Constituting 'the public' in public participation

The emphasis on public participation in contemporary policy discourse has prompted the development of a wide range of forums within which dialogue takes place between citizens and officials. Often such initiatives are intended to contribute to objectives relating to social exclusion and democratic renewal. The question of ‘who takes part’ within such forums is, then, critical to an understanding of how far new types of forums can contribute to the delivery of such objectives. This article draws on early findings of research conducted as part of the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme. It addresses three questions: ‘How do public bodies define or constitute the public that they wish to engage in dialogue?’; ‘What notions of representation or representativeness do participants and public officials bring to the idea of legitimate membership of such forums?’; and ‘How do deliberative forums contribute to, or help ameliorate, processes of social inclusion and exclusion?’     

Protective order legislation: Trends in state statutes

Very little research has examined state legislation on protective orders. This study examined recent state statutes and compared the findings with a landmark 1988 study. Results indicated that more recent laws provided greater access to victims and expanded their eligible populations to include categories that were excluded in earlier legislation (i.e., dating partners, sexual partners, and same-sex partners). Orders increased slightly in duration and there were more access to them outside of normal working hours. Compared with earlier legislation, newer laws were more apt to authorize judges to fashion remedies that address financial matters. Penalties for violations remained relatively stable, although states were increasingly willing to use enhanced sanctions for repeat offenders. States continued to use mandatory arrest to enforce orders, although this trend was not as pronounced as one might have anticipated. Finally, legislators incorporated many aspects of new federal legislation into state statutes.     

The Political Enforcement of Liberalism: Bargaining, Institutions, and Auto Multinationals in Hungary

The demise of communism triggered large flows of foreign direct investment into Eastern Europe. This article examines the impact of recent changes in the international environment—the transformation of world production systems and the rise of neoliberalism—on bargaining between multinational corporations and post-communist governments. It focuses on the Hungarian automobile industry, one of the region's largest recipients of FDI. The Hungarian case illustrates the ability of small, open, and geopolitically weak states to parlay shifts in the global environment into a bargaining asset. The ascent of lean production heightened pressure on auto MNCs to develop local supplier systems capable of fast delivery of components to East European subsidiaries. The pull of backward integration was particularly strong for Japanese producers, whose non-European status enabled Hungarian state authorities to secure commitments to raising domestic content. Transplanting Japanese-style production in Eastern Europe proved less vexing for European MNCs, whose status as EU-based companies freed them of local-content requirements and whose preexisting supplier networks obviated heavy investments in the Hungarian components industry. But while Western auto producers enjoyed highly favorable terms of entry into Eastern Europe, even they could not elude the paradoxical effects of global changes on MNC/host state relations. The very eastward extension of the European Union's nondiscriminatory rules that facilitated EU-based firms' entry into Hungary also permitted host state authorities to parry efforts by MNCs to obtain particularistic concessions after entry. The Hungarian case thus demonstrates that MNC/host state bargaining in the post–Cold War period hinges more on the global positions of multinationals than on the structural vulnerabilities of capital-importing states ( per dependency theory) or the internal capacity of host states ( per statist theories).     

Planning for incapacity by people with bipolar disorder under the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a variety of legal mechanisms for people to plan for periods of incapacity for decisions relating to personal care, medical treatment, and financial matters. Little research has however been done to determine the degree to which these are actually implemented, and the approach to such advance planning by service users and professionals. This paper looks at the use of advance planning by people with bipolar disorder, using qualitative and quantitative surveys both of people with bipolar disorder and psychiatrists. The study finds that the mechanisms are under-used in this group, despite official policy in support of them, largely because of a lack of knowledge about them among service users, and there is considerable confusion among service users and professionals alike as to how the mechanisms operate. Recording is at best inconsistent, raising questions as to whether the mechanisms will be followed.     

Locard's Principle of Exchange,Dental Examination and Fragments of Skin

The transfer of materials between victim and perpetrator was first reported by Locard in the nineteenth century. While in recent years DNA testing has been very successful in matching biological material from crime scenes to perpetrators, the following cases demonstrate that other more time‐honored methods remain useful. Two cases of lethal assault are reported where the victims had bitten their assailants resulting in fragments of the perpetrators’ skin being wedged between their teeth which were discovered during post mortem oral examinations. As the fragments were able to be matched to injuries in the perpetrators, identification was established prior to confirmatory DNA testing. In case 1 a criminal conviction for manslaughter resulted, and in case 2 the identity of the assailant was confirmed. Examination of a properly exposed and illuminated oral cavity may provide useful evidence in assault cases. These cases represent an unusual dental variant of Locard's principle.     

Territorial functioning and victimisation: conceptualisation and scale development

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate territorial functioning measures and to examine the link between territorial functioning and victimisation in a high-crime context. To this end, four sequential stages of scale development were undertaken: conceptual model development, item generation and content validation, exploratory study and confirmatory study. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the three dimensions of territorial functioning, namely, neighbourhood attitudes, sense of control and marking behaviour, as dimensions of the second-order territorial functioning construct. The results of the structural model support findings reported in the literature that associate high territorial functioning with low victimisation. The theoretical and practical implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed in the concluding sections of this study.     

All Boys Club or Gender Differences? Male Officers Perception of Female Officers’ Workplace Experiences in Federal Law Enforcement

Since the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, there has been a vast body of literature demonstrating women’s difficulties integrating into all levels of law enforcement. While scholarship continues to highlight women’s experiences in the workplace, very little research has incorporated male officers into the dialogue. Using survey data collected from 324 male and female federal law enforcement officers employed by a mid-sized federal law enforcement agency, this study examines gender differences on perceptions to women’s workplace occupational barriers. We find that there are gender differences between the experiences encountered by female officers and the perception of male officers to those experiences, most notably sexual discrimination and a perceived glass ceiling to promotions. The differing perceptions are shaped by gender stereotypes and mild remnants of a masculine culture that continue to exist throughout law enforcement.