SearchNEWS & EVENTS
The Texas After Violence Project Seeks Candidates for Executive Director PositionSubmitted by TAVP2007 on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 05:11.
Interim Executive Director Appointed for the Texas After Violence ProjectSubmitted by TAVP2007 on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 21:54.
Witnessing An Execution in Texas: A podcast by Maurice ChammahSubmitted by Virginia Raymond on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 17:24.
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Research protocol for personal narrative interviews - last revised July 6, 1009(We have revised this interview protocol several times since September 2007, based on our actual experiences, reading, and advice from many people. The present version was most recently updated on July 6, 2009. Students or others who wish to work with the Texas After Violence Project may narrow this research protocol. For instance, a student may decide that she wishes to interview only prosecutors or EMS personnel. However a student working with the Texas After Violence Project may not broaden this research protocol; she may not decide, for instance, to interview people under the age of eighteen (18) or incarcerated persons. Nor may a student working with the Texas After Violence Project decide to alter the method of interviewing.) Effects of Capital Punishment in Texas Primary Investigators: [Student’s name here] AND Telephone: [Student’s telephone number here] Mailing address: [Mailing address of student here] Street Address: [Street address of student here] Website: Website for faculty member Introduction The Texas After Violence Project (TAVP) is conducting a qualitative study into the effects of capital punishment on individuals and communities in Texas. We will use a combination of oral history interviews, public records, and secondary sources (such as news media reports) to study the effects of capital punishment in Texas. Proponents of capital punishment and popular media regularly assert that the death penalty provides “closure” to grieving families of murder victims. Those who counsel grieving families, however, dispute that notion, as do a works such as Linda L. White, “A Tiger by the Tail: The Mother of a Murder Victim Grapples with the Death Penalty” (2005); Don’t Kill in Our Name: Family Members of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty, Rachel King (2005); and Susannah Sheffer, Renny Cushing, and Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind (2006). We also know very little about the effects of capital punishment on investigators, lawyers, judges, prison employees, and other government employees or contractors who participate in proceedings that result in execution. Ruth Massingill and Ardyth Broadrick Soan begin to offer some answers in their recent Prison City: Living with the Death Penalty in Huntsville, Texas (2007), but there is much more to learn. Finally, only a few researchers have attended to the effects of executions on the family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, teachers, and other people related to executed persons. These few include Rachel King, Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories (2005); Elizabeth Beck, Sarah Britto, and Arlene Andrews, In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families (2007); and individual accounts such as Robert Meeropol’s An Execution in the Family: One Son’s Journey (2003). Since December 7, 1982, when the State of Texas executed Charles Brooks, to execute people again following a decade-long hiatus after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the State Texas has executed 406 people (“Executed Offenders,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice, http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm, accessed July 6, 2008). At the time of this writing, there are fourteen executions scheduled for dates between July 10 and October 16, 2008 (“Scheduled Executions,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice, http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/scheduledexecutions.htm, accessed July 6, 2008). The number of people directly affected by executions in Texas is enormous. Method We will conduct oral history interviews, search public records, and study news reports and other secondary materials about these sets of tragedies. The following protocol applies only to the personal narrative oral histories. In this protocol, the terms "narrator," "interview subject," "person interviewed," and "interviewee" will be used interchangeably. The terms "Texas After Violence Project" and "TAVP" will also be used interchangeably. Oral history interviews and communications between potential narrators or narrators with the Texas After Violence Project are not privileged. The Texas After Violence Project agrees to keep the interview private unless and until such time as the narrator approves its release, but this confidentiality is not protected by law (as opposed to communications with a spouse, member of the clergy, attorney, physician, or other health provider, which are privileged and which would be protected under most circumstances). A court could conceivably order that the Texas After Violence Project release a tape, DVD, interview transcription, correspondence, or other materials. The Texas After Violence Project will not interview anyone about pending criminal cases, and no one should divulge any privileged information to the Texas After Violence Project in any interview or other communication. Identification of potential interviewees We will identify potential interviewees from among the following three categories of people. 1) Family members or friends of people who have been murdered, especially in Texas. 2) Family members or friends of people who have been executed by the State of Texas. 3) Anyone who has participated in the investigation of a capital crime, a capital trial murder trial, challenges to death sentences, and anyone who has participated or witnessed in processes that culminated in an execution. This group is intended to be a broad one, and will include, but not be limited to, the following: police officers, emergency medical technicians, health care personnel, investigators, forsensics specialists, any witnesses, jurors, bailiffs, judges, lawyers, paralegals, other legal staff, prison employees, parole board members, cooks, chaplains, persons who administer the lethal injection, correctional officers, clergy, media witnesses to executions, morticians, persons who have signed a death certificate following an execution, funeral home directors, and cemetery personnel. Excluded groups We will not interview anyone who, to our knowledge and to the extent that we can reasonably determine, 2) is incarcerated (whether in a jail, state jail, prison, committed to a mental hospital or rehabilitation program, or any other locked facility where she or he does not have the liberty to leave at will), 3) is on parole or probation, 4) is hospitalized, 5) has a physical or mental health problem that the interview process would obviously complicate or aggravate, 6) has herself or himself been charged with a capital crime and is in any phase of criminal or appellate proceedings or has a family member or friend who has been charged with a capital crime and is in any phase of criminal or appellate proceedings, or 7) who lacks the mental capacity to give full informed consent to the interview. Not all of these excluding conditions are always obvious, and any of these circumstances might arise at any time. We will not provide medical or psychological examinations before the interviews. We will rely on potential interviewees to let us know if any of these excluding conditions apply to them or to simply withdraw from the interview process at any time without having to provide us with a reason (see “Withdrawing from the Study” and “Termination of Interview by TAVP” below). Locating potential interview subjects We will identify potential interviewees in any one of the following ways, or in combination. 1) Public records. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice maintains a list of persons executed by the State of Texas. For any given name on the list, we can find the trial transcript and post-conviction records in state court and, where applicable, federal court records. These records will allow us to identify next-of-kin of murder victims, executed persons, witnesses, and other participants; 2) Publicly available secondary sources, primarily news media; 3) Recommendations or suggestions from other people (the “snowball” method); 4) Strategically placed public notices. Contacting potential interview subjects If Texas After Violence Project team members know a potential interviewee, or are approached by a potential interviewee, the first contact may take place in person or over the phone. Otherwise, the first contact from a TAVP interviewer will be by letter or e-mail. Letters will but tailored to the circumstance and will inform the potential interview subject of the means by which the researchers obtained the potential interviewer subject’s name. Letters or e-mails will attach or incorporate the project brochure in English, Spanish, or Vietnamese as seems appropriate to the best of the researchers’ knowledge. Interviews 1) Location Interviews will be conducted in private. We prefer to conduct the interview in the person’s home; however, if a home interview is not possible for some reason, or if the person to be interviewed does not want the interview to be at her/his home, we will find another safe, comfortable, and private place to interview the person. In some cases, interviews may be conducted in our office in Austin. We will not conduct any interview in a professional office (counselor, therapist, psychiatrist, other physician, or lawyer), unless the person interviewed is a professional and the interview is taking place in her or his own office. This precaution is necessary for two reasons. First, we must make sure that we do not accidentally or otherwise mislead anyone into believing that TAVP is providing professional services or will do so in the future. Second, we must make sure that people do not erroneously believe that their communications with us are legally privileged. These communications will not be covered by the attorney client privilege, privilege accorded to communications with clergy, or medical confidentiality. 2) Language All interviews will be conducted in person and in the oral history subject’s preferred language (we expect that typically a person would want to be interviewed in her or his native language, but we will leave this decision up to the individual.) 3) Persons present A minimum of two TAVP personnel will conduct each interview; one TAVP person will interview and another TAVP person will record the interview. Under no circumstances will anyone conduct an interview alone. Under most circumstances, there should be only two TAVP representatives present. For purposes of training and supervision of new interviewers or recorders, however, there may be up to four TAVP persons present in unusual circumstances. No more than four TAVP persons will be present at an interview. The person to be interviewed may invite any person or persons she wants to be present. 4) Consent At the outset of the interview, the interviewer will again explain the purpose of the study, the procedures, and the rights and control retained by the interview subject. Before the interview begins, the interviewer will review the consent form with the narrator and ask her or him to sign it. Interviewers shall ask the narrator to sign the consent form and shall ask the narrator to consent on tape, as well. 5 ) Interview method TAVP interviewers ask a small number of directed questions at the beginning and end of the interview (see brochures). For the bulk of the interview, however, TAVP interviewers try to ask open-ended questions and interrupt the interview subjects as little as possible. Insofar as possible, TAVP interviewers attempt to facilitate the interview subjects’ telling their own stories in their own ways. 6) Length of interview In most cases, the person who is the subject of the interview will determine the length of the interview. In rare cases, the interviewer may decide to terminate an interview if, for instance, it becomes obvious that the person being interviewed is in physical pain caused or aggravated by the interview. Interviews may be as short as 45 minutes and as long as three or four hours, with breaks at the hour. If the person has more to say, and if the person consents to be interviewed further, a second or continuing interview may take place on a different day. (See also “Termination of Interview”) 7) Recording of interviews TAVP will record interviews with audio-visual equipment, specifically a mini HD-DV camcorder. If the person being interviewed does not want to be filmed, the TAVP cameraperson will cover the camera lens. TAVP will also use one or more back-up recorders, such as use a digital voice recorder or a cassette recorder, in case the audio portion of the camera fails. Precautions for the confidentiality of back-up recordings are the same as for the audio-visual recordings. 8) Withdrawing from this study A person is free to withdraw her or his consent and stop participation in this research study at any time without penalty. The person interviewed has the right to interrupt an interview at any time, postpone an interview session, or terminate an interview at any time. 9) Termination of interview by the Texas After Violence Project If at any point during the interview process, TAVP interviewers or other workers discover that a person is under eighteen years of age, not mentally competent to consent to the interview, physically unable to withstand the interview, or otherwise unable to be interviewed, we may terminate the interview immediately. The TAVP may also terminate an interview if the privacy of the interview is threatened or has already been compromised by the appearance of another person, or other reason. TAVP may also terminate an interview for other compelling reasons (e.g., the interview is outside and a storm arises). Process after the interview 1) Provision of recording to person interviewed As soon as practicable after the interview, TAVP will provide the person interviewed with a complete, unedited audio or audiovisual recording of the interview. TAVP will provide this copy within two weeks, unless there are extenuating circumstances that render TAVP unable to do so. This copy of the recording belongs to the person interviewed; she or he may do anything with it that she or he sees fit. 2) Transcription of interviews The Texas After Violence Project, or a transcription service contracted by TAVP, will transcribe the interview as soon as practicable. All transcriptions will be done in the TAVP office or by contract with a professional transcribing service. In the case of extremely long interviews, or interviews that cover material not directly related to the project, TAVP may decide to transcribe only a portion or certain portions of the interview. 3) Review of transcript by person interviewed As soon as practicable after the preparation of the transcript, TAVP will send or deliver two printed copies of the transcript to the person interviewed, and a stamped envelope addressed to TAVP. The Texas After Violence Project will request that the person make any corrections, deletions, or additions to the transcript, that s/he wants, on one copy, and return the edited transcript to TAVP. 4) Editing of transcript after review Texas After Violence Project team members will edit the transcript as the interview subject directs. The edited version of the transcript will indicate where material has been deleted, added, or altered. Where material is altered, Texas After Violence Project team members shall indicate the general nature of the alteration [spelling, typographical error, corrected name, deleted material]. Request for donation of interview and materials After Texas After Violence Project has edited, incorporating the narrator's changes or requested changes, the Texas After Violence Project will ask the person to donate the interview material (recording, transcript, consent forms, and any additional material) to the Texas After Violence Projct. The donation form will ask the person interviewed to name a date certain on which the material may be made public. That date may be the date of consent, or at a date certain in the future. The donation form will make clear that the interview material will be kept both by TAVP for educational, non-commercial use after the date on which the material may be open to the public, and that the interview material will also be donated to the Center for American History (CAH) at the University of Texas, in Austin, as well as to public libraries and non-commercial educational institutions. The donation process has three parts: 1) The narrator agrees to donate the interview and related materials and signs a written form verifying that agreement. The narrator dates this donation form, signs her or his full name, and provides her or his date of birth on the form. 2) The narrator names a specific date on which the interview and related materials may be open to the public. 3) The Texas After Violence Project representative asks the interview narrator whether or not she or he consents to publication of the materials on the internet (or on the web or online). No interview, transcript, or other information related to the interview will be published online without the narrator's specific written consent. Copyright The interview is co-created and jointly owned by the narrator and the Texas After Violence Project. Narrator's rights: The narrator may do anything with the interview and materials that he or she wishes, with no limitations. Texas After Violence Project's rights: Once the narrator donates the interview and materials to the Texas After Violence Project and the designated date for public access has arrived, the Texas After Violence Project may use the interview and related materials for any educational and non-commercial purpose, including sharing these materials with public libraries and non-commercial educational institutions and archives. The Project Duration [Name of educational institution] faculty and students will begin research as soon as the IRB approves the study, and will continue for one year, at which point the researchers may request continuing approval. The Texas After Violence Project has already begun its research and will continue through June 2010, with the possibility of continuation depending on need to interview more people and availability of financial support for the project. Potential discomforts and risks to persons interviewed: The primary risk of this study is emotional or psychological. We will be asking the interviewee to tell us her or his personal story about painful and disturbing events. As he or she recalls and talks about these events, the person interviewed may feel sadness, heartbreak, anger, emotional stress, or a range of other emotions. For some people, talking about these events might result in sleeplessness, tension, or other physical effects of stress and depression. It is impossible to predict how any individual person will react to being interviewed. [Name of institution] faculty and student researchers in this study, and Texas After Violence Project interviewer-researchers are not counselors, social workers, psychologists, or psychiatrists. We do not provide, will not offer, and are not qualified to provide counseling or therapy services. If people we interview request counseling, we will attempt to provide them with referrals for counseling (psychological, mental health, crisis) wherever possible. A secondary potential risk is that the privacy and confidentiality of the person interviewed might be compromised before she or he is ready to share her story. There is no privilege for an oral history under the law. Moreover, every murder, legal process, and execution is unique. Therefore, it is not possible to interview anyone, share the story, in a public archive and guarantee the person’s confidentiality, because there will be unique identifying details in every instance. Persons interviewed may want their interviews to be closed to the public until a certain clearly designated date. The person interviewed may so direct on the separate donation form she or he signs giving the interview material to the archive (the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History on the campus University of Texas at Austin). The interview may not be open to the public until the date designated. The risk, therefore, is that interview materials get into someone else’s hands before the interview subject wishes them to be open to the public. This is a slight risk, but the person’s confidentiality might be compromised if 1) A court orders the Texas After Violence Project to deliver interview tapes, DVDs, or other materials. Oral history interviews and communications between a potential narrator or narrator and the Texas After Violence Project are not privileged. 2) Texas After Violence Project team members other volunteers fail to follow our own rules about use of the materials; 3) there is a car accident or other mishap as the interviewer returns to our office, leaving the materials unguarded or passed around; 4) there is a burglary at our office; 5) there is a car accident or other a mishap while we are transporting confidential interview materials to the an archive such as the Center for American History or 6) there is a lapse of security, error, or a burglary at the Center for American History, or If anything happens to compromise the private material before it should be released, we would take measures to recover the materials as soon as possible and to again secure them in our office or return them to the Center for American History. Should we suspect that our building is not secure, we will attempt to move confidential materials to a secure location as soon possible while we attempt to find another, safer, office. Possible benefits Some people appreciate being able to tell their stories to a person who listens carefully with empathy and without judgment. Some people may appreciate knowing that their stories can help others better understand the complicated effects of the death penalty on real people in Texas. We hope that our interview process will help people feel validated and honored but we cannot offer any guarantees about how the interview process will make any particular person feel. Costs to persons interviewed The only cost to a person who consents to be interviewed is her or his time. If the person does not live in Austin, normally TAVP interviewers will travel to the home of the person being interviewed. If the interview subject is coming to Austin for some reason other than the interview, anyway, the interview may be conducted in Austin. Will people receive compensation for agreeing to be interviewed? No. There will be no financial or other compensation for this study, either at the time of the interview or later. What if an interview subject is injured because of the study? The Texas After Violence Project has no program or plan to provide treatment for research related injury. We also do not have any plan, program, or the resources, to compensate anyone in the event of a psychological or other medical problem. We do not anticipate that the study would cause any injury. If a potential interview subject/narrator does not want to take part in this study, what other options are available to her or him? If a person does not want to take part in this study, there will be no consequences. We are only interested in interviewing people who want to be interviewed. How will the privacy and the confidentiality of personal records be protected? As soon as possible after any interview, the interviewer will take all materials from the interview and place these in locked and secure place. We will transcribe the materials in our office. We will keep interview materials secure until the time when we deliver or send a transcript of the interview to the interview subject for her or his review and approval. On approval of the transcript, we will keep the interview and materials secure until the interview subject donates these materials to the TAVP and we, in turn, donate these materials to the Center for American History. On the date that the interview subject allows the material to be public, any member of the public, including staff, volunteers, and researchers associated with TAVP, may use the material for educational, non-commercial purposes, which could include documentary video or film, articles, books, or curriculum. |