on the epistemological orientations and political agendas of gatekeepers.

Type
Problems in Accessing Information: A Collection of Essays
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 635 - 643
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2011

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References

1 Yeager, Matthew, “Getting the Usual Treatment: Censorship and the Marginalization of Convict Criminology,” Contemporary Justice Review 11 (2008): 413–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Martel, Joane, “Policing Criminological Knowledge: The Hazards of Qualitative Research on Women in Prison,” Theoretical Criminology 8 (2004): 157–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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6 See Martel, “Policing Criminological Knowledge.”

7 Foucault, Michel, The Archaeology of Knowledge (New York: Pantheon, 1972)Google Scholar.

8 For a more detailed account of my methodological framework consult Piché, Justin, “Accessing the State (of Imprisonment) in Canada: Information Barriers and Negotiation Strategies,” in Brokering Access: Power, Politics and Freedom of Information Process in Canada, ed. Larsen, Mike and Walby, Kevin (Vancouver: UBC Press, forthcoming 2012)Google Scholar.

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10 See Sampson, Rob, Gascon, Serge, Glen, Ian, Clarence, Chief Louie, and Rosenfeldt, Sharon, A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety: Report of the Correctional Service of Canada Review Panel (Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2007)Google Scholar.

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14 Speakers for the event included Craig Jones (then executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada), Kim Pate (executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies), and Tara Lyons (then executive director of the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy). The panel was chaired by Eugene Oscapella (co-founder of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy).

15 According to figures provided by provincial-territorial governments, as of February 17, 2010, there were 22 new prisons and nine expansions to existing facilities in the process of being established that will add 5,788 prisoner beds at a construction cost of $2.724 billion. It should be noted that these figures have been revised on several occasions as I prepared briefings and presentations for the May 2010 Bi-annual Meeting of the Provincial–Territorial Heads of Corrections, a March 2011 appearance before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, and an October 2011 appearance before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. As of October 2, 2011, there were 22 new prisons and 17 additions to existing facilities at the provincial–territorial level that will add more than 6,300 prisoner beds at a construction cost of approximately $3.4 billion.

16 As of October 2011, CSC has yet to issue a formal response to a research application I filed in April 2011.

17 Head, Don, “Changes to the Senior Ranks of CSC/Changements au niveau de la direction du SCC” (Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada [CSC], December 23, 2009)Google Scholar.

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23 See Tibbetts, Janice, “Tories' Planned Prison Legislation to Cost Billions,” Canwest News Service (April 28, 2010), http://www.globaltvbc.com/Tories+prison+legislation+will+cost+billions/2961526/story.html (last accessed August 14, 2010)Google Scholar.

24 Piché, Justin, “Prison Budget Showdown: Toews vs. Page, Provinces and Territories vs. the Feds,” Tracking the Politics of “Crime” and Punishment in Canada (April 29, 2010), http://tpcp-canada.blogspot.com/ (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar.

25 See Liberal Party of Canada, “Harper's Billion-Dollar Crime Agenda: More Out-of-Control Spending” (June 22, 2010), http://www.liberal.ca/newsroom/news-release/harper's-billion-dollar-crime-agenda-more-out-of-control-spending/ (last accessed August 4, 2010); New Democratic Party of Canada [NDP], “Government Lacks Transparency and Credibility Prison Costs: Davies” (June 22, 2010), http://www.ndp.ca/press/government-lacks-transparency-credibility-on-prison-costs-davies (last accessed August 4, 2010).

26 See May, Kathryn, “Watchdog, Critics Decry Lack of Financial Information from Tories,” Ottawa Citizen (May 9, 2010), http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Watchdogs+critics+decry+lack+nnancial+information+from+Tories/3006934/story.html (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar; “Sentencing Act to Cost Billions: Report,” CBC News (June 22, 2010), http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/22/truth-in-reconciliation-pbo-report.html (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar; “Budget Officer Sounds Fiscal Alarm on Tory Sentencing Law,” Globe and Mail (June 22, 2010), http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ budget-officer-sounds-fiscal-alarm-on-tory-sentencing-law/article1612988/ (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar; “Crime Bill Could Double Costs of Prisons: Watchdog,” CTV News (June 22, 2010), http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20100622/crime-costs-page-100622/s (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar; Smith, Joanna, “Federal Prison Bill to Cost a Billion Dollars a Year: Report,” Toronto Star (June 22, 2010), http://www.thestar.com/ news/canada/article/826778-tory-crime-bill-to-cost-extra-618m-per-year-report-finds (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar; Tibbetts, Janice, “Watchdog Pans Prison Spending Plan,” Canwest News Service (June 22, 2010), http://www.globalnews.ca/watchdog+pans+prison+spending+plan/78472/story.html (last accessed August 4, 2010)Google Scholar.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 See CSC, Physical Infrastructure.

31 See Mathiesen, Thomas, Silently Silenced: Essays on the Creation and Acquiescence in Modern Society (Winchester: Waterside Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

32 See Martel, “Policing Criminological Knowledge.”

33 See Yeager, “Getting the Usual Treatment”; Yeager, “Freedom of Information Act.”