Economic Sanctions in Criminal Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Barry Ruback
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discipline ◽  
State Level ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Multimethod Research ◽  
District Attorneys ◽  
The Government

Economic sanctions are court-imposed financial obligations aimed at punishing offenders (fines), funding the government (costs/fees, forfeitures), and compensating victims (restitution). This book examines economic sanctions in the United States, with a focus on the multilevel, multimethod research my students and I conducted in Pennsylvania. The 15 studies described in the book are multiplistic in terms of academic discipline (social psychology, criminology, law), levels of analysis (individual, county, state), actors within the system (victims, offenders, probation officers, district attorneys, judges), type of process involved (imposition, payment, rearrest), and research methods (analyses of state-level computerized archives, coding of county-level paper court and probation records, surveys of individuals, a field-experiment, and follow-up involving probationers). Most of the studies examined the imposition, payment, and effect of paying restitution. Research across methods indicated that offenders are often unable to pay their court-ordered sanctions, that restitution is generally not paid in full, and that both offenders and victims are responsive to procedural justice. Experimental results indicated that randomly assigned probationers delinquent in making payments who received letters informing them of the restitution amounts they owed were more likely to pay restitution and less likely to commit a new crime as compared to randomly assigned delinquent probationers who did not receive letters or who received letters giving them a rationale for payment. Three policy recommendations are made concerning what is fair and effective for victims, offenders, and society: (1) mandating restitution, (2) making fines contingent on ability to pay, and (3) ending the imposition of costs and fees.

Intelligence Oversight

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Adams
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
National Security ◽  
News Media ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
The United States ◽  
Similar Process ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
The Government ◽  
Fresh Impetus ◽  
The Impact

Oversight has the objective of ensuring accountability in the operations of a country’s security and intelligence organizations. Among established democracies, the United States has taken a clear lead by putting numerous legal safeguards in place, notably after the major congressional investigations of 1975. A wave of reform followed in other countries—initially in Australia and Canada and later extending to the United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Norway, and Italy. Emerging democracies such as South Africa and Romania initiated a similar process, while China, Japan, and the Russian Federation registered little if any change. A crucial debate confronts any representative government: preserving a protective cloak of secrecy in the interest of national security while maintaining outside scrutiny of an agency’s performance and pattern of conduct. Oversight can be exercised by either the executive or the legislative branch of the government, although most commonly one finds a mixture of the two. Occasionally the permanent courts will adjudicate espionage cases involving the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive classified information, just as more specialized bodies such as commissions, ombudsmen, and tribunals might be created and enter the picture. In some instances, the news media have proven to be critical instruments in shaping public opinion and exerting pressure on government officials; far more limited has been the impact of civil rights and other independent groups. The international repercussions of both the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the National Security Agency leaks by Edward Snowden in 2013 have given fresh impetus to proponents and critics alike. As more nations have sought to democratize their intelligence communities, intelligence oversight has attracted increased attention, becoming in the process a prominent element in the expanding academic discipline of intelligence studies. Still, no universal formula or model has yet emerged—and some form of compromise among the alternatives nearly always results. The robust debate over secrecy versus transparency thus appears guaranteed to continue into the foreseeable future.

scholarly journals The Trafficking Victims Protection Act: Has the Legislation Fallen Short of its Goals?

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
MaryAnne McReynold
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
Trafficking Victims Protection Act ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Trafficking Victims

This analysis examines the immigration status that the United States government affords to individuals who are willing to meet the requirements of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, commonly known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This article presents the legislative history of the TVPA with an emphasis on the factors that heighten the tension between the interests of trafficking victims and those of the government. Available immigration relief is not truly "relief" unless it is accessible to those who need it, that is, those for whom Congress designated this type of visa status. Likewise, legislation that designates an action as criminal is fruitless unless it provides for effective investigations and enforcement. As crucial as it is to punish and deter traffickers, the special nature of this crime necessitates that the victims, who are central to the role of law enforcement, receive ample protection. In conclusion, the author suggests seven policy recommendations to improve the government's ability to punish and deter human traffickers while protecting the victims of these crimes.

scholarly journals Political Party and Mental Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa Christine Holmquist
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Mental Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Government ◽  
State Mental

As political polarization increases and mental health worsens, it is becoming crucial to investigate the potential link between these. This project investigated the link between political party and mental health in the United States. Data was analyzed from previous U.S. elections, Mental Health America, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to investigate the relationships in four studies. The first analyzed current associations between state mental health rankings and voting margins in the 2020 presidential election. The second analyzed this same connection but over previous years. The third compared the percentage of liberal control in the government with the percentage of American adults receiving mental health care services to uncover if the party in power had an effect on overall mental health. The fourth analyzed voting margins and state mental health rankings at the end of the term to determine if mental health was associated with being governed by the party for which the state voted. Studies 1, 2, and 4 were found to have significant relationships at a 99% confidence level. This indicates that voting liberal is associated with better mental health rankings at the state level, both currently and throughout previous elections. It also signifies that being governed by the party for which the state voted is associated with better mental health at the state level. In future studies, it may be beneficial to conduct individual assessments to determine if this relationship exists only at the state level.

scholarly journals Establishing a National Community of Practice for Newborn Screening Follow-Up

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Erin Darby ◽  
John Thompson ◽  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Sikha Singh ◽  
Jelili Ojodu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Newborn Screening ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Community

Newborn screening (NBS) follow-up programs in the United States are managed at the state level, leaving limited opportunities for collaboration across programs and coordinated resource sharing. The Newborn Screening Technical assistance and Evaluation Program (NewSTEPs), a program of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), has established a national community of practice for NBS follow-up by creating a network of follow-up staff and stakeholders through education and engagement opportunities. The activities of NewSTEPs in support of NBS follow-up have strengthened information dissemination, collaboration, data collection and technical assistance-driven mentorship across the national system.

Unification of Screw Threads

1946 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-145
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Screw Thread ◽  
British Industry ◽  
War Effort ◽  
American Standard ◽  
The Government ◽  
Screw Threads

An attempt was made after the 1914–18 war to follow up the need which had then arisen for common British and American standard threads, and Sir Richard Glazebrook, on behalf of British industry, went to America in order to put forward a proposal for the unification of screw threads. This unfortunately was not adopted, and the diversity of practice between the United States and Canada and Great Britain on the form and dimensions of the screw thread has been a source of trouble in the recent war even more than in the 1914–18 war. A number of conferences, under the auspices of the Combined Production and Resources Board of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, have therefore taken place at the instigation of the respective Governments in an endeavour to establish common systems for the main types of screw thread used in the three countries. The Combined Production and Resources Board's Conferences in 1943 and 1944 reached agreement on a truncated Whitworth thread series, primarily for application in the war effort. Preliminary discussions were also opened on the major subjects of unifying the American National and British Whitworth series, and on pipe threads, instrument threads, and buttress and Acme threads. To pursue these discussions, a further series of conferences were arranged to take place in the autumn of 1945 at Ottawa, and as it was desirable to obtain the views of British engineers and industrialists on these projects for the guidance of the British delegates attending the Ottawa Conference, the Institution subcommittee arranged for the papers and discussions that are printed on the following pages. The British views were also sought by the British Standards Institution in order to assist them to fulfil the request of the Government to implement the technical aspects of any recommendations adopted.

Medicaid

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-37
Author(s):  
Enrique M. Perez
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Cost ◽  
State Level ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Medicaid Waivers

In the United States, Medicaid is the primary social safety net that provides health care for the poor and other vulnerable populations. Interest group theory and federalism, state level sovereignty, are used to create a theoretical model that proposes factors, other than increasing health care cost, as growth determinants of Medicaid expenditure and enrollments. For over three decades driven by federalism state-level discretionary Medicaid waiver programs have been creating new and unsustainable entitlements. The role of Medicaid waivers is poorly understood and in need of scholarly attention. Due to a lack of federal oversight and other social and political factors, some of which will be discussed in this paper, it appears that discretionary Medicaid waiver programs put in place as a solution are contributing to the overall structural issues of Medicaid. The paper concludes with suggestions on needed research and some potential policy recommendations.

scholarly journals Do Government Benefits Affect Officeholders’ Electoral Fortunes? Evidence from State Earned Income Tax Credits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hunter Rendleman ◽  
Jesse Yoder
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Credits ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Earned Income ◽  
Approval Ratings ◽  
The Government

Whether and how individuals link benefits they receive from the government to their voting behavior is a central question in political economy. We study this question using one of the largest social provision programs in the United States: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). We exploit the staggered roll-out of state-level EITC programs to estimate the causal effect of the program on elections, voter behavior, and attitudes about the government. Contrary to predictions from the policy feedback literature, we show that the credit leads to higher vote shares and approval ratings for the implementing governor. These effects are temporally limited to the first years of the credit’s availability, and dissipate over time. Taken together, our results suggest that voters are responsive to the benefit.

scholarly journals The Unending War in Yemen

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 55-79
Author(s):  
Deniz Kaptan
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
State Level ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Technology ◽  
The Us ◽  
Proxy War ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
Hearts And Minds

Yemen has been a warzone for at least seven years now. The conflict is seemingly a civil war between the government and opposition forces. It also serves as a proxy war that determines the balance of power between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region. The government in Yemen is aided by the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), where Saudi Arabia (as well as other GCC members) purchases military technologies from the United States, Britain, France, and Germany. On the other hand, the opposition groups – the most prominent one being the Houthis – use Iranian technology in their fight. Considering the sophistication of military technology of the US and other Western countries vis-à-vis Iran, the duration of the war in Yemen stands out as a puzzle which this article attempts to explain using state-level analysis. After reviewing the situation since 2014, this article examines two existing arguments regarding the balance of power between Iran and Saudi-backed warring parties, namely, the hearts and minds argument and the military inadequacy arguments. Demonstrating the limitations of these, this article suggests that the Western powers contribute to the perpetuation of the war as they accrue a stream of revenue from arms production.

scholarly journals US policy of economic sanctions against Cuba in 1990s years

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Yulia Sedliar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Assistance ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Oil Refineries ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cuban Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Almost All

The US economic embargo against Cuba has been in place for fifty years. During that period, its rationale and goals have not changed. As it is stressed in the article, principal purpose of the US sanctions strategy is either to modify the international behavior of Cuba, which Washington regarded as a threat to US strategic interests in the Latin America region, or to eliminate the Cuban political regime entirely. Measured against these goals, the sanctions clearly have failed. Author examines key factors having restricted sanctions’ ability to achieve American proclaimed goals regarding to Cuba. In this context, it is underscored that controversial maintenance of the US embargo against Cuba among US allies directly affected the results of sanctions strategy against Cuba. It is stressed that since the early 1960s, when the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted of economic sanctions aimed at isolating the government. The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. An embargo was first imposed by the United States on sale of arms to Cuba on the 14th of March 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. On October 19, 1960 the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized American-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962 the embargo was extended to include almost all imports. Currently, the Cuban embargo is enforced mainly through six statutes: the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to maintain sanctions on Cuba so long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights. The article emphasizes that The Helms–Burton Act further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government were met.

The Investment Climate in Russia

2006 ◽  
pp. 48-77
Author(s):  
Article Editorial
Keyword(s):  
Money Demand ◽  
State Level ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Investment Climate ◽  
Operational Environment ◽  
Gdp Growth Rate ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Potential Gdp ◽  
The Government ◽  
Economic Boom

During the last six years, exceptionally favourable external conditions for an upsurge of the domestic economy have been developed. However, they failed to result in an economic boom, which has been estimated by the authors as quite possible. One of the reasons for this - deterioration of the investment climate in the country that caused a decline of business activities and money demand decrease thus leading to reduction of potential GDP growth rate. The accumulated modernisation problems cannot be resolved without increasing the economic dynamics. But this requires an economic policy able to facilitate predictability of Russian business operational environment, to protect it legally, to secure a system of partnership relations with the government and to respect the interests of the main participants in the state level decision-making process concerning business undertakings and investment climate.

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