‘There will be burning and a‐looting tonight’: The Social and Political Correlates of Law‐breaking

In the aftermath of the August 2011 riots, politicians and commentators offered a range of explanations for the social unrest and wanton violence. Drawing on survey and focus‐group data, this paper investigates those explanations by analysing how socio‐economic, normative and political factors shape contemporary attitudes towards law breaking in Britain. The paper finds that both economic deprivation and personal moral values help to explain attitudes toward illegal behaviour, but citizens’ mistrust of political leaders and their disengagement from public affairs are also an important factor. The findings suggest that politicians who want to provide moral leadership need to do so through their actions as well as their words.     

A Retrograde Step: The Potential Impact of High Visibility Uniforms Within Youth Justice Reparation

Abstract: The Labour government has recently introduced uniforms for adult offenders undertaking community service as part of their community orders. There have also been calls within the youth justice arena to introduce uniforms to young offenders undertaking reparation. Through observations, interviews and questionnaires with young offenders and their supervising staff, we argue that the introduction of uniforms will be counterproductive on a number of levels. In short, it would be a retrograde step. We conclude with a suggestion on how to increase the visibility of unpaid work by offenders within the community, without the negative impact of uniforms.     

Towards a More Enabling Representation: Framing an Emergent Conceptual Approach to Measure Social Conditions Following Mega‐Event Transformation in Manaus,Brazil

This paper presents a conceptual and methodological approach for researching social conditions to understand how urban change and development affects a community and its residents. Manaus, in Brazil's Amazonia region, received much criticism after US$300 million that was spent on a 40,000+ seat (upgraded) stadium in a city with no regular sporting tournaments. This paper positions the need to look beyond tangible features and assess social impacts based on community perceptions using ethnography to locate local meanings of social transformation. Attention is needed in communities adjacent to new stadium developments in Manaus to understand inclusion, exclusion and social leveraging.     

Regulatory Sloth and Activism in the Effervescence of Financial Crisis

Certain financial market practices, previously denied or disregarded by financial market regulators, are being redefined as candidates for active investigation and enforcement. This article contrasts the passive stance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission vis‐à‐vis the Madoff fraud with its relatively diligent but now settled Complaint against Goldman Sachs. The article also explores compromises in the EU's approach to market regulation of information asymmetry, suggesting that grounds for pessimism outweigh those for hope. The introduction sets the context, describing aspects of the first leg of the crisis (states bail out banks) and the second leg (states themselves come under strain).     

THE ENABLING STATE: THE ROLE OF MARKETS AND CONTRACTS

Contracts have been a key element in the recent reform of British public services. Their introduction has formed part of a broader process of change in which the market structures and values have featured prominently. In practice, contracts have both brought benefits and presented problems. More particularly, greater organizational formality has raised some important issues – the role of trust and the form and practice of accountability prominent among them. Evidence from a recent esrc -supported study shows that some services (the simpler ones) have generally gained from the reforms; but the evidence for more complex ones is equivocal at best.     

The “Totality of Circumstances Test” in Section 2 of the 1982 Extension of the Voting Rights Act: A Social Science Perspective*

We discuss uses of social science definitions and research methods in judging compliance with the recently modified language of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That Act now specifies a “totality of circumstances” effects lest for the existence of racial vote dilution. There are seven “typical” factors listed by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in its report on the 1982 Voting Rights extension as among those which may be used to establish a Section 2 violation. Because of the nature of these factors, extensive (and often conflicting) testimony by social scientists has now become an inescapable feature of Section 2 litigation. We focus particular attention on one of the seven factors, racially polarized voting, because measurement of it is, as judged by recent litigation, the most controversial, the most complex, and the most important. We also discuss at some length another factor, racial campaign appeals, which also raises issues of appropriate definition and measurement. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a standardization of terminology and operationalization in an important public policy area, and to show how social science methodology can assist legal fact-finding.