Public Organizations, Multiple Constituencies, And Governance

Public organizations vary considerably. Yet little attention has been paid to the systematic analysis of this diversity. Drawing on case studies of four public organizations and a survey on all central government organizations in Denmark, variations in tasks, environments, constituencies, and central governance are conceptualized. Public organization tasks can be analysed at three levels ranging from user-oriented outputs, general outputs which can further be divided into policy goals, scope of profile, standard setting and capital accumulation, to the normative base of the public sector. Public organizations vary with regard to the emphasis put on level of output and on how the different aspects of the tasks are interrelated. Variations in constituencies and exchange cycles with the environment are further related to different task profiles. Finally it is shown that central oversight organizations compete with other actors in the public organizations' environment in the governance of public organizations. From an organizational point of view 'the state' appears to have a humble and remote position.     

The Prosecution Role where Courts Decide Cases

This article explores the role played by prosecutors during the court stage of criminal proceedings. It complements Peter et al.’s chapter on negotiated case settlements in showing how the power to decide cases is divided between judges and prosecutors when cases are taken to court. Providing information as to, e.g. what influence prosecutors in the 11 study countries have on what evidence is brought to court in “normal” and accelerated court proceedings, this chapter explores the balance of responsibilities in court rooms across Europe.     

Stereotypes in Context: How and When Do Street‐Level Bureaucrats Use Class Stereotypes?

Stereotype use in street‐level work and discretionary judgments is important because of the possible introduction of bias. This article contributes to the study of stereotypes in street‐level work by suggesting that stereotypes are related to both cognitive and social uncertainties. A distinction between uncontrolled stereotype activation in the interpretation of information and controlled stereotype application in decision making is made to allow for a more nuanced study. A unique design combining semistructured interviews and a vignette experiment is presented to accommodate this theoretical framework. Results show that stereotype activation is conditioned by class difference and involves both categorization and simplified assumptions. Stereotype application is conditioned by class as well as by the homogeneity of the social contexts of street‐level institutions. These results suggest that in order to decrease stereotypical bias in frontline encounters, one solution may be to increase social heterogeneity.     

Conceptualising Violence in Close Relationships: Discrepancies Between Police Conceptions and the Letter of the Law in Finland

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research - The focus in this Finland-based study is on violence in close relationships—a term that partly overlaps with the more commonly used...     

Reducing Crime Through Environmental Design: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Street Lighting in New York City

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - This paper offers novel experimental evidence that violent crimes can be successfully reduced by changing the situational environment that potential victims...     

Prosecution and Diversion within Criminal Justice Systems in Europe. Aims and Design of a Comparative Study

This article presents the aims, approach and design of a 11 countries study on diversion and prosecution in European Criminal Justice Systems. The basic assumption is that the flood of proceedings is mastered by procedural short cuts and simplifications with the public prosecutor as the key player. The article describes the methods developed in order to compare the different national concepts and and competencies of criminal justice agencies and procedures. Furthermore, it demonstrates the interdependencies of the various articles in this double issue focusing on different parts of the criminal justice system from police to the court.