Violated All Of The Ethical Principles Of Truman Capote

Truman Capote violated all of the ethical principles; beneficence, respect for human dignity, and justice that were implemented with the Belmont Report. Although the Belmont report was not in practice in the 1950’s, the establishment of the Nuremberg code in 1949 could have served as a guideline for Truman Capote in collecting research data regarding the murders of the Clutter family. In conducting his qualitative research, Truman Capote disregarded several ethical principles that we follow today. This started with his initial questioning of Laura Kinney, how he gained access to Alvin Dewey, and was especially evident in his interactions with Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. For the purposes of this discussion, I will focus on the ethical implications

Truman Capote never considered or attempted to decrease the harm that could come to Perry and Richard in the form of emotional duress, financial as far as losing their lawyer, and social duress (Polit & Beck, 2017). Truman sets this precedent when he withdraws his friendship in a tactic to get Perry to open up about the murders, in turn causing emotional distress in his subject. This demonstrates insensitivity to his subject and withdrawal of his social support in the form of friendship. Furthermore, this conditional friendship exploits the researcher-participant relationship for the researchers gain. In addition, he never delineates his role as a researcher, and he conducts all of his communications with Perry under the pretenses of being his

In addition, Truman exploited Perry’s lower social standing by using his own experiences to appeal to his sensitivities about his past. This example violates the right to fair treatment, which is the principle of justice under the Belmont report, in his selection of his participants (Polit & Beck, 2017). The question becomes, was it more important for society to know the details or for Perry to have obtained his rights and endure less emotional discomfort due to Truman’s tactics. However, it was never Truman Capote’s intention to benefit society or Perry over his own personal gain. This was evident in his statements: “I don’t care one way or another if they catch who did this”, “When I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe”, and “I cannot finish my book until I know what happens” (Baron et al., 2005).

Furthermore, Truman did not seek out approval from anyone prior to deciding to write an article in the New Yorker, which would become a book. In today’s practice, the conduction of this form of research would require approval of an Institutional Review Board. Truman disregards and exploits another principle of justice, the right to privacy, in the form of confidentiality the conduction of his research (Polit & Beck, 2017). Truman showed no regard for his privacy when asked not to go visit his sister and openly shared what was in Perry’s personal