Secrecy, Betrayal and Crime

Abstract

In the past few years numerous secret transgressions and crimes have been revealed in the media. Whistleblowers reveal clandestine agreements between managers and directors of large companies; criminals (pentiti) make deals with criminal justice officials; cyclists and athletes make public confessions about drug use; victims of sexual abuse come forward with their testimonies. In this paper, I try to analyze why attitudes about secrecy have changed in the last couple of decades and how and why so many secrets have been revealed, either by individuals who are complicit (whistleblowers or cyclists), by victims (of child abuse by the Catholic clergy) and by outsiders (WikiLeaks activists). In addition, some suggestions on the methods of criminological research in closed and isolated groups which consider such information leaks a form of betrayal are provided.

Keywords

• secrecy
• risk society
• participant observation
• trust
• criminal culture