How Honest Do Politicians Need to Be?

This article reports findings from a recent survey of citizens' attitudes towards standards in British public life. It provides further evidence that people hold their political leaders to high standards, yet are often disappointed by the reality, and suggests that many citizens tend to blame the practice and institutions of politics for making politicians less honest and trustworthy than they would ideally like. The article argues that reforms to the political system are needed to regain the confidence of the population, but that the manner in which the most recent round of ethics reforms in the House of Commons were introduced may lower the prospects of their achieving this goal.     

FROM PROVIDING TO ENABLING: LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND THE MIXED ECONOMY OF SOCIAL CARE

Government policy seeks to introduce competition into the supply of social care through the separation of purchasing and providing responsibilities. A study of 24 local authority social service departments has explored the initial steps taken to prepare for the new enabling role, including the creation of a mixed economy of care. Very few were seeking to create a market in social care. Most argued that the inherent nature of social care rendered the introduction of service specifications and price mechanisms neither approriate nor feasible. Many authorities interpreted the enabling role in ways significantly different from that of the government. The study raises questions about the extent of local discretion in a context where the range of values and interests of implementing agencies may differ from those of the centre.     

THE CERTAINTY OF PUNISHMENT: A REFERENCE GROUP EFFECT AND ITS FUNCTIONAL FORM

The 1970s witnessed a renewal of interest in deterrence theory. Examining the functional form of the relationship between certainty of punishment and crime rate, Tittle and Rowe (1974) and Brown (1978) report a threshold effect: Below a certainty level of about .30 (the tipping point), they observed no relationship and above that level they observed a strong negative relationship. Unfortunately, few large cities achieve that level for most crimes. This interesting finding has rarely been followed up. Drawing on reference group theory, we extend this research by disaggregating the analysis by crime and race. While racial majorities may not experience certainty levels above the tipping point, some research suggests that racial minorities do experience such levels. Supporting this, our analysis shows a reference group effect for racial majorities and minorities and a curvilinear relationship, reflecting tipping and ceiling points, between certainty of punishment and crime rates for only racial minorities.