scholarly journals Peering into the Private Lives of Judges: Reconciling Judicial Accountability and Privacy

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Li
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Disciplinary Procedures ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Lead Complex

Members of the Canadian courts are expected to maintain a rigorous degree of professionalism and good conduct in maintaining an independent, impartial and accountable judiciary. Yet, judges bring their diverse past experiences and values to bench and lead complex lives off the bench. Through examination of the judicial discipline of former Justice Lori Douglas in 2010, this paper makes a two-fold argument. Firstly, although the integrity of conduct by members of the judiciary must be held to the highest standard of public accountability, diverse backgrounds and lived experiences of judges allow for better informed decision-making and thereby, increase public confidence. Secondly, privacy of non-judicial activities ought to be protected to the extent that such activities do not erode public confidence in the judiciary. The diversity of lived experiences and backgrounds of judges is what makes the bench representative and credible in the eyes of Canadians. It is important that policies of the Canadian Judicial Council address these issues in creating workable inquiry and disciplinary procedures that truly further judicial accountability in the eyes of the public in a manner that is efficient yet mitigates harm to individual judges under investigation.

Water Issues in Florida: How Extension Can Facilitate Stakeholder Engagement and Involvement

EDIS ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Odera ◽  
Alexa Lamm ◽  
Michael Dukes ◽  
Tracy Irani ◽  
Hannah Carter
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Agricultural Education ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Extension Agents ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Surrounding Water ◽  
The Public ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Clear Information

This 6-page fact sheet is a brief description of recent discussions and policies surrounding water management, use, and quality in Florida. The goal of this publication is to provide brief, but clear, information about the trends in policies that can be used by Extension agents to increase educated conversations about water issues. Water in Florida is a contested issue, and Extension agents may be called upon as a source of unbiased information by the public. Having an understanding of important agricultural and natural resources issues in Florida, including water, can help facilitate conversation, raise awareness, and lead to informed decision making. Written by Erica Odera, Alexa Lamm, Michael Dukes, Tracy Irani, and Hannah Carter, and published by the UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, December 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc151

scholarly journals The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT): Supporting evidence-informed decision-making in public health in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (56) ◽  
pp. 292-296
Author(s):  
Heather Husson ◽  
Claire Howarth ◽  
Sarah Neil-Sztramko ◽  
Maureen Dobbins
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Response

The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) is part of a network of six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCC) created in 2005 by the federal government following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic to strengthen public health infrastructure in Canada. The work of the NCCMT, to support evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) in public health in Canada, is accomplished by curating trustworthy evidence, building competence to use evidence and accelerating change in EIDM. Ongoing engagement with its target audiences ensures NCCMT’s relevance and ability to respond to evolving public health needs. This has been particularly critical during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which saw NCCMT pivot its activities to support the public health response by conducting rapid reviews on priority questions identified by decision-makers from federal to local levels as well as create and maintain a national repository of in-progress or completed syntheses. These efforts, along with partnering with the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-Making (COVID-END), sought to reduce duplication, increase coordination of synthesis efforts and support decision-makers to use the best available evidence in decision-making. Data from website statistics illustrate the successful uptake of these initiatives across Canada and internationally.

OP114 The Public's Role In Understanding The Value Of Health Technologies

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (S1) ◽  
pp. 43-44
Author(s):  
Tania Stafinski ◽  
Jackie Street ◽  
Devidas Menon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Definition Of

Introduction:Increasingly, health technology assessment (HTA) organizations have instituted mechanisms for involving patients in assessment and review processes. The reasons are obvious—to understand the “patient experience” with a disease and to ensure that patient perspectives are considered during deliberations about the value of new treatments. More recently there have been efforts to engage the public in HTAs and HTA-informed decision-making processes. However, the goals of these efforts have not been well articulated. This may be attributable to the lack of a shared definition of “the public”. The objective of this study was to develop a common understanding of the term “the public” within the context of HTA.Methods:The following were conducted: a survey of HTA organizations; a systematic review; consultation with Health Technology Assessment international's Special Interest Group on Patient and Citizen Involvement; and a workshop comprising representatives from patient organizations, industry, and HTA bodies in Canada.Results:In many HTA processes, the terms “public” and “patients” are synonymous. Definitions found in scholarly articles vary and depend on the rationale for involving the public in a particular issue. Through consultations it became clear that, in the context of HTA, the definition depends on understanding what is missing from current deliberations around the value of new health technologies. There was consensus among workshop participants that: (i) “patients” and “the public” are not the same; (ii) the role of the public may be to ensure societal values are reflected in HTAs and HTA-informed decision-making processes (e.g. serving an audit function); and (iii) a legitimate definition of “the public” could be: “A non-aligned community member with no commercial or professional interest in the HTA process who is not a patient or member of a stakeholder group”.Conclusions:Consensus on the use of the terms “patient” and “public” will support rigorous, evidence-based public and patient engagement in HTA. The proposed definition indicates a way forward in this debate.

Bawa-Garba ruling is not good news for doctors

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Hodson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Return To Work ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Criminal Trial ◽  
Good News ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Public ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
Court Of Appeal

Although some doctors celebrated when the Court of Appeal overturned Hadiza Bawa-Garba’s erasure from the medical register, it is argued here that in many ways the ruling is by no means good news for the medical profession. Doctors’ interests are served by transparent professional tribunals but the Court of Appeal’s approach to the GMC Sanctions Guidance risks increasing opacity in decision-making. Close attention to systemic factors in the criminal trial protects doctors yet the Court of Appeal states that the structural circumstances surrounding Bawa-Garba’s failings were only of peripheral relevance to her conviction. Public confidence in the profession is undermined when convicted doctors return to work because the public de facto do not understand the nuance of gross negligence manslaughter law. Rather than changing the law to make the regulator more lenient towards doctors, it would be better to ensure that doctors are only convicted of gross negligence manslaughter when their conduct is so serious that they ought to be struck off.

scholarly journals Young people's perception of the measures taken by the authorities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Mari-Isabella Stan ◽  
Mihaela Rus ◽  
Tanase Tasente
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Study Participants

Transparency is generally defined by political scientists as the principle of allowing the public to obtain information about the operations and structures of a given entity (Etzioni, 2014). Transparency symbolizes a mechanism for promoting good governance and public confidence in a modern and democratic public administration (Jashari and Pepaj, 2018). The theory of open public administration gives the individual a greater role in the adoption of the executive regulations and greater transparency in the operations of the public administration (Bugaric, 2004). A fully transparent administration, either at central level or at local level, involves informing and participating citizens in the decision-making process, becoming an indispensable principle of the rule of law. On the other hand, democratic citizenship involves obtaining information about the problems that affect you and working with others to influence how society will solve those problems (Portelli and Solomon, 2001). The objectives of the study are: (1) Identification of the degree of knowledge of the concept of decision-making transparency in public administration; (2) Analysis of the perception regarding the degree of decision-making transparency and communication of the local and central public administrations in the context of the crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic; (3) Analysis of the degree of confidence the crisis management generated by the new Coronavirus by public institutions. The questionnaire, which included 10 items, was applied, on a sample consisting of 200 students and graduates of the Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences - “Ovidius” University of Constanța (Romania, European Union). The period of application of the questionnaire was April 4-10, 2020. Of these, 80.77% are female, and 19.23% are male, with an average age of 27.5 years. Most of the respondents (56.41%) are undergraduate students, and the remaining 43.59% are study participants are graduates or masters of the same Faculty. At the same time, 71.79% of the study participants come from urban areas, and 28.21% from rural areas.

scholarly journals Capturing the Judiciary from Inside: The Story of Judicial Self-Governance in Slovakia

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1741-1768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Spáč ◽  
Katarína Šipulová ◽  
Marína Urbániková
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Ethical Culture ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Disciplinary Procedures ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe article discusses the development in the administration of the Slovak judiciary since the separation of Czechoslovakia and the impact of the empowerment of the judicial self-governance on the functioning of the judicial system. After independence, the administration of the judiciary initially rested in the hands of the executive. In 2002, Slovakia created its Judicial Council and transferred a considerable amount of powers on it, especially related to judicial careers. It was expected that this would de-politicize the judicial system. However, a high level of autonomy of the judiciary chiefly led to the empowerment of judicial elites. This reduced the democratic accountability of the judiciary, encapsulating it from society and enabling it to promote its own interests. Selection processes have often been used to fill judicial ranks with judges with close ties to the system. Accountability mechanisms such as promotions, disciplinary procedures or remuneration schemes were used to reward allies of those on the top of the hierarchy and to punish their critics. Still, adherence to EU-backed standards on the administration of the judiciary may have increased the legitimacy of the judiciary, while concentrating decision-making in one body enhanced transparency, which was furthered due to low public confidence resulting in unprecedented levels of information available about the Slovak judicial system. All in all, the Slovak example displays the dangers of establishing judicial self-governance in countries where an internal ethical culture and a strong sense of judicial duty are still lacking.

Judicial Decision-Making and Deliberations

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-163
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
The Impact

This chapter assesses judicial decision-making and deliberations. The success of international criminal courts depends in no small part on the transparency of proceedings and reasoning of the judgements. Transparency is essential to building public confidence in the fair administration of justice. It also serves as an important safeguard against judicial arbitrariness and helps to ensure not only the fairness of the proceedings but the independence and impartiality of the Bench. This commitment to transparency in court proceedings is not absolute, however. It is limited by other factors, such as the importance of protecting witnesses and victims and the requirement that certain information be kept confidential. The chapter looks at the process of decision-making in the ICTY, ICTR, and the Mechanism. It draws attention to four specific issues: the uniqueness of the tribunals and the impact of their special status on decision-making; the diversity of decision-makers at the tribunals; the diverse backgrounds of the tribunals’ Judges and staff; and the process of decision-making.

How can we better coordinate and make use of statistical training resources? A few reflections linked to the work of the Global Network of Institutions on Statistical Training (GIST)1

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Vibeke Oestreich Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Statistical System ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Low Resource Settings ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
Training Resources

Reliable and timely data and statistics are more important than ever before. Data are being used in many contexts, often without a proper understanding of what they mean. Having visible and active national statistics producers is key to help ensure that the public receives information that is reliable and can be used for informed decision making. While many official statistics producers do their best, particularly those that operate in low-resource settings have limited capacities and lack sufficient training to respond to all needs. A number of regional and international actors support statistical training, but provision is not always well coordinated or aligned with the prioritized needs of recipients. As a response to this, the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) was established in 2018 with the aim to contribute to efficient, effective, and harmonized delivery of training. Since then GIST has developed various tools and guidance materials. Moving forward, the national statistical system should take a stronger lead and set their own priorities for training needs and coordinate with partners to fill gaps. The developments in technology and tools can support this change through increased use of online materials and therefore independence to use what is most relevant.

Radiological safety and assessment of the performance of X-ray systems in veterinary facilities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Economides ◽  
C.J. Hourdakis ◽  
C. Pafilis ◽  
G. Simantirakis ◽  
P. Tritakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Radiation Protection ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
Atomic Energy ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
X Ray ◽  
The Public ◽  
Radiological Safety ◽  
High Level

This paper concerns an analysis regarding the performance of X-ray equipment as well as the radiological safety in veterinary facilities. Data were collected from 380 X-ray veterinary facilities countrywide during the on-site regulatory inspections carried out by the Greek Atomic Energy Commission. The analysis of the results shows that the majority of the veterinary radiographic systems perform within the acceptable limits; moreover, the design and shielding of X-ray rooms as well as the applied procedures ensure a high level of radiological safety for the practitioners, operators and the members of the public. An issue that requires specific attention in the optimization process for the proper implementation of veterinary radiology practices in terms of radiological safety is the continuous training of the personnel. The above findings and the regulatory experience gained were valuable decision-making elements regarding the type of the regulatory control of veterinary radiology practices in the new radiation protection framework.

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