Public vs. elite opinion on correctional reform: Implications for social policy

Demands for changes and reform in our correctional system have a long history. Currently many of those active in determining policy are advocating a shift away from the use of imprisonment to greater local supervision. However, many of these “elites” perceive the public as unreceptive and thereby an obstacle to change. This study focuses on an analysis of public opinion in the state of Washington and a comparison of those attitudes with the attitudes of elites (decision makers) in the state. Further, the study describes elite perceptions of public opinion and the implications of those perceptions for social policy. The public is found to be far less punitively oriented than elites expected and far more receptive to the reforms advocated.     

Self-deception as the root of political failure

I consider models of political failure based on self-deception. Individuals discard free information when that information damages their self-image and thus lowers their utility. More specifically, individuals prefer to feel good about their previously chosen affiliations and shape their worldviews accordingly. This model helps explain the relative robustness of political failure in light of extensive free information, and it helps explain the rarity of truth-seeking behavior in political debate. The comparative statics predictions differ from models of either Downsian or expressive voting. For instance, an increased probability of voter decisiveness does not necessarily yield a better result. I also consider political parties as institutions and whether political errors cancel in the aggregate. I find that political failure based on self-deception is very difficult to eliminate.     

Keeping Cyprus off the agenda: British and American relations at the United Nations, 1954-58

From 1954 to 1958, the Greek government sought to raise the issue of self-determination for Cyprus at the United Nations as a means of pressing for the union of the island with the Greek state - enosis. The British government's objective was to ensure if possible that Cyprus was not debated using the legal argument that it was a domestic issue in which the UN had no rights. The British accepted, however, that other political and strategic arguments would be needed to defeat the Greeks and looked to the US government to support them in the UN forums. This article examines the positions of the British and Americans governments and shows the difficulties which the issue created for both in the UN in the period.     

Post-conviction DNA testing: the UK's first 'exoneration' case?

The routine incorporation of forensic DNA profiling into the criminal justice systems of the United Kingdom has been widely promoted as a device for improving the quality of investigative and prosecutorial processes. From its first uses in the 1980s, in cases of serious crime, to the now daily collection, analysis and comparison of genetic samples in the National DNA Database, DNA profiling has become a standard instrument of policing and a powerful evidential resource for prosecutors. However, the use of post-conviction DNA testing has, until recently, been uncommon in the United Kingdom. This paper explores the first case, in England, of the contribution of DNA profiling to a successful appeal against conviction by an imprisoned offender. Analysis of the details of this case is used to emphasise the ways in which novel forms of scientific evidence remain subject to traditional and heterogeneous tests of relevance and credibility.     

Foreign problems and domestic laws

The complexities presented by the conflicts of law were longavoided in the UK, unlike in other European countries. The Englishjudges, pragmatic as ever, used a legal fiction to ensure thatno action ever had a foreign element. If an action arose betweenan English and French merchant in Paris, then the imaginativecourt would determine that the events took place in ‘Paris,at London in the parish     

SYSTEM AND PROCESS IN CAPITAL-INTENSIVE PRIVATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS

Capital-intensive privatization (CIP) is an option for infrastructure project development. Advocates claim that CIP generates cost savings through efficiencies inherent in the coordinated design, construction, and operation of facilities. The present paper assesses these claims in the field of municipal wastewater treatment facilities (WIWs). It presents case-study results and aggregate data on seven of the first privatized WIWs, and on seven comparable grant-funded facilities. The analysis relies on the concepts of system and process. It concludes that CIP changes the system of players and the processes through which they interact. In doing so, CIP generates efficiencies of time and cost in project design and construction. It also may change accountability mechanisms, trade efficiency off against accountability, and raise issues of compatibility with the nature of the state. These matters bear directly on the current debates over tax and budget policy generated by increased demands for services, limited resources, and deficit reduction mandates.