Prisons or Problem-Solving: Does the Public Support Specialty Courts?

ABSTRACT

Recently, “problem-solving” courts have been developed as an alternative to imprisonment. They are often called “specialty” courts because they process and divert into treatment programs offenders who are seen as different from the general criminal population, such as those with mental health or drug problems, those who are homeless or veterans, and those who engage in domestic violence. Based on a 2017 national survey of 1,000 respondents, the current study examines overall public support for rehabilitation as a goal of corrections and then focuses specifically on support for different types of specialty courts. The analysis reveals that the American public endorses not only the rehabilitative ideal but also the use of problem-solving courts. Further, with only minimal variation, strong support for these courts appears to exist regardless of political orientation and sociodemographic characteristics.     

Local government projectification in practice – a multiple institutional logic perspective

ABSTRACT

During the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a proliferation of the project as an organizational solution in sectors as diverse as IT, housing, social services, education and culture. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, we know surprisingly little of how processes of public sector projectification unfold in practice, especially at local government level. This article uses an institutional logic perspective to illustrate and argue that public sector projectification can be understood and conceptualized as the enactment of multiple, co-existing institutional logics, but where one particular logic is of growing importance – the project logic. It is argued that even though the project form is often perceived as more flexible than that of the bureaucracy, the practical outcome seldom represents a radical break with traditional, bureaucratic management models. Rather, it appears to aid a rediscovery and reuse of central bureaucratic practices and procedures such as reporting, documentation and standardization.     

Assessing the Performance of the Price Cap Plan for Local Exchange Carriers in the United States

In 1991 the FCC implemented a price cap plan for local exchange carriers' interstate access service designed to deal with the regulatory boundaries problem arising from the breakup of AT&T in 1984. The experience with the price cap plan demonstrates the difficulty of predicting productivity growth accurately and makes clear that regulators cannot depend upon a pure price cap plan to keep prices within a reasonable range of costs. With periodic reviews to readjust plan parameters, however, a price cap plan can maintain the rate-of-return close to the target rate-of-return without diminishing the price cap plan's incentives for efficient production. A simple method of recalculating the X-factor based on the rate-of-return over the previous three years worked well in simulations. If this procedure had been used over the price cap period 1991 to 2000, prices would have been 20 percent lower and expenditures on LECs' telecommunications service subject to a price cap would have been $3.8 billion lower.     

多权力格局的冲突与协调——以本轮房地产调控为中心所展开

房居事关民生,中央政府已出台一系列政策,仍无法控制房价的飞涨.需求和供给能解释大部分高房价,但仍无法解释为什么中央政策的失效.高房价是一系列主体的行为所导致,政府之间、政府部门间的冲突放纵了房价的上涨.更深刻的原因在于我国政制的不足,权力行使应被制约,但也要使它有效协调运作.     

简论区域经济宏观调控的几个关系

协调区域经济发展是政府的重要职责 ,在缩小区域发展差距问题上 ,必须充分发挥政府的调控作用 ,通过市场调节与政府宏观调控结合 ,促使区域经济发展差距缩小和协调发展。在区域经济发展宏观调控中 ,中央政府调控与地方政府调控各自发挥着它们的作用 ,它们彼此是不能互相替代的     

An Analysis of the Joint Board or County Model as the Structural Basis for Effective Australian Local Governance

Australian policy‐makers continue to rely on municipal amalgamation as the main engine of structural reform in local government, despite strong evidence that it diminishes participation and representation without improving service efficiency. Several promising, but neglected alternative models of structural reform have been developed, including ad hoc resource sharing models, Regional Organisations of Councils, virtual local government, and agency models. In an encouraging response to the recent policy of enforced council amalgamations in NSW, the Shires Association of NSW (2004) has recently proposed a ‘Joint Board model’ of local governance and invited comment on this model. This article takes up this challenge and seeks to place the Joint Board model in conceptual context and evaluate its characteristics and simulated cost savings.     

西方女性主义学术思想的传播及其本土实践--对当前中国妇女研究的思考

10多年来,西方女性主义学术思想在中国的传播,对于我国学界新的学术理念的确立、研究方法和思维方式的转变以及学科建设等方面产生了促进作用.但作为舶来品的西方女性主义,在引进和传播的过程中,如何与中国本土的妇女理论研究和妇女解放实践密切结合,仍将是今后一段时期内妇女研究不可回避的一个重要理论问题.因此,当前应着重处理好学术与政治之间、提高与普及之间、全球化与本土化之间的关系.     

民办高校兴起所引发的社会治安问题及其对策

作为新事物的民办高校,人们在肯定其积极作用的同时,对其在教育环境、管理体制等方面所引发的社会治安问题也是不容忽视的。各级管理部门应针对民办高校发展的独特性,从其教学模式等各方面解决问题,促其更好地为我国教育事业服务。     

加入WTO对地方政府管理体制的影响和对策

加入WTO以后,地方政府将面临着知法、立法、司法和守法方面的挑战;面临着依法行政、公正行政、公开行政方面的挑战;面临着继续加大改革力度,大力推进市场化的挑战。     

周作人、茅盾、鲁迅与早期乡土文学理论的形成

有关乡土文学理论的分歧,根本点不在于对乡土文学这一概念中的"乡土"内涵的不同理解,而在对"乡土文学"这一概念的整体性把握上.中国文学传统中有浓厚的乡土意识,但没有乡土文学的概念和理论.新文学初期,对于美国local colour小说理论如何与中国文论对接与转换,在茅盾与周作人之间初步形成了中国乡土文学发展的两个向度.这两个向度后来被鲁迅整合成相对完整的乡土文学理论,即寓乡土思念、民生关怀和乡土批判于一体的乡土文学观.