Showing papers in "Review of Policy Research in 2004"

Women Offenders and the Gendered Effects of Public Policy1

Abstract: At 17%, women represent a significant proportion of all offenders under criminal justice supervision in the US. Drawing on the findings from their report, “Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders,” the authors maintain that public policy has ignored the context of women's lives and that women offenders have disproportionately suffered from the impact of ill-informed public policy. This discussion of the implications of gender within the criminal justice system is based on a simple assumption: responding to the differences between women and men in criminal behavior and to their antecedents is critical to gender-responsive policy. Building on the pathway theoretical perspective, we find that in addition to the gendered impact of the war on drugs, policy changes in welfare reform, housing, and other social policy arenas combine to create a disparate impact on drug abusing women and women of color. Key policy areas affecting the lives of women offenders and their children include welfare benefits, drug treatment, housing, education, employment, and reunification with children. We conclude that addressing the realities of women's lives through gender-responsive policy and programs is fundamental to improved outcomes at all criminal justice phases. A blueprint for gender-responsive policy development is described through six guiding principles and their policy implications.

A System‐of‐Systems Perspective for Public Policy Decisions

Abstract: Problems of increasing complexity are facing decision makers within government and industry, and the key characteristic of these problems is that they are of system-of-systems type. With multiple, heterogeneous, distributed systems involved (including policies and economies as well as technologies), effective analysis for decision-support quickly becomes unmanageable within the “stovepipe” context that still characterizes many organizations in the research and development community. There is not a process/field of study in place that can enable us to systematically solve these types of problems, exemplified by the Next Generation Transportation System. While indeed numerous tools are available to help, they cannot be used effectively because the people who build and understand the tools all speak different languages. Much confusion still remains about words and phrases for system-of-systems type problems, let alone the best modeling approaches for dealing with them. While pockets of organizational restructuring may address this challenge for particular projects, there is a lack of systematic thinking at the basic level about how to address the challenges. This paper recommends that intellectual, financial, and institutional resources be invested for the purpose of initiating and nurturing a field of study that will enable us to better address this important type of problem. The future of transportation serves as a motivating example of a multidomain, system-of-systems problem of critical importance to the nation and in need of effective decision-support. The analogy of creating better maps and “navigation aids” for decision makers will be employed, emphasizing that, when navigating a minefield, knowing where not to go is the key factor in successfully traversing the terrain (i.e., making wise decisions).

Prices, Devices, People, or Rules: The Relative Effectiveness of Policy Instruments in Water Conservation1

Abstract: Water conservation policy is a natural laboratory for addressing general issues of relevance to policy analysis and public administration, particularly the relative effectiveness of policies in changing human behavior. Using multivariate regression analysis of a dataset comprised of more than 200,000 monthly observations of more than 19,000 household accounts over six years, this paper makes three main contributions. First, it contributes to the substantive area of water conservation policy by analyzing what works. Second, it contributes to our understanding of generic policy instruments. Third, it raises an important issue regarding standard assumptions about selection bias. The results support earlier work warning that offsetting behavior can negate engineering solutions to policy problems, but further indicate that adding communication to engineering solutions can create cooperation that overcomes offsetting behavior. They also provide evidence that appropriate regulation can be effective, and that pricing can be effective even when price elasticities of demand are low.

“The World Changed Today”: Agenda‐Setting and Policy Change in the Wake of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

Abstract: "Focusing events" are those happenings, such as the September 11 terrorist attacks, that focus attention on a range of related issues The literature on focusing events, policy change and the policy process suggests that the windows of opportunity opened by focusing events like the September 11 attacks do not automatically equate to policy change This paper considers whether and to what extent the agenda and polices have changed as a result of the attacks Findings suggest that, while the events of September 11 provided the impetus for change, the threat of terrorism was already well established in the policy stream September 11 only threw open the window of opportunity for policy change based, in large part, on preexisting ideas; many of these ideas were enacted as a result In the case of aviation security, the key regulatory agency has taken actions, including the strengthening of cockpit security, directly triggered by the event There is also evidence that some instrumental policy learning has resulted from the September 11 attacks, including a commission to investigate the reason why the attacks were successful Findings also show some organizational change that could be the result of instrumental learning has occurred, such as the creation of the Transportation Security Agency and the combination of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's and Central Intelligence Agency's counterterrorism functions

Wildfire Management in the United States: The Evolution of a Policy Failure

Abstract: Wildland fires constitute a major crisis in American environmental policy, a crisis created by a longstanding policy failure. This article explores the political processes that generated and reinforced this policy failure over time. The concepts of bounded rationality, punctuated equilibria, and selfreinforcing mechanisms are applied to study the evolution of American wildfire policy between 1905 and the present. This study finds that a self-defeating wildfire suppression policy was established in the period 1905 through 1911, and subsequently reinforced for more than five decades. This policy did not include a complementary program to counteract the gradual accumulation of flammable organic materials (fuels) that occurred in many ecosystems when fires were suppressed. The resulting fuel accumulations have greatly increased the risk of damaging, high-intensity wildfires in a range of American wildlands. A combination of fire suppression and fuel reduction programs will be needed to manage this risk in the future.

Efficiency Measurement in Australian Local Government: The Case of New South Wales Municipal Water Services

Abstract: Australian local government has experienced a series of reforms directed at increasing economic efficiency. An important element in the reform program has been the development of a number of partial indicators of local government service delivery in the states and territories. This paper attempts to augment this literature on performance measurement in Australian local government by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) with holistic indices of allocative and technical efficiency in New South Wales (NSW) municipal water services. It also seeks to incorporate qualitative indicators into efficiency measures. “Best-practice” councils are identified and the underlying causes of municipal water service efficiency are analyzed.

The Divergent Worlds of New Media: How Policy Shapes Work in the Creative Economy1

Abstract: “New media” workers have joined the creative economy as digital designers, web page designers, and producers of entertainment products. Like many creative commodity producers, their work lies at the intersection of the technical (in this case code writing) and the expressive (through design). It reflects the tensions inherent in this intersection and the conflicts common to many creative workers who produce commodities but whose work also reflects some element of personal expression or authorship. The ways in which these tensions are resolved is central to the formation of new occupational and professional identities. Cultural economy perspectives offer us insights into the subjective experience of the tensions associated with creative work. They become more powerful, however, when combined with an understanding of the policy context in which new media has evolved. Drawing on both cultural economy and policy analysis approaches, I argue that while new media work emerged in conjunction with new technologies and reflects the tensions between technical applications and design, it also is a product of changes in broader regulatory frameworks that have shaped the work-world of new media. The “regulatory difference” has produced considerable variation in the occupational identities of new media workers among advanced economies. In some economies, new media work is evolving in a form that is closer to that of the professional, whereas in the United States it is better described as an entrepreneurial activity in which new media workers sell skills and services in a market. To make this argument I examine findings from the growing body of international work on new media but focus on the particularities of the United States case. What this evidence indicates is that the character of new media occupations is defined as much by the policy context within which it emerges as by the technology it uses. One of the most interesting questions to arise out of the cultural economy literature concerns how the identity of creative workers is formed and how it changes in interaction with broader economic and cultural transformations (du Gay, 1996, 1997; McRobbie, 1998, 2002). Many creative workers are in vaguely defined and rapidly changing fields, seemingly making up their careers as they go along. An inquiry into the process of identity formation can tell us how producers of cultural “products” view the environments within which they work and what factors are important to forming their identities in the emerging creative, knowledge-based economy. “New media” encompasses a key group of creative workers in an economy that has been redefined not only by new technology but also by an increased emphasis on flexible work, that is, work time and skill applications more responsive to changes in market demand. They have joined the creative workforce as digital designers, web page designers, and producers of entertainment products. Like many creative commodity producers, their work lies at the intersection of the technical (in this case code writing) and the expressive (through design). It reflects the tensions inherent in this intersection and the conflicts common to those creative workers who produce commodities but whose work also reflects some element of personal expression or authorship. The ways in which these tensions are resolved is central to the formation of new occupational identities.

The Risks and Needs of the Returning Prisoner Population

Abstract: There is a growing interest in the threat posed by the increase in the number of prisoners released from prison each year. Some have argued that unless new services and programs are funded, the increasing waves of released prisoners will pose a major threat to public safety in general. This paper reexamines these and other issues and finds that a significant portion of released prisoners pose little if any threat to public safety and that the current parole supervision system often serves to increase rather than reduce recidivism. While released prisoners have significant social, economic, residential, and family needs, they are not sufficient to restrict their release from prison.

Terrorism, Airport Security, and the Private Sector

Abstract: September 11, 2001, led to renewed emphasis on airport security in the United States. Before the tragedy, government policy led to a suboptimal level of security. The fundamental problem was not simply the use of private security firms, but rather the reliance on airline financing and poor Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight. After 9/11 a federalized security system was put in place. The current system of tightened security is substantially more costly and should be evaluated in terms of its cost-effectiveness compared to a public–private approach.

Coastal Oil Pollution, Spills, Crisis, and Policy Change

Abstract: Post-crisis policy change is very complex, with crisis events intermingling with other short- and long-term factors that either inhibit or support dramatic change. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill crisis is often credited with the federal government's adoption of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The law represented a radical statutory departure from past policy, since oil spill control provisions had languished for decades in congressional subcommittees. This study analyzes change within the coastal spill arena over several decades. Particular attention is given to crisis episodes, periods identified with a major catastrophe or a successive series of attention-getting spills over a brief time. Findings suggest that prior disasters paved the way for the Exxon Valdez catalyst. They made citizens aware of coastal oil pollution as a potential problem in need of government correction. This awareness, combined with the absence of a competing energy crisis, the maturation of environmental advocacy groups and the volume and devastation of Exxon Valdez, created a unique opportunity for statutory change.

From Crisis to Opportunity: Human Resource Challenges for the Public Sector in the Twenty‐First Century

Abstract: A great deal of attention has been focused on the human capital crisis in the public sector since the mid-1990s Experts and practitioners give many reasons why the current crisis emerged This article examines the important factors that led to the crisis, what is being done about them through presidential agendas, legislators, oversight agencies, professional societies, and public policy think tanks Concerns are many in terms of a large number of upcoming retirements, early retirements, unplanned downsizing, difficulty in attracting new generations to public service, and the changing nature of public service However, the human resource crisis also presents an opportunity to fundamentally change those features of public sector human resource management practices that have become outdated for contemporary organizations and position government agencies for the twenty-first century by meaningfully reforming the civil service This transformation would require public sector organizations to take a more strategic view of human resource management and to give greater policy attention to human capital issues

Community Capacity Building: A Critical Evaluation of the Third Sector Approach

Abstract: Throughout the advanced economies, public policy has become ever more deeply involved in developing the capacities of communities to help themselves. Until now, this has been pursued through facilitating the development of community-based groups. The aim of this paper, however, is to critically evaluate the implications and legitimacy of this public policy approach that views developing community-based groups and community capacity building as synonymous. Drawing upon empirical evidence from the United Kingdom, it is here revealed that this third sector approach of developing community-based groups privileges a culture of community involvement that relatively few engage in and is more characteristic of affluent populations, while disregarding informal acts of one-to-one engagement that are both a more popular form of community involvement and also more characteristic of the participatory culture of less affluent populations. The paper concludes by exploring how public policy might respond, especially with regard to the finding that less affluent populations have relatively informal cultures of engagement.

Same Governance, Different Day: Does Metropolitan Reorganization Make a Difference?

Abstract: This commentary focuses on three points related to the debate about urban governmental restructuring: existing conflicts in the literature regarding the outcomes of local government consolidation; insights about consolidation based on an assessment of the amalgamation of twelve municipal units creating the new city of Ottawa; and, a discussion of a variety of methodological and political factors that may well account for the continuing inconsistency in academic assessments of structural change in local government. One possible explanation for the latter conflict is that governmental reorganization does not really make things substantially different in terms of taxes and services, that is, those outcomes most directly experienced by the average citizen. Over the long term other forces, such as intergovernmental relations and the economy, will tend to negate most of the initial effects of change. While there are likely to be winners and losers related to power in government or regime, it will be argued that in large part, for most citizens, governmental reorganization produces the same governance on a different day.

Reducing the Risk of Terror Events at Seaports1

Abstract: After September 11, 2001, many think that the threat of terrorist attacks is now higher than ever. Because seaports are part of the nation's borders, they are seen to be one of the weaker barriers to entry and a valuable opportunity for distruction. This research is based on current literature and interviews with selected stakeholders in the port and trade industry. It suggests several paths to help reduce the risks of terror at seaports, including: to examine the probability of terror events, and to determine a strategy to create barriers to entry and access, and to ensure the likelihooh of these events is near zero; to identify specific actions taken, and by whom, to accomplish the above, considering interacting government levels and public and private partnerships; and to suggest apparent inaction where a probability of terror remains, albeit judged more qualitatively than quantitatively.

Setting Agendas and Designing Alternatives: Policymaking and the Strategic Role of Meetings1

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of strategic forums—such as special commissions, task forces, roundtables, working groups, summits—in the policy process. Reviewing prominent theories about policymaking, the author suggests ways in which strategic forums might fit within these frameworks as an analytically distinct policy lever. The paper examines existing literature on such forums, and identifies characteristics of “meetings that matter”—those gatherings that appear to have achieved some policy traction in a given domain. Finally, the paper investigates a particular field, cultural policy, to evaluate the extent to which meetings are serving policy purposes. The author concludes that meetings can serve an important role in the policy process by framing public problems and highlighting policy alternatives; creating and sustaining policy communities; fostering policy transfer and knowledge uptake; and developing networks among policy entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, with regard to cultural policy, the author argues that, compared to other policy domains, strategic policy-focused convenings are not a regular part of the arts and culture landscape and remain underused policy tools.

Race, Class, and the Development of Criminal Justice Policy1

Abstract: Racial disparities in the criminal justice system are profound and well documented A range of scholarship has examined these trends to assess the degree to which they result from biased decision making at various levels of the justice system Also key to understanding the origin of these disparities is an analysis of the race and class determinants of criminal justice policy This can be seen most clearly in the development of drug policy, but also in the means by which policy choices in law enforcement, prosecution, and sentencing are formulated To the extent that crime is perceived as a “black problem,” the means by which the problem is addressed and the resulting punitiveness of the approach serve to exacerbate societal inequalities

From Public Support for the Arts to Cultural Policy

Abstract: Although public funding for the arts had been an element of budget and appropriations business at both the federal and state levels for over a quarter century, the idea that policy justifies and directs these resource allocations has been slow to emerge. This article provides a historiographical discussion of how the issue was framed and of the resistance to the term “cultural policy” through reference to contextual, political, and epistemic factors. It then uses four presidential reports ranging from 1953 to 1997 to track the evolution of political language concerning the policy definition of the arts and culture, the roles and responsibilities of the federal government regarding these, and the emergence of a range of policy issues beyond public funding.

Terrorism and the Railroads: Redefining Security in the Wake of 9/11

Abstract: This article examines the impact of the 9/11 attacks on railroad security. Railroad security has been traditionally defined as a problem of trespass and liability for deaths, injuries, and property damage sustained or caused by trespassers. It argues that the private freight railroad industry, not government, has largely directed the efforts to prevent terrorism and share information on suspected terrorist threats, through the prompt formation of a loosely coupled network of organizations coordinated by the industry trade association, the American Association of Railroads. The freight railroad network approach is contrasted with the efforts of Amtrak to gain public funds for its security efforts by connecting its survival with homeland security. Kingdon's model of the policy process is used to explain how 9/11 has presented an opportunity for railroads to use policy windows to gain benefits for the industry while at the same time resisting possible reregulation. It contrasts the network approach with the traditional hierarchical-bureaucratic form of organization used in the design of the Department of Homeland Security, and suggests it poses a valuable case study to see how information can be shared between widely divergent types of organizations, and test how best to prevent future terrorist events.

Securing Mass Transit: A Challenge for Homeland Security

Abstract: Securing America's mass transit systems presents a real challenge for federal, state, and local agencies and for the transit systems themselves. Long routes and open facilities make the systems vulnerable and very limited financial resources make it difficult for systems to reduce those vulnerabilities. Thus far, the new Department of Homeland Security has done little to assist in securing the systems or even to fund security measures, despite warnings that terrorist attacks might be imminent. Transit systems have largely been left to their own devices to reduce their vulnerabilities to terrorism.

Involving the Public: When Are Surveys and Stakeholder Interviews Effective?1

Abstract: Scholars and practitioners alike advocate involving stakeholders in environmental decision making, although there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of public involvement tools and the degree of public involvement in the decision making process. Some researchers have gone a step further to promote the use of public surveys and stakeholder interviews as preferred means to include public concerns in environmental decision making. However, there is little evidence as to whether public involvement tools are effective at representing public preferences, especially when there is a shortage of technical information to inform public opinion. This study examines the effectiveness of surveys and stakeholder interviews for assessing the District of Columbia's environmental problems in a comparative risk assessment. The findings suggest that these public involvement tools are less effective when there is a shortage of technical data. Instead, more deliberative forms of public involvement may generate greater convergence of opinion regarding environmental problems.

I Respectfully Dissent: Consensus, Agendas, and Policymaking on the U.S. Supreme Court, 1888–1999

Abstract: Scholars have been intrigued by the abrupt change in the rate of nonconsensual opinions that the Supreme Court has published over time, which substantially increased beginning with the battles concerning the court's New Deal transition in the 1930s. Notwithstanding, none of the prior studies on this topic has made any link, whether theoretical or empirical, between the Supreme Court's issuance of these special opinions and the justices’ policy preferences. We utilize fractional cointegration to examine the relationship between consensus, agendas, and decisionmaking on the Supreme Court. We find that there is a systematic interrelation between the justices’ policy preferences and their issuance of nonconsensual opinions that is dependent upon the policy agenda before the court. In turn, this connection influences the court's policy outcomes, demonstrating that the justices’ behavior regarding nonconsensual opinion writing is a classic example of judicial policymaking.

Old Pictures in New Frames: Issue Definition and Federal Arts Policy

Abstract: Over the past three decades, those advocating for arts funding have shifted their arguments. When the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) was created in 1965, its supporters praised arts and culture for their uplifting qualities, and for their ability to counterbalance trends toward materialism and militarism. By the 1990s, arts advocates were far more likely to use instrumentalist arguments, showing that investment in arts and culture produce other desirable benefits, most notably economic development advances. This article reviews the changing discourse of arts advocacy in several ways: (1) by reviewing and coding Congressional debates on arts funding from 1965–2000, (2) reviewing arts coverage in the New York Times and selected arts periodicals during this same time period. Comparing this case to others in the literature on policy redefinition, the paper argues that cultural advocates have consciously reframed their arguments to broaden their appeal in the face new and more threatening opposition.

A Failure of Good Intentions: An Analysis of Juvenile Justice Reform in San Francisco during the 1990s

Abstract: This study examines the impact of juvenile justice on San Francisco's youth detention population during the 1990s. Because successful juvenile justice reform is measured by reductions in both detention populations and the disproportionate impact on minority youth, this study attempts to evaluate two closely related issues: (1) Did San Francisco juvenile justice reform lead to reductions in juvenile detention bookings? (2) Did San Francisco juvenile justice reform reduce disproportionate minority confinement? The results of the study demonstrated that in fact neither of these results occurred. The data clearly show that what happened instead was “net widening” whereby offenders previously excluded from the juvenile justice system were processed. This was especially the case for minority females, whose rate of detention increased more than any other group. Implications for social policies are discussed.

Mission Evolution: The United States Forest Service's Response to Crisis

Abstract: After a long history as a bureaucratic success story, the United States Forest Service (USFS) found itself embroiled in crisis beginning in the late 1980s. This study examines the factors that led up to the crisis, arguing that the agency had become captured by its own core technologies. Historically, the USFS was successful in adapting to changes in its environment by employing its traditional management procedures. However, attempting to incorporate the northern spotted owl issue with its traditional core technologies threw the subsystem into crisis, during which the agency lost control over its management activities. Today, the USFS is attempting to adapt to the changes brought about by the political conflict of the era.

Kentucky's Perpetual Prisoner Machine: It's about Money1

Abstract: Kentucky is currently facing a severe budget crisis and is seeking ways to lower its prison and community corrections costs. This article focuses on our study of the prison and parole experience of men and women in Kentucky. What we found is a virtual “perpetual incarceration machine” where prisoners are recycled from prison to parole and back to prison. The following discussion includes: Kentucky's prison population continues to grow, parole failure, methods, description of interview samples, interview data, the structure producing parole failure, and Kentucky's perpetual incarceration mechine. Based on our findings, several promising reforms are recommended that if implemented would serve to reduce the prison population and the rate of parole failure.

Terrorism and Transportation Policy and Administration: Balancing the Model and Equations for Optimal Security

Abstract: This article examines the U.S. transportation security following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an event that highlighted the weaknesses in the existing security system, which was focused on efficiency rather than effectiveness and failed to establish and maintain real safety and security standards. The article provides an emerging entrepreneurial managemnent and public policy model to illustrate the manner in which transportation security, business and public policy issues can be rebalanced to safeguard against terrorist threats in the 21st century.

The Imprisonment Crisis in America: Introduction

Abstract: This article provides an overview of recent trends in imprisonment rates in America and introduces the articles in this issue of The Review of Policy Research Incarceration rates have increased by more than 500 percent since the early 1970s and have now reached a rate of almost 700, higher than anywhere else in the world The impact has been particularly hard on racial minorities, especially women (whose incarceration rate went from around 8 in 1975 to 59 in 2001) The “war on drugs” has been one of the main reasons behind the increases in imprisonment, along with the more general “get tough on crime” movement that began in the late 1970s The articles in this issue center around how this recent trend in incarceration impacts the entire society, but especially poor communities Several of the articles focus on race, age and gender as important variables, in addition to the tendency of the parole system to sort of “recycle” released prisoners back into the prison system

Securing mass transit: a challenge for homeland security

Abstract: Even though the vulnerability of mass transit systems has been a cause for concern, the focus of America's counterterrorist and antiterrorist efforts since September 11, 2001, has been aircraft and airport facility protection. And while transit systems in the U.S. have not experienced mass casualty attacks, transit systems in other parts of the world have. The article recognizes that public transit appears an afterthought in the national strategy and less important than the nation's rail, aviation and maritime infrastructure. The extent to which the Department of Home;land Security will address the threat of terrorist attacks on the nation's public transit system is uncertain. The major issue is money. The article concludes that a strategy to address the terrorist threat to public transit systems has to begin with a strategy for financing those efforts.

Seeing around Corners: Crafting the New Department of Homeland Security1

Abstract: The development of the nation's homeland security agenda, including building the behemoth new Department of Homeland Security, will for decades to come provide a rich laboratory for scholars, public managers, consultants, and other observers and analysts. In this article, we begin to describe some of the history, key players and institutions, major policy instruments, and organizational challenges in the rapidly evolving arena of homeland security. This article carries with it two primary purposes: (1) to identify some of the key documents and federal-level initiatives since September 11, and (2) to suggest several areas that beg for additional attention from those who care about effective public policy and administration, whether the particular bent be toward scholarship or practice.