INVESTIGATING THE NORMATIVE ASPECTS OF PUBLIC POLICY

This article challenges the idea that political philosophy must be of peripheral concern in the study of public policy through an exploration of the concept of harm and the debate over aggressive police patrol. This exploration begins with a brief discussion of the ways the concept of harm figures in the justification and administration of police work. It proceeds through an exposition of differing ways the concept of harm can be defined, the normative overtones of these varying definitions, and some of their policy ramifications with regard to police work. Finally, the way conceptual variation figures in policy debate is explored in the context of the debate over aggressive police patrol—the policy of maximizing the surveillance and criminal interception aspects of police activity as a patrol strategy.     

VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE AND REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT

Enforcement strategies that encourage "voluntary compliance" can improve regulatory efficiency by reducing unnecessary enforcement and compliance costs associated with legal confrontation between firms and agencies. This article analyzes the enforcement dilemma that causes confrontation and describes a "Tit for Tat" strategy capable of increasing socially beneficial cooperation. The strategy requires agencies to be reasonable toward cooperative firms, vengeful toward cheaters, unrelenting in pursuit of chronic evaders, but conciliatory toward repentant firms. Reforms in this neglected and poorly understood part of the regulatory process could yield considerable social benefits.     

THE ROLE OF TURNING POINTS IN ESTABLISHING BASELINE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEOPLE IN DEVELOPMENTAL AND LIFE‐COURSE CRIMINOLOGY

Turning points, between‐person differences, and within‐person changes have all been linked to desistance from crime. Nevertheless, the means through which between‐person differences are frequently captured in life‐course criminology makes them intertwined with, and perhaps confounded by, turning points in life. We propose that a new way of capturing the between‐person effect—the baseline between‐person difference—could benefit theoretically informed tests of developmental and life‐course issues in criminology. Because they occur at one time point immediately preceding a turning point in life, we demonstrate that baseline between‐person differences establish meaningful theoretical connections to behavior and the way people change over time. By using panel data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, we estimate models capturing within‐person change and baseline between‐person differences in social bonds (family support) and differential association (peer criminality) at the time of release from prison. The results demonstrate that baseline levels of family support protect people from postrelease substance use but not from crime. Baseline between‐person differences and within‐person changes in peer criminality, however, are robustly related to crime and substance use. Collectively, baseline between‐person differences seem critical for behavior and within‐person change over time, and the results carry implications for reentry‐based policy as well as for theory testing in developmental criminology more broadly.     

Policy planning in HM Customs and Excise Customs Policy Directorate. A trainer's perspective

Following the creation of flatter management structure, HM Customs and Excise reviewed the way they carried out the development of policy advice to decision takers. They wished to create a procedure to give an assurance of the quality of the work in the development of policy. With the aid of consultants, they identified a set of management tools and techniques to ensure that planning for policy development is carried out efficiently and effectively. These tools are: stakeholder analysis, to identify the key players and their interests in the policy to be developed; a policy family tree analysis to establish where a policy fits within wider government policy objectives; a project management checklist to enable decisions to be taken on resource allocation; an assessment of the priority to be assigned to the policy and its development; a high level assessment of the cost implications for business of complying with the policy; and the development of an evaluation plan to assess the success of the policy in delivering the policy objectives. HM C and E commissioned a successful training programme with the Civil Service College to help them deliver the quality in policy work they sought. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 223–234 (1997). No. of Figures: 4. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 0.     

Who controls the machine,revisited: command and control in the United Nations reform effort

Revisiting an analysis done ten years ago during one of the periodic efforts to reform the United Nations, the article suggests that the problem of control and accountability of the programming and budgeting process of the United Nations has not yet been resolved. Noting that the existing process does not allow for major changes in programmes and priorities and that it does not give the Secretary-General or the Member States a means for determining the organization's effectiveness, it argues for a new approach to command and control based on a service-delivery approach and adjustment of existing institutions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.