The study found that no matter how hard the researcher tried, they would eventually interfere with the research because the informant would use the researcher to construct their story. Secondly, because the researcher wanted to observe, they supported the ruling relations. This study evaluated the contemporary conflicts between advocacy and research that women criminologists, especially those who research male offenders, might face. The analysis shows the far reaching of state-derived power over so called offenders, and reveals that gender is of the utmost relevance in criminological research because of the close relation between state power over offenders and patriarchy. The focus of the article was Kevin, 1 of 27 men the researcher interviewed for a study of life stories of violent male offenders. Kevin was on death row and the researcher is an activist in the international movement to abolish the death penalty. In step with Kevin’s execution date, he became increasingly harassing to the researcher. Notes, references