Public and Parliamentary Attitudes to Welfare

One of the core functions of parliament in the United Kingdom is arguably to represent the views of the people. While opinions differ as to the precise nature of this representation, one would expect to find a broad measure of comparability between public opinion and the opinions of those representing the public in parliament.

This article examines the extent to which shifts in political attitudes towards the welfare state have been reflected in public opinion, particularly since the election of New Labour in 1997. Using data derived from a series of interviews with MPs from all sides of the House of Commons, and information on public attitudes to welfare collated from the British Social Attitudes survey, it seeks to identify and explain areas of disagreement and consensus in public and parliamentary attitudes to welfare. It focuses in particular on questions regarding commitment to state welfare provision, priorities in welfare spending and attitudes towards funding for welfare services.     

Keeping the pieces together: comparison of mass grave excavation methodology

Mass graves are a complex and confusing mix of bodies, body parts, soils, artifacts, and other feature evidence. Forensic investigations of these complex crime scenes should attempt to maximize the collection of evidence, which includes the mortal remains, in their best possible condition as they were deposited within the graves. Two standard methods of mass grave excavation were examined with the aim of identifying the better approach. Two experienced teams using different methodologies excavated two separate but very comparable mass graves located in the same area. Single disarticulated skeletal elements not associated with a body at the time of removal from the grave were categorized and their counts analyzed to evaluate the efficiency of the differing excavation methodologies. The methodologies used were the 'pedestal' method, which focuses on the body mass, and the 'stratigraphic' method, in which the grave feature and contents are conjointly excavated. The first grave (Grave A), excavated using the 'pedestal' method, was observed to have a disproportionately larger amount of unassociated bones than did the second (Grave B), which used the 'stratigraphic' method. Chi-square (chi2) goodness-of-fit and contingency tests were performed on the total numbers of recorded elements and different categorical groups of bones, based on size and shape, in each grave. Results demonstrate that significantly greater numbers of unassociated elements resulted from the excavation of Grave A using the pedestal method, both in total number of disarticulated bones as well as within 'large' and 'medium' categories. Conversely 'small' skeletal elements were recovered at a higher rate in Grave B. The lower 'large' and 'medium' bone production rates from Grave B indicate that the stratigraphic method better maintained the provenience and articulation of remains than did Grave A, while the higher 'small' bone recovery rate may point to better recovery techniques of Grave B's excavation team.     

Searching for a National Policy on the Arts

There have always been United States policies on the arts. Some of the nation's founding fathers envisioned federal support for the arts. Congress maintained the Constitution did not empower it to “encourage” the arts, but enacted legislation addressing acknowledged national concerns that also regulated the arts, employed artists, acquired artworks, and created cultural institutions. These uncoordinated de facto arts policies provided models for future action on arts-related matters. The federal government's failure to address the arts more directly produced a contentious environment for the nation's artists, leaving them to feel disenfranchised. Advocates’ attempting to gain parity for artists and the arts gave rise to a national movement in the 1930s that continued into the 1960s, and constituted the pregovernmental agenda for the National Foundations on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965.     

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPARABLE WORTH IN IOWA

This research describes and analyzes the implementation of comparable worth legislation in Iowa and focuses on two aspects of the issue: implementatlon of the job evaluation study mandated by the law, and implementation of the classification and compensation systems which resulted from the study. The paper argues that the General Assembly involved itself too directly and too long in the implementation process which led to confrontation with the executive branch and numerous problems in the implementation of comparable worth legislation.     

Insanity plea: Relationship to victim and defendents

Conclusion The results of this analogue study clearly indicate that subjects' attitudes toward defendants, as measured by the type of disposition selected are influenced by their relationship to either the victim or the defendant with the most liberal alternatives occurring when the defendant is a relative and the most harsh alternatives chose when the victim of the crime is a relative. Although the present study was concermed with the insanity plea, it seems probables that similar findings might also transpire when other controversial matters in the criminal justice system as investigated, such as probation, parole, and mandatory jail sentences for persons convicted of driving under the influence.     

Seeking justice: The advantages and disadvantages of being educated

Criminal justice needs to be examined and developed in the larger context of social justice. Social ills such as pervasive individual and corporate greed and evasiveness need to be addressed as we attempt to promote a greater sense of social peace. Such an effort involves teaching meaningful social values in both general education settings as well as in the particular discipline of criminal justice.