Some characteristics of the education policy formation system

This paper examines some of the distinctive features of the educational policy formation system. First, the formal goals of education are discussed and their relation to the policy formation system is examined. The main characteristics reviewed are problems caused by the intangibility of many educational goals; means-ends relationships; the inconsistency of educational goals; priority ordering of goals and weighting of educational goals; and the cost of goals. The second section discusses environmental influences on policy formation, emphasizing the dominant role of the environment in policymaking and its influence on other characteristics of the education system. In the third section, the influences of internal actors on the education policy formation are analyzed, especially the influence of teachers and the managerial apparatus. The fourth section examines decisionmaking processes in education. They are characterized by a lack of feedback; limited use of analysis and limited search for alternatives; incremental change as the main pattern of decisionmaking; wide discretion and the need for heuristic methods. The last section is devoted to a normative review of analytical approaches to education policy formation and a critical examination of their potentialities and limitations.     

Child witnesses in criminal court

The last decade has witnessed a dramatic rise in public and professional concern regarding the special needs of children as witnesses in the court setting. This study was conducted to examine characteristics of criminal court cases involving children as potential witnesses that were adjudicated through a trial conviction, trial acquittal, or guilty plea, from among cases that went to court in a 12-month period in nine judicial circuits in three states. Three hundred sixteen criminal court cases involving children as potential witnesses were examined. The vast majority, of these cases involved sexual crimes against children. The results indicated that relatively few (16.8%) adjudicated cases were resolved through a trial proceeding. Sentencing varied from state to state and as a function of the disposition of the case. Future research should be conducted prospectively to determine (a) whether cases involving children as witnesses in criminal court are prosecuted at lower rates than cases involving adults and (b) the reasons that cases leave the criminal justice system prior to any court actions.This research was supported by State Justice Institute grant No. 88-11J-D-064. Points of view or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the State Justice Institute.     

Domestic Violence and Children’s Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to test whether law enforcement officers could reliably use a standard protocol to collect data on domestic violence events (DVEs) across a large municipality, and (2) to use these data to examine prevalence and nature of the violence and children’s presence. Reliability checks indicated that data were collected reliably on over 5,000 substantiated DVEs. Findings showed that 48% of all assaults in the municipality were DVEs. Victims were predominantly females in their early thirties, and injuries were predominantly minor and resulted from body contact. Children were present in nearly 50% of the DVEs. They were disproportionately present in domestic violence households compared to all other households in the municipality. Domestic violence households with children were more likely to have mothers and fathers involved in the violence and were disproportionately minority households headed by single females in relatively poor neighborhoods.     

Disaster Preparedness

AN EXAMINATION OF THE FUNCTION AND NATURE OF THE PRE-DISASTERPLANNING AND ARRANGEMENTS, WHICH CAN ENSURE SPEEDY ANDCOST-EFFECTIVE RELIEF IN DISASTER     

A Changing UK in a Changing Europe: The UK State between European Union and Devolution

Two issues currently dominate the UK's constitutional landscape: the UK's membership of the European Union (EU) on the one hand; and the unsettled constitutional settlements between the UK and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the other. This article considers these two issues in concert. It stresses the distinct relationships between the EU and the devolved territories within the UK—concerning both devolved and non‐devolved policy areas—highlighting the salience of a devolved perspective in any consideration of UK–EU relations. Despite its importance, sensitivity to this has been lacking. The article explores the implications of a ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ outcome on the future of the internal territorial dynamics within the UK. While there are too many unknowns to be certain of anything, that there will be knock‐on effects is, however, beyond doubt.     

Run,Jane, Run! Gendered Responses to Political Party Recruitment

Many researchers point to gender inequities in party recruitment practices to explain women’s underrepresentation on the ballot. However, there has been little systematic research about how men and women respond to recruitment, so we do not know whether gender-balanced recruitment would actually lead to gender-balanced outcomes. We conduct two studies to address this question. First, in cooperation with a county Republican Party, we identically recruited 5510 male and 5506 female highly active party members to attend a free candidate training seminar. Republican women were half as likely to respond to the invitation as men. Second, we conducted a survey experiment of 3960 voters on the Utah Colleges Exit Poll. Republican men’s level of self-reported political ambition was increased by the prospect of elite recruitment significantly more than Republican women’s, thereby increasing the gender gap vis-à-vis the control. The gender gap in the effect of recruitment on political ambition among Democrats was much smaller. Together, these findings suggest that to fully understand the role recruitment plays in women’s underrepresentation, researchers must understand the ways in which men and women respond to recruitment, not just whether political elites engage in gendered recruitment practices.