scholarly journals Compromise, partnership, control: Community Justice Authorities in Scotland

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Buchan ◽  
Katrina Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Justice System ◽  
National Government ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Community Justice ◽  
Control Community ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Using Data

Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) were heralded on their inception as modernizing Scotland’s community justice system and resolving longstanding tensions between central and local government over community justice control, by encouraging partnership working and providing oversight at a regional level. However, they were largely unsuccessful and were quietly abolished barely a decade later. Using data from two projects, we analyse the policy ‘narrative’ of CJAs in relation to features of a changing political context – particularly the (re-)establishment of Scotland’s national government, its shifting relationship with local government and policy convergence and divergence with England and Wales. CJAs’ origins in local/national compromise created constitutional flaws which constrained their operation and ultimately sealed their fate, but they nonetheless began to develop distinct identities and contributions which have been largely overlooked. The case of CJAs illustrates how evolving local and national political contexts shape the development of justice institutions.

Challenges of the Implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Finnish Legislation

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Anni Jäntti ◽  
Hanna Maria Vakkala ◽  
Lotta-Maria Sinervo
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Public Services ◽  
National Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Government Reform

In this article, we focus on the challenges for local self-government in Finland. Finnish legislation follows the Articles of the European Charter of Local self-government rather closely. We illustrate how the role of local government as service provider has led to a situation where municipalities are strictly steered by and financially dependent on the national government. Besides this, the burden of public services exposes local government to reforms. Current local government reform by national government challenges local self-government by establishing a regional level of governance. However, it can also bring opportunities for municipalities to focus more on local tasks and decrease the need for strict steering by the state.

Measuring Efficiency at the Regional Level: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 679-696
Author(s):  
Suncana Slijepcevic
Keyword(s):  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Average Decrease ◽  
Measuring Efficiency ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Using Data

European countries have been continuously under the pressure to improve public balances and efficiency of public spending. Economic crisis which started during 2007 weakened public finances at the state and local level in countries all over the world. In Croatia local government budgets are still below the pre-crisis level in many local government units. This paper empirically examines efficiency of public expenditures at the regional level. Performance has been investigated by developing a composite indicator of output. Spending efficiency at the regional level was analysed using Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. Results suggest that there are large differences at the regional level in using resources to provide public services. The results show that the local government units in the least efficient county should on average decrease their expenses by 55 percent, while achieving the same performance to become efficient.

Sentencing Discounts, Attorney Compensation and Plea Bargaining in Criminal Cases

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Bowles
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Us ◽  
Agency Issues ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractOffering defendants a sanction reduction if they agree to plead guilty at an early stage in criminal proceedings represents one form of “plea bargaining”. As with the better known form, where a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for the dropping of a more serious charge, it is motivated by a wish to reduce expenditure on the criminal justice system. In England and Wales sentencing discounts have been used as part of an effort to reduce the high proportion of criminal cases that end in a “cracked trial” where a defendant who had originally pleaded not guilty changes their plea to guilty “at the courtroom door”. The paper presents a model of sentencing discounts and looks also at the closely-related issue of attorney compensation and the associated agency issues. Using data on “cracked trials” from England and Wales and evidence from the US on the relationship between plea bargaining and attorney compensation we argue that sentencing discounts alone may not be a very effective way of economising on legal resources unless they are supported by an appropriate structure of payments to defence lawyers.

Racializing Mercy: Capital Punishment and Race in Twentieth-Century England and Wales

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-910
Author(s):  
Lizzie Seal ◽  
Alexa Neale
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Difference ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Men Of Color ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
To Receive

Fifty-seven men of color were sentenced to death by the courts of England and Wales in the twentieth century and were less likely to receive mercy than white contemporaries. Though shocking, the data is perhaps unsurprising considering institutional racism and unequal access to justice widely highlighted by criminologists since the 1970s. We find discourses of racial difference were frequently mobilized tactically in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England and Wales: to support arguments for mercy and attempt to save prisoners from the gallows. Scholars have identified historically and culturally contingent narratives traditionally deployed to speak to notions of lesser culpability. These mercy narratives reveal contemporary ideals and attitudes to gender or class. This article is original in identifying strategic mercy narratives told in twentieth-century England and Wales that called on contemporary tropes about defendants' race. The narratives and cases we explore suggest contemporary racism in the criminal justice system of England and Wales has a longer history than previously acknowledged.

scholarly journals Understanding Social Security Development: Lessons From the Chinese Case

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110326
Author(s):  
Guan Huang ◽  
Zhuang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Social Security Systems ◽  
Security Systems ◽  
Security Research ◽  
Chinese Case ◽  
Thematic Approach ◽  
Convergence And Divergence

Understanding the development of social security systems constitutes the ultimate goal of social security research. This review traces and compares two schools of thought regarding social security development: the convergence and divergence schools. Using a thematic approach, this article first categorizes extant studies into one of these two schools and then identifies the broadly accepted mechanism of social security development by comparing them. After reviewing the extant research and its theoretical underpinnings, this article applies Mill’s methods of agreement and difference to show how the Chinese case contributes to and challenges our understanding of social security development. By discussing the assumptions of current research on social security development in light of the Chinese case, this article illuminates how political legitimacy serves as a common mechanism of social security development regardless of political context or structure.

scholarly journals With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Consequences of Populists in National Government for Policymaking in Local Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Fred Paxton
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
National Government ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Multilevel Perspective ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Newspaper Data

Abstract Despite increasing research into populist parties in power, their impact on subnational institutions has been neglected. Taking a novel multilevel perspective, this article inquires into the policy consequences of populist radical right parties (specifically, the FPÖ and Lega) in local government, and the effect of their simultaneous participation in national government. The article shows the expansion of exclusionary policy that follows their concurrent presence in national and local government. The process that leads from national government entry to local policy influence is traced using interview and newspaper data. The article argues that the influence of central parties over these ‘showcase’ localities is rooted in different multilevel governance configurations. These vary cross-nationally according to two factors: the strength of mayors’ linkages with higher government levels in the different institutional settings and, due to the different extent of party nationalization, the strategic value of the municipality to the central party.

Funding Local Political Parties in England and Wales: Donations and Constituency Campaigns

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Johnston ◽  
Charles Pattie
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Liberal Democrats ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The funding of political parties is an issue of considerable contemporary concern in the UK. Although most attention has been paid to the situation regarding national parties, the new funding regime introduced in 2001 also applies to constituency parties, and some concerns have been raised regarding the limits on spending and expenditure there. Using data released by the Electoral Commission on all donations above a specified minimum to constituency parties, this article looks at the pattern of donations over the period 2001–05. It then analyses the impact of spending on the 2005 constituency campaigns, showing that for the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats substantial donations enhanced their vote-winning performances in seats where their candidates were challengers whereas for Labour substantial donations aided its performance in marginal seats that it was defending.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document