An Exploratory Analysis of Florida Law Enforcement Domestic Violence Policies

The high social cost of domestic violence has caught the attention of lawmakers and criminal justice agency administrators across the country. As public awareness and concern over the incidence of domestic violence has risen, domestic violence legislation has focused on, among other things, the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The purpose of this study is to examine Florida law enforcement agency response to domestic violence by analyzing agency standard operating procedures (SOPs) across measures identified in the Florida Model Policy for Domestic Violence. Utilizing content analysis, the authors identify agency policy mandates including the number of officers responding to the scene, the use of specialized units, availability of victim advocates, and procedures for investigation.     

Destructive Competition or Competition Destroyed? Regulatory Theory and the History of Irish Road Transportation Legislation

The principal aim of our study is to contribute to the debate over whether regulation is enacted in the interest of consumers, producers, political agents, or some combination of these. We examine the legislative debates and subsequent regulatory bills surrounding road transportation regulation in Ireland in light of the three dominant theories which purport to explain the existence of regulation: the public interest theory and the so-called Chicago and Virginia theories. A unique feature of our study is an attempt to integrate specific rhetorical concepts used in the public policy debates into the theoretical analysis of regulation. One noteworthy conclusion of our study is that theories of economic processes affect the shaping and results of public policy.     

Implementing Change in an Urban School District: A Case Study of the Reorganization of the Little Rock School District

In July 2005, the Little Rock, Arkansas, school district implemented a new policy to reorganize its management structure in order to create a more efficient bureaucracy. Using Richard Matland’s ambiguity‐conflict model of policy implementation, the authors examine the implementation of this school reorganization policy. Interviews and surveys were conducted with the superintendent and his executive assistants, school principals, teachers, and staff. In line with Matland’s model, the findings suggest that successful implementation is directly related to the policy characteristics of ambiguity and conflict. However, the authors point to the importance of recognizing particular characteristics for different groups of stakeholders within the policy implementation process. Discrepancies among groups of policy actors in the degree of policy ambiguity and policy conflict lead to strikingly different implementation strategies.     

Ministerial Resignations 1945–97

This article reports on data collected on ministerial resignations and non-resignations 1945–1997. It analyses the reasons why ministers resign and patterns that emerge in terms of the types of issues that are more likely to lead to resignation, and variances between different Prime Ministers, parties and over time. It provides the first fully quantified analysis of ministerial resignations in Britain in the post-war period to enhance the impressionistic analyses which have been offered before.     

Mediation Practice in the South African Construction Industry: The Influence of Culture, the Legislative Environment, and the Professional Institutions

We studied mediation practice in the South African construction industry by surveying sixty-three mediators. We found that mediators are more intent on resolving disputes for the parties than on assisting the parties to find their own settlements. In addition, we found that greater emphasis by parties to the dispute is placed on technical expertise, authority, and a clear understanding of the matter in dispute than on moving the parties toward an in-depth understanding of each other's perspectives. We conclude that mediation practice in the South African construction industry is not consistent with generally accepted principles of mediation. We also argue that the fragmented and potentially adversarial traditional procurement system predominantly used in South Africa, together with the inadequate institutional response in promoting mediation as a preferred dispute resolution method, is encouraging mediation to develop in this way. This is cause for concern, not only because this practice represents a departure from the underlying philosophy of mediation — dialogue aimed at amicable and long-lasting solutions that are in everyone's best interests — but because it is incompatible with the Southern African worldview concept of ubuntu .