NORMATIVE POLITICAL SCIENCE

The bad news is that critics of the quantitative movement in policy and political science are right (so far). Widely accepted quantitative models of politics promote cynicism and counter-productive uses of government power. Mainstream social science provides a perverse basis for policy analysis. The good news is that there is no sound scientific reason for the schism between so called "empirical" and "normative" theories of politics. Traditional theories of politics, which show how government power can be used to serve the public interest, can be quantified and tested as empirical theory. The resulting scientific normative theory provides a constructive foundation for policy analysis.     

Finding hidden value through mixed-methodology: Lessons From the Discovery Program’s Holistic Approach to Truancy Abatement

Policy makers often bemoan the shortcomings and inefficiency of youth development and similar social work programs whose effectiveness cannot be demonstrated by quantifiable performance indicators. This study argues, through illustration of the Odyssey Learning Center’s Discovery Program (an alternative school serving rural Southern youth in an abject poverty context), that program value can only be evidenced through a mixed-methodological evaluation design. Reasons precluding traditional statistical analysis and effectiveness determinations are discussed and alternative conceptualizations of program value are considered. This research was funded from Federal Grant Number 2002-JE-FX-0034 from the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention through the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs. Points of view or opinions stated are those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent the opinion or official position of the United States Department of Justice or the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.     

Citizenship Education and Post-16 Students: A Habermasian Perspective

This article is based on a research project carried out at the Graduate School of Education, Queen's University Belfast. The researchers conducted a study of discussion-based citizenship education for post-16 students in Northern Ireland (UK) over a period of 18 months. One of the researchers designed and delivered a course of citizenship education for students in a case study school (100 of whom were involved). This course was constructed within a theoretical framework that drew heavily upon the work of Jurgen Habermas. The results of the study showed that an overwhelming majority of the students involved gave comprehensive and positive evaluations of a citizenship course that was reliant upon a discussion-based form of education. This article argues that such courses, premised on the need to encourage communicative competence amongst young people, should be offered to all students within the non-compulsory education sector in the UK and beyond.     

Comparing females acquitted by reason of insanity,convicted, and civilly committed in Florida 1977–1984

Females who had been acquitted by reason of insanity (N=41), convicted of comparable offenses (N=41), and involuntarily hospitalized without criminal involvement (N=41) were matched for age and race. The psychiatric histories of the acquitted and civilly committed women were similar, and significantly more extensive than the convicted group. The acquitted women had been arrested significantly more often than the civilly committed women but less frequently than the convicted women. Total length of stay (hospitalization or imprisonment) reflected a similar pattern, with civilly commited women hospitalized for the shortest period, acauitted women an intermediate period, and convicted women the longest. Regression-based prediction of length of stay reflected a number of common predictors for the acquitted and convicted women, with offense type one of the most powerful for both groups.