scholarly journals Rettspolitisk mobilisering og strategisk sakførsel mot isolasjon i norske fengsler

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-135
Author(s):  
Kjersti Lohne ◽  
Marte Rua
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Criminal Policy ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Legal Mobilization ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Police Custody ◽  
Police Detention ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Strategic Litigation

AbstractSolitary confinement in prison and police detention has been a widespread criminal policy and human rights problem in the Scandinavian countries for decades. However, in recent years, there has been a significant legal mobilization in Norway whereby lawyers individually and collectively have challenged solitary confinement in the courts. This use of strategic litigation has been directed towards solitary confinement in police custody,  remand and during imprisonment. Based on qualitative interviews and documents, we analyze the organizational and legal strategy behind this legal mobilization, along with its effects and preconditions. We find that strategic litigation by lawyers has played an important role in the struggle against solitary confinement in Norway, but that it has benefited from – and played in tandem with – a legal and political opportunity structure consisting of national as well as international actors, processes, and legal frameworks. These findings raise the question of whether lawyers and civil society can contribute in similar ways in the other Scandinavian countries.

How Students on College Campuses Created Opportunities for Workers in Sweatshops

Contention ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-52
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
College Administrators ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Apparel Companies ◽  
A Chain

Political opportunity structure (POS) refers to how the larger social context, such as repression, shapes a social movement’s chances of success. Most work on POS looks at how movements deal with the political opportunities enabling and/or constraining them. This article looks at how one group of social movement actors operating in a more open POS alters the POS for a different group of actors in a more repressive environment through a chain of indirect leverage—how United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) uses the more open POS on college campuses to create new opportunities for workers in sweatshop factories. USAS exerts direct leverage over college administrators through protests, pushing them to exert leverage over major apparel companies through the licensing agreements schools have with these companies.

scholarly journals Long-term condition management for prisoners: improving the processes between community and prison

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
NMJ Wright ◽  
F Hankins ◽  
P Hearty
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Electronic Record ◽  
Medicines Management ◽  
Long Term Conditions ◽  
Police Custody ◽  
Barriers To Screening ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Facilitators And Barriers ◽  
Ongoing Monitoring

Abstract Background Prisoner populations have a disproportionately high prevalence of risk factors for long-term conditions (LTCs), and movement between community and prisons is a period of potential disruption in the ongoing monitoring and management of LTCs. Method Nineteen qualitative interviews with staff, recruited by purposive sampling for professional background, were conducted to explore facilitators and barriers to screening, monitoring and medicines management for LTCs. Results There is variability in prisoner behaviours regarding bringing community GP-prescribed medication to prison following arrest and detention in police custody, which affects service ability regarding seamless continuation of community prescribing actions. Systems for actively inputting clinical data into existing, nationally agreed, electronic record templates for QOF monitoring are under-developed in prisons and such activity is dependent upon individual “enthusiast(s)”. Conclusion There is a pressing need to embed standardised QOF monitoring systems within an integrated community/prison commissioning framework, supported by connectivity between prison and community primary care records, including all activity related to QOF compliance.

Solitary confinement and institutional harm

Incarceration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632110656
Author(s):  
Bruce Western ◽  
Jessica T. Simes ◽  
Kendra Bradner
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Material Deprivation ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Legal Arguments

In a given year, one in five people incarcerated in the U.S. prisons is locked in solitary confinement. We study solitary confinement along three dimensions of penal harm: (1) material deprivation, (2) social isolation, and (3) psychological distress. Data from a longitudinal survey of incarcerated men who are interviewed at baseline in solitary confinement are used to contrast the most extreme form of penal custody with general prison conditions observed at a follow-up interview. Solitary confinement is associated with extreme material deprivation and social isolation that accompanies psychological distress. Distress is greatest for those with histories of mental illness. Inactivity and feelings of dehumanization revealed in qualitative interviews help explain the distress of extreme isolation, lending empirical support to legal arguments that solitary confinement threatens human dignity.

A failed Roma revolution: Conflict, fragmentation and status quo maintenance in Rome

Ethnicities ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 775-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Clough Marinaro ◽  
Ulderico Daniele
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Government ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Status ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article examines novel spaces for Roma political participation that opened up under a right-wing municipal government in Rome between 2008 and 2013. Three channels were created through which Roma could engage with policy-makers and, in theory, make their voices heard: a ‘Mayor’s Delegate for Roma Issues’; a forum for debate among Roma groups and elected representatives in two official camps. Based on in-depth interviews with protagonists of this key period of mobilisation, we evaluate the successes achieved and obstacles faced. In particular, we highlight the differentiations which emerged among Roma actors, concluding that, following an initial period of enthusiasm and cohesion, most participants withdrew, achieving few of their initial goals. While the analysis demonstrates the heterogeneity of Roma groups and interests in this process, it also underlines the constraints created by the external political opportunity structure which ultimately worked to co-opt activists in order to maintain the status quo.

Mobilizing Under the Gun: Theorizing Political Opportunity Structure in a Highly Repressive Setting

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Alimi
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Different Levels

Although episodes of contentious politics in undemocratic regimes constitute the lion's share of contentious political events worldwide, the theorizing of political opportunity structures is based largely on contentious episodes in democratic/liberal political settings. This anomaly hampers recent attempts to redefine the boundaries among episodes of contention across time and place. Employing the case of the first Palestinian Intifada (1987-1992), I critically examine three theoretical aspects of political opportunity structures (POS): (1) how the link between POS, strateg, and tactics is forged; (2) how different levels of POS interact; and (3) the ability of multiactor movements to cope with the shifting nature of POS. I conclude by briefly illustrating the relevance of my findings to other structurally similar cases, and discuss the implications of my analysis for further sensitization of the Dynamics of Contention research program.

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