THE OMBUDSMAN IN BRITAIN: A QUALIFIED SUCCESS IN GOVERNMENT REFORM

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration has not been the dismal failure forecast by critics at the time the office was established in 1967. One alleged defect — not criticizing the substance of administrators' discretionary decisions — is characteristic to a large degree of other admired ombudsmen. Recruiting the Commissioner and his investigators from the civil service has not had expected harmful effects. On the other hand, the office has fallen short of the performance of other ombudsmen with regard to the public's access to the Commissioner (the MP filter), the efficiency of his investigative methods, and certain limitations on his jurisdiction. Failure so far to remove these defects appears to be the result of inadequate comparative research and analysis in support of reformers' proposals, the overly cautious and consensual style of civil service policy formulation, and opposition from members of existing institutions (MPS and the officers of civil service unions) who mistakenly believe that their complaint handling activities are threatened by proposed changes.     

Why We Still Need Bernard Crick

Bernard Crick's greatest polemic In Defence of Politics remains as relevant today as when it was written. As modern politicians try to contract out responsibility for more and more, Crick's argument that honesty about the limitation of what they can achieve is the best defence of their most important of all human activities is increasingly important. His attacks on scientism in political thought, on populism, and on the value‐free nature of market mechanisms, remain classic.     

SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND RECIDIVISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRISONER REENTRY*

Despite the marked increase in incarceration over the past 30 years and the fact that roughly two thirds of released offenders are rearrested within 3 years of release, we know little about how the social ecology of the areas to which offenders return may influence their recidivism or whether it disproportionately affects some groups more than others. Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and macrolevel predictors of crime, this study examines a large sample of prisoners released to Florida communities to investigate how two dimensions of social ecology—resource deprivation and racial segregation—may independently, and in interaction with specific populations, influence recidivism. The findings suggest that ecology indeed is consequential for recidivism, and it differentially influences some groups more than others. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.     

‘Getting Tough’ With Youth Legislative waiver as crime control

In the rush to punish juvenile offenders and to reform the juvenile justice system, legislatures have redefined the philosophy of juvenile justice and restructured the waiver process. As the convergence of juvenile and adult systems continues, the future of juvenile justice has become the new object of politicalization. This paper critiques the politics of ‘get-tough’ legislation and the implications of legislative waivers. The authors review the language and intent of waiver reforms, images of juvenile justice and the concept of crime control.     

Historic Achievements of the CPC

T HE Communist Party of China (CPC) has every reason to take great pride in its historic accomplishments on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.Beginning in 1921,despite the low number of individuals who were intent on pull-ing China out of the chaos following the downfall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),while at the same time being hounded by the then authorities who sup-7pressed everything that had a communist label,the leaders of the CPC had not been diverted from their mission,namely,improving the people's livelihood and accomplishing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation from the previous "century of humiliation."     

The Keys to Legislative Success in the U.S. House of Representatives

Our research addresses how individual member behavior and institutional variables affect legislative success in the U.S. House of Representatives. Using new measures of activity from the 103d Congress (1993–94), a count dependent variable, and negative binomial regression, our analysis assesses member effectiveness. We find that a member's activity level encourages legislative success, but gains are limited when members speak or sponsor too frequently. Our results provide a clearer picture of the role of legislative context and the relevance of institutions in determining a member's legislative successes and failures.