JUVENILE COURT INTAKE An Analysis of Discretionary Decision-Making

An increasing amount of pressure has been directed toward juvenile court operations, much of which has focused on the hypothesized abuse of the broad discretionary decision-making power that has traditionally been vested in the court. In this paper, we attempt to examine the extent to which factors not directly associated with the nature of the alleged offense may alter the probability that a juvenile w.11 be referred for a formal hearing in the juvenile court, a step which many analysts feel may have the unintended function of promoting rather than inhibiting subsequent involvement in delinquent behavior. Based on an analysis of 346 cases, our findings show that a number of variables that are not of direct legal relevance do exert a significant influence on the dispositional process, but the magnitude of this influence is not as great as many have been led to expect given the orientation of some explanatory models, particularly those based on the propositions of the labeling school.     

Plant Closings and Public Policy: Achieving an Optimal Level of Plant Closings

A severe problem confronting the Northeast portion of the United States has been the closing of plants. In making the decision to close a plant, firms tend to consider private benefits and costs. However, there are significant external costs to the community and workers which an appropriate public policy should require firms to consider. The law has dealt with the plant closing issue in several ways, including the collective bargaining process through the National Labor Relations Act, court challenges, and state and local legislation. This study examines each of these and concludes by calling for comprehensive federal legislation.     

THE REASSURANCE FACTOR IN POLICE PATROL

In addition to its more obvious functions, police patrol also has the function of citizen reassurance-providing feelings of safety that a citizen experiences when he knows that a police officer or patrol car is nearby. Since this function is highly related to both visibility and awareness, it is svggested that in locations of both cognitive centrality and high density, fixed posts be established that would both serve the reassurance function and provide another communication link between the police and the public. Recent studies by Milgram. Sommer, Hall, and Lynch have all contributed to our understanding of what Milgram calls “the congnitive map of the city,” and this concept can be utilized in the pursuit of safety.     

CITY RULES OK? POLICY COMMUNITY,POLICY NETWORK AND TAKEOVER BIDS

This paper uses the concepts of policy community and policy network to analyse the particular set of industrial policy issues related to the conduct of takeover and merger bids. Within the general context of the law, the regulatory climate is governed by the principle of voluntary self-regulation, which since 1968 has been partly articulated in a written code whose rules are interpreted and enforced by a non-statutory body, the City Takeover Panel. The panel is one of several 'insider' organizations identified and categorized in terms of policy community. Relationships between it and other 'insiders' in the policy processes are analysed in terms of policy network and 'rules of the game'. It is argued that the stability of that network is increasingly threatened by the environmental turbulence provoked by the Guinness affair and the passage of the 1986 Financial Services Act.