The Impact of Children on Legal Actions Taken by Women Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Successful criminal or civil legal system response to assaults against intimate partners (intimate partner violence; IPV) usually rely on the victim’s participation in the legal process, including having contact with the prosecutor, filing charges, and/or applying for an order of personal protection. Using data abstracted from criminal and civil legal system records for a county-wide cohort of 990 female IPV victims over a 4-year period, we examine the impact of having children, and of specific child factors, on victims’ engagement with the criminal prosecution of their abusive partners and/or seeking a personal protection order (PPO) in the civil court system. Having children increased victim’s contact with the prosecutor and applications for PPOs, but did not increase her likelihood of wanting to file or drop charges. Findings support prior work suggesting both the importance and complexity of children on mothers’ decision-making. Policy makers and service providers may want to assess survivors’ thoughts about the role children play in their decision-making. Additionally, by offering survivors interventions to help their children address the impact of IPV exposure, survivors may be more willing to engage with services.     

MRG

Rechtsprechung

MRG     

ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR COST EFFECTIVE POLLUTION ABATEMENT: THE NEED FOR IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS

After examining policies and proposals designed to achieve cost-effective pollution abatement, the authors argue that design of economically elegant solutions to pollution control problems needs implementation analysis if the policies are to be successfully carried out. They review some institutional obstacles to implementation and conclude that these impediments should not prevent adoption.     

Analytical units in federal and provincial governments: origins,functions and suggestions for effectiveness

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the organizational entities (individuals and groups) within government which provide information, analysis, and advice to senior officials and politicians. These entities are referred to as analytical units. Much of the existing Canadian literature on such units has focused on policy units and evaluation units at the federal level. This paper extends the analysis to the provincial level and to a wider range of analytical activities. A major focus of this paper is on social policy ministries at the federal and provincial levels. A historical overview of the development of analytical units, based on the existing literature, is presented. As little has been written about these units in Canada since the early 1980s, the authors provide an update to the 1990s and project some possible future trends. The reasons for the development of analytical units are presented along with a discussion of their structural location and how they function within their host organizations. A considerable overlap exists in the analytical functions carried out by these units. A mapping of this overlap is presented and discussed. There appears to be a clustering of analytical activities into a three-part continuum of: forward-looking activities such as policy formulation/analysis and planning; ongoing activities to ensure organizational efficiency and effectiveness such as internal audit and operational review; and technical and evaluative activities such as research and evaluation. Based on their analysis, the authors present five suggestions regarding how staff in analytical units may be able to increase their contribution to their organizations and five suggestions, for the consideration of senior officials, regarding how they may be able to enhance the quality of the analysis they receive from their analytical units. Sommaire: Cet article présente un aperçu des entités organisationnelles (personnes ou groupes) situées au sein du gouvernement et fournissant renseignements, analyse et conseils aux hauts fonctionnaires et aux politiciens. On donne ici à ces entités le nom d» unités d'analyse «. Une forte proportion des articles et études existant au Canada à leur sujet porte sur les unités de politiques et les unités d'évaluation à l'échelon fédéral. Le présent article étend la portée de cette littéature à l'échelon provincial ainsi quà une gamme plus vaste d'activités d'analyse. Il présente un aperçu historique du développement de ces unités, basé sur la littérature existante. Puisque trés peu a étéécrit sur ce sujet au Canada depuis le début des années 1980, les auteurs offrent une mise à jour allant jusquaux années 1990 et présentent une projection de tendances futures possibles. Ils expliquent les raisons justifiant le développement de ces unités et examinent leur place ainsi que leur mode de fonctionnement au sein des organismes hôtes. Il y a un chevauchement considérable des fonctions analytiques exécutées par ces unités. Les auteurs délimitent ce chevauchement et l'examinent de plus prés. Les activités analytiques se regroupent dans un continuum comportant trois parties distinctes: les activités prévisionnelles telles que la formulation, l'analyse et la planification des politiques, les activités courantes visant à assurer l'efficacité organisationnelle, telles que la vérification interne et la révision opérationnelle; enfin, les activités techniques et d'évaluation telles que la recherche et l'évaluation. Les auteurs présentent certaines propositions qui permettraient au personnel des unités d'analyse d'améliorer leur apport à leurs organisations. En conclusion, l'article offre certaines suggestions à l'intention des hauts fonctionnaires, pour leur permettre éventuellement d'ameéliorer la qualité des analyses qu'ils reçoivent de leur propre organisation.     

Advance or consolidation? The French national front and the 1995 elections

This article seeks to analyse the performance of the leader of the French National Front, Jean‐Marie Le Pen, and that of his Party, at the Presidential and Municipal elections of 1995. The elections took place after a period of apparent stagnation in the Front's political fortunes. Le Pen's relative success in the Presidential election was followed by the Front's capture of three significant towns at the municipal elections. However, its victories were in large part facilitated by the failure of the mainstream parties to rally against it. The elections ushered in a period of organisational and ideological change within the Party, which has, none the less, firmly established itself in the French political system.