Policy conflicts in shale development in China and the United States

Policy conflicts are ubiquitous in many countries. Yet research on policy conflict is typically based on cases in western, democratic countries. As a result, little is known about the characteristics of policy conflicts in non-western countries, such as China, or how these characteristics compare to western contexts. The Policy Conflict Framework (PCF) was recently developed to help scholars identify, diagnose, and compare policy conflict characteristics. This research uses the PCF to guide a comparative analysis of the nature of policy conflicts in China and the United States. With interview data on policy actors from Chongqing, China and Colorado, USA, we present the findings by comparing the differences and similarities of policy conflicts in the two countries around shale oil and gas development. We conclude with the strengths and limitations of this comparative study of policy conflicts in China and other national contexts, along with recommendations for conducting PCF research in China.     

Iranian women's pathways to imprisonment

Using official data and interviews with 101 women in Evin prison, Tehran, this article explores prisoners' pathways to incarceration. The concept of “intersection” is used to help understand how traversing and diverging networks of power position women in ways that encourage their criminal actions, criminalization, and contribute toward their imprisonment. The term also highlights points of overlap and distinction between Iranian and Western women's experiences. Importantly, it encourages us to consider the global context of criminal justice.     

Physician-assisted suicide in Oregon: a medical perspective

This Article examines the Oregon Death with Dignity Act from a medical perspective. Drawing on case studies and information provided by doctors, families, and other care givers, it finds that seemingly reasonable safeguards for the care and protection of terminally ill patients written into the Oregon law are being circumvented. The problem lies primarily with the Oregon Public Health Division ("OPHD"), which is charged with monitoring the law. OPHD does not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and in its actions and publications acts as the defender of the law rather than as the protector of the welfare of terminally ill patients. We make explicit suggestions for what OPHD would need to do to change that.     

Changing policy and practice in the child welfare system through collaborative efforts to identify and respond effectively to family violence

The Greenbook provides a roadmap for child welfare agencies to collaborate and provide effective responses to families who are experiencing co-occurring child maltreatment and domestic violence. A multisite developmental evaluation was conducted of six demonstration sites that received federal funding to implement Greenbook recommendations for child welfare agencies. Surveys of child welfare caseworkers show significant changes in several areas of agency policy and practice, including regular domestic violence training, written guidelines for reporting domestic violence, and working closely and sharing resources with local domestic violence service providers. Case file reviews show significant increases in the level of active screening for domestic violence, although this increase peaks at the midpoint of the initiative. These findings, coupled with on-site interview data, point to the importance of coordinating system change activities in child welfare agencies with a number of other collaborative activities.     

The Cultural Power of Law and the Cultural Enactment of Legality: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage

This paper examines the legal consciousness of same-sex couples with respect to marriage. Data from an interview-based study of 71 members of same-sex couples reveal strong consensus on the desirability of having samesex relationships legally recognized, and considerable variation in couples'attempts to enact marriage culturally through various practices, including the use of marriage-related terminology and public commitment rituals. I argue that some of these efforts to enact marriage culturally should also be read as attempts to enact legality in the absence of official law. The findings from this study challenge the idea that marginalized social actors will tend toward a resistant legal consciousness: Rather than seeking to avoid and evade legality in their everyday lives, most same-sex couples seem to embrace legality for its practical and symbolic resources, even as they stand "against the law" in their opposition to the exclusion of same-sex couples from the institution of legal marriage. Approaching marriage from the perspective of same-sex couples, this research demonstrates that the legal and cultural aspects of marriage are deeply intertwined. Cultural enactments of marriage enact legality even in the absence of official law, and many actors ascribe to law a cultural power that transcends its specific benefits and protections, the power to produce social and cultural equality.     

Parental Kidnapping: A Survey of Left-Behind Parents

Parental kidnapping is examined through a survey instrument developed by Rosemary Farley Janvier. The survey was tested and mailed to 283 left-behind parent victims nationwide; 65 parents elected to participate (a 23% return rate). The survey results yielded a statistical profile of parental kidnappings, with distinct differences between domestic and international cases. The differences were both in gender of the perpetrator and the victims, marital, and custodial status. The circumstances surrounding the kidnappings, use and effectiveness of existing legal remedies as preventive measures, law enforcement, attorneys, and the court?s responses, both pre-kidnapping and post-kidnapping and the emotional and financial costs to the parent victims were assessed. Recommendations by the left-behind parents for prevention of parental kidnappings are offered for legislative changes and procedural changes for the law enforcement community, attorneys, and the judiciary in decisions to be made to ultimately protect children from this trauma through prevention. Special recognition to the staff of the Ocean County Advisory Commission on the Status of Women, Ann Finnegan, Project Coordinator, and Lynn Ross, clerical support.