When Systems Collide: Improving Court Practices and Programs in Dual Jurisdiction Cases

The purpose of this article is to identify promising court‐based or court‐linked practices and programs that can effectively address the difficult challenges posed by dual jurisdiction cases. It is an initial effort to present what courts are currently doing or what courts can do to improve coordination of dual jurisdiction matters.     

Democracy through Multilevel Governance? The Implementation of the Structural Funds in South Yorkshire

This article considers the democratic qualities of multilevel governance at the stage of policy implementation closest to the ground, involving local residents and organizations. Drawing on a case study of the structural funds in South Yorkshire (United Kingdom), it puts forward three models of democracy through which to evaluate the democratic credentials of multilevel governance. The case study illustrates that among the expected complexity and technocracy at this stage of policymaking, there are also experiments in local democracy that have not previously been identified in the academic literature. As such, in the context of deep multilevel governance, there is evidence that while traditional mechanisms of accountability may be undermined, other mechanisms may provide a valuable alternative.     

THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR UK PUBLIC SERVICES MODERNIZATION: THE CASE OF PATIENT SAFETY AND SERVICE QUALITY

This article assesses the contribution of management of knowledge across organizational and professional boundaries towards improved public services. We empirically investigate the potential for knowledge sharing within the context of the NHS modernization agenda, taking as our focus the current ‘patient safety’ policy agenda. Specifically, we evaluate the introduction of a knowledge management system, namely the National Reporting and Learning System (NRSL) and its impact in the area of operating theatres within a university teaching hospital. We suggest that government policy in this area needs to reflect more upon limits to the management of knowledge and issues of the nature of knowledge, professional cultures and institutional power and politics.     

‘Respect for Law and Sausages’: How Parliament Made Section 31 of the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 on the Sale of Employment Rights

The Parliamentary debates on the clause which became section 31 of the Growth and Enterprise Act 2013 (allowing employees to agree to sign away employment rights for shares in the employing company) show that scrutiny by the House of Commons is very poor, and that scrutiny by the House of Lords is intense and very well‐informed. If the Government loses the argument on a Bill in the House of Lords, it will lose the vote. However, during Parliamentary ping‐pong (the back‐and‐forth process of amendment of a Bill between the two Houses) the Commons, and the Government, will normally get their way, however weak the policy proposal, provided that concessions on detail are made, unless the issue is regarded by the Lords as one of fundamental principle.     

The Impact of Model Court Reform in Arizona on the Processing of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases

Arizona juvenile courts have taken a series of steps over the past five years to improve the quality and timeliness of court proceedings in child abuse and neglect matters. These efforts encompass both procedural reforms to front‐load the early hearing process as well as reforms that require a clearly demarcated permanency hearing and permanency determination process. A comparative analysis of the impact of these changes in four selected counties reveals that child abuse and neglect cases are handled in a more timely manner; that children are spending considerably less time in out‐of‐home placements; that courts are becoming more specific in the orders generated at dependency hearings (particularly initial hearings); and that the State and federal governments have realized sizeable savings in placement costs.     

Capital Changes

THE handover clock in Tian’anmen Square counting down the seconds till Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, smatterings of Cherokee jeeps, yellow miandi mini-buses and red Xiali taxis amid a sea of bicycles, and waistbands sporting bibiji are characteristics of the 1996 Beijing streetscape long since gone.