The Greek Justice System: Collapse and Reform1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Papaioannou ◽  
Stavroula Karatza
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Absolute Priority ◽  
System Collapse ◽  
Specialized Courts ◽  
Policy Proposals

This chapter discusses the key structural deficiencies of the Greek justice system and proposes concrete policy reforms. The first part provides an account of the Greek legal system using cross-country indicators reflecting the formalism, quality, and speed of resolution mechanisms. The analysis shows that the Greek justice civil system has failed to perform its basic tasks. Trials in all types of courts take years to complete, in some instances seven or even ten years. At the same the quality of laws protecting investors, contracts and property, is low. Using comparative data from other EU jurisdictions, the chapter shows that the key reasons behind these failures are the absence of information technology, the lack of support staff, the absence of specialized courts and tribunals, and a hugely dysfunctional administration. At the same time there is minimal assessment of the judges' performance and limited possibilities for continuing professional development. The second part details a set of policy proposals. The proposals consist of immediate measures for clearing the large backlog and a set of ambitious medium-term reforms, many of which require a constitutional amendment. They aim to make the Greek justice system professionally administered, less formalistic, suitably flexible, and more accountable. Given the strong link between legal institutions and development, justice reform should be an absolute priority of the policy agenda, though sadly it is not.

scholarly journals Politics versus Policy: Technocratic Traps of Russia’s Policy Reforms

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Gel’man
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Policy Proposals

A number of policy reforms in post-Soviet Russia have been conducted within the framework of the technocratic model. Policy proposals have been developed and to some extent implemented by certain teams of professionals appointed by legitimate political leaders. The leaders, in turn, have tended to monopolize policy adoption and evaluation and to insulate the substance of reforms from public opinion. This article is devoted to a critical reassessment of the technocratic model of policy-making in the context of changes of the 1990s–2010s. The main focus of the analysis is on the political and institutional constraints of policy-making resulting from the influence of interest groups and mechanisms of governance within the state apparatus. Poor quality of governance and rent-seeking aspirations of major actors create significant barriers for reforms, while insulation of policy-making, although beneficial for technocratic reformers themselves, has resulted in an increase to the social costs of reforms and distorted their substantive outcomes. In the conclusion, possible alternatives to the technocratic model are discussed.

Improving graduation rates in drug court: A qualitative study of participants’ lived experiences

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Robert Gallagher ◽  
Anne Nordberg ◽  
Elyse Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Drug Testing ◽  
Drug Court ◽  
Drug Courts ◽  
Criminal Recidivism ◽  
Frequent Contact

For nearly three decades, drug courts have provided a rehabilitative approach within the criminal justice system for individuals who have a substance use disorder. The goal of drug courts is to reduce criminal recidivism, and research has consistently suggested that participants that graduate drug court are less likely to recidivate than those who are terminated from the program. This qualitative study adds to the literature by asking drug court participants ( N = 42) their views on the most helpful aspects of the program that support them in graduating and how the program could be more helpful to support them in graduating. Two themes emerged from the data: (1) participants felt that interventions that are common to drug courts, such as drug testing and having frequent contact with the judge, were most helpful in supporting them in graduating the program; (2) participants felt that the agencies that offered treatment for their substance use disorders used punitive tactics and judgmental approaches that compromised the quality of treatment they received, and they felt that this was a barrier to them graduating the program. The findings are discussed in reference to drug court practice.

scholarly journals Creating a ‘reverse’ integrated primary and mental healthcare clinic for those with serious mental illness

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (05) ◽  
pp. 421-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Maragakis ◽  
Ragavan Siddharthan ◽  
Jill RachBeisel ◽  
Cassandra Snipes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Primary Care Practitioners

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are more likely to experience preventable medical health issues, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, than the general population. To further compound this issue, these individuals are less likely to seek preventative medical care. These factors result in higher usage of expensive emergency care, lower quality of care, and lower life expectancy. This manuscript presents literature that examines the health disparities this population experiences, and barriers to accessing primary care. Through the identification of these barriers, we recommend that the field of family medicine work in collaboration with the field of mental health to implement ‘reverse’ integrated care (RIC) systems, and provide primary care services in the mental health settings. By embedding primary care practitioners in mental health settings, where individuals with SMI are more likely to present for treatment, this population may receive treatment for somatic care by experts. This not only would improve the quality of care received by patients, but would also remove the burden of managing complex somatic care from providers trained in mental health. The rationale for this RIC system, as well as training and policy reforms, are discussed.

Center Stage on the Patient Protection Agenda: Grievance and Appeal Rights

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Access To Treatment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Patient Protection ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
The Right

Responding to mounting public concern about the shift to managed care, legislation to grant patient protections has dominated the health policy agenda over the past two years. Although some policies, such as laws on maternity length of stay, can be easily dismissed as “body part by body part” micromanagement of medical practice, other initiatives offer substantive, new rights to patients across the spectrum of care. At both the state and the federal levels, the right of enrollees to appeal a denial of treatment or to file grievances about other plan decisions has emerged as a centerpiece of patient protection legislation. Grievance and appeal rights have been embraced as a way to empower patients, to enhance access to treatment, and to improve the quality of care by providing an external mechanism to review treatment denials.

scholarly journals The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 19-21
Author(s):  
Philip Boyce ◽  
Nicola Crossland
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Health It ◽  
Scientific Congress ◽  
Zealand College ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
General Community ◽  
And Training

The vision of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) is of ‘a fellowship of psychiatrists working with and for the general community to achieve the best attainable quality of psychiatric care and mental health’. It is the principal organisation representing the specialty of psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand; it currently has around 2600 Fellows, who account for approximately 85% of psychiatrists in Australia and 50% of psychiatrists in New Zealand. The RANZCP sets the curriculum, accredits training and training programmes, and assesses trainee psychiatrists. In addition, it administers a continuing professional development programme for practising psychiatrists, has a role in policy development, publishes two scientific journals – the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry and Australasian Psychiatry – and holds an annual scientific congress.

scholarly journals ¿Cómo influye el tamaño del campo de texto en las respuestas a preguntas abiertas? Evidencias de un diseño experimental/The influence of box size on responses to open-ended questions: Results from a split-ballot experiment

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Carmen María León ◽  
Eva Aizpurúa ◽  
David Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Questionnaire Design ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

RESUMENEl diseño visual de los cuestionarios puede afectar a la calidad de los datos obtenidos, especialmente cuando se formulan preguntas abiertas donde los encuestados responden con sus propias palabras. En este trabajo se analizan los efectos de manipular el tamaño del espacio proporcionado para la respuesta en un conjunto de preguntas abiertas incluidas en un cuestionario auto-administrado sobre opiniones hacia la administración de justicia en España. Para ello se recurrió a un experimento split-ballot, dividiendo la muestra (N = 100) en dos mitades equivalentes que recibieron dos cuestionarios con el mismo contenido, pero con diferentes tamaños de campo de respuesta (pequeño y grande) en 16 preguntas abiertas. Los resultados muestran que los participantes que recibieron campos de texto grandes escribieron un mayor número de palabras en sus respuestas. Sin embargo, la manipulación en el campo de texto no influyó en 1) el número de temas abordados; ni en 2) el tiempo empleado para cumplimentar los cuestionarios. Sobre la base ABSTRACTThe visual design of questionnaires can affect the quality of the data obtained, especially when asking open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own words. In this paper, we analyze the effects of manipulating the size of the text boxes provided for answers to a set of open-ended questions in a self-administered questionnaire about opinions of the Criminal Justice system in Spain. For this, a split-ballot experiment was conducted dividing the sample (N = 100) into two equivalent halves. One half received questionnaires with small box sizes for the answers to the 16 open-ended questions while the other half received questionnaires with larger box sizes. The content on the questionnaires was the same. The results showed that those participants who received larger text boxes provided longer answers. However, manipulation of the text box did not influence 1) the number of issues addressed; or 2) response times. The results and their implications for questionnaire design are discussed.

scholarly journals МОЖЛИВОСТІ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ ДИСТАНЦІЙНОГО НАВЧАННЯ В БЕЗПЕРЕРВНОМУ ПРОФЕСІЙНОМУ РОЗВИТКУ ПРОВІЗОРІВ

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Yu. Babintseva
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Individualized Learning ◽  
Quality Of Learning ◽  
Distance Learning Technologies

<p>The possibilities of distance learning technologies to provide effective continuing professional development of ph ar macists<br />was discussed. Improving the quality of this study is to provide adaptability and confor mity knowledge transfer. Applying the principles of individualized learning was improved quality of learning more. Individualization of training can reduce the amount of errors in decision-making (analysis of situational tasks) more than twice was proved.</p>

Do Library Schools Adequately Prepare Students for Cataloguing in Irish Law Libraries: an Investigation

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare O'Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Irish Context ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Perceptions And Expectations ◽  
Law Library

AbstractIn 2008, BIALL held a pre-conference workshop in Dublin entitled “Back to Basics: Cataloguing and Classification”. The workshop raised some interesting questions about the quality of cataloguing training provided by library schools and law libraries. Although cataloguing in British law libraries has been the subject of research, no study has yet explored cataloguing in Irish law libraries. This study by Clare O'Dwyer redresses this lack of information by focusing exclusively on the Irish context. The perceptions and expectations of cataloguers are examined using a multiple case study design combining interviews and questionnaires. The libraries selected for case study are representative of the three main types of law libraries in Ireland: a professional society law library, a government law library and a law firm library. Following analysis and discussion of the research findings, the study concludes with a series of recommendations regarding the curriculum for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and further training of cataloguers in Irish law libraries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document