Using the internet for criminology and criminal justice research: Applications, benefits and pitfalls

The Internet as a vehicle for collecting data has been largely neglected in the literature (Dillman, 2000; Klein and Smith, 2002) and in social research, particularly in the field of criminology and criminal justice. This article considers some possible applications for the web and email in criminology and criminal justice research. It explores some of the relative merits of these methods of data collection, as well as discussing how possibly to overcome a number of their drawbacks. The article concludes by considering the future prospects for web and e-mail in this context.