Assignment:
Robert was interested in learning about the workings of professional burglars. Several years ago, he made contact with someone who could put him in touch with a professional burglar, although the burglar had retired several years ago. He contacted this person, who forwarded his interest on to the "retired" professional burglar. The burglar agreed to participate in a series of interviews. The first two interviews went fine, but on the third occasion, his subject indicated that he was planning a burglary in a new development. This was to be a one-time event (rather than a return from retirement) involving burglarizing the home of a wealthy resident in this development. Robert promised his subject anonymity and confidentiality at the outset of his research, but he now had information indicating that a crime was about to be committed.
1. What is Robert's responsibility at this point?
2. Should he contact the police or warn the people whose house is about to be burglarized?
3. Is he bound by his commitment to not reveal any of the information he obtained, except in a scientific publication in a journal?
Make sure to include specific material from the sociology Code of Ethics as part of the information you include in your analysis. You may find the Code of Ethics below:
American Sociological Association: Code of Ethics
https://www2.asanet.org/members/ecoderev.html. You should be able to click on the "full copy" which is a PDF file and save it to your desktop.
The link is also available under the "External Links" button.