Ageing Behind Bars, with particular reference to older women in prison

Since the 1980s, prison officials, policy makers and researchers have witnessed an astonishing phenomenon in the USA and the UK: increasing numbers of older adults are entering the criminal justice system and in particular prison, finding themselves locked behind steel doors and razor wire fences. So much so that researchers and policy makers are beginning to turn their attention to policy issues such as economic costs, housing, end-of-life issues and institutional management of older offenders. This paper discusses what is currently known about older persons in prison, with particular reference to women prisoners, and gives recommendations as to how to respond to these people’s needs.

Northern Visions? Applying Q methodology to understand stakeholder views on the environmental and resource dimensions of sustainability

Q methodology was used to enable the identification of discourses among stakeholders to the environmental and resource dimensions of sustainability policies and to gain an understanding of the usefulness of Q methodology in informing sustainability policy development. The application of Q methodology has been useful in identifying shared discourses between different stakeholder groups, and providing insights into how stakeholders frame or understand policy issues; and recommendations are made for ongoing research priorities. These insights, in turn, informed the choice of scenarios for an in parallel process of policy evaluation using Ecological and Carbon Footprinting.

Functionality, Accuracy, and Feasibility: Talking with Modelers

Models are an important part of many policy development processes, but meeting policy objectives relies on policy analysts engaging effectively with the modeling process and modelers understanding the policy issues. Furthermore, there are many different modeling methods, each with characteristics that potentially make it more or less suitable for analyzing a particular policy issue.
This paper presents a novel framework to assist policy analysts to engage with modelers so as to make the best use of models. The framework has three dimensions: Functionality, Accuracy and Feasibility. Functionality concerns ways in which modeling can be used to support broader policy objectives, such as promoting negotiation or comparing options. Accuracy concerns how to best represent the fundamental features of the system being modeled, and relies on selecting an appropriate technique. Feasibility concerns practical issues such as access to data and modeling skills.

An Unkind Cut: Circumcision, Death and the Impact of Irish Health Policy on Asylum Seekers

Healthcare and the wider social determinants of health are the keystone of a number of complex progressive social justice issues that evoke complex emotions. As the demography of Ireland rapidly changes, the practices and expectations of some asylum seekers presents new opportunities for the providers of health service provision and reform. This paper looks at some of the emotions evoked in health care issues and draws on observations and interviews from empirical fieldwork carried out for the Health Research Board. The research was conducted both in the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, incorporating the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght and in a number of refugee reception centres in Ireland. At one level honouring faith choices within a healthcare setting is a societal acknowledgement made to people at their most vulnerable, that the potent and cathartic transformative rituals they value are significant in mediating and managing their emotions - at another level, it is a practical and a symbolic communication of a statutory commitment to inter-culturalism and community cohesion..

After Housing Policy: Housing and the UK General Election 2001

This paper describes the results of a review of the housing content of UK General Election 2001 manifestos. Housing policy was of little importance during the election campaign. The main British political parties had, essentially, a shared housing agenda - to promote and facilitate home ownership, support area and community regeneration, tackle homelessness, improve the private rented sector, and prevent building on greenfield sites. Many issues of importance to housing specialists received little or no attention, most notably that of low demand. Some policy variations within the UK were evident, for example in attitudes towards greenfield development, home ownership and stock transfer. The paper concludes that differences in housing policy are emerging within the UK as part of a new politics of devolution and that the days of a single housing policy approach for the UK are over.

Identity issues for looked after children with no knowledge of their origins - Implications for research and practice

In the area of child care policy and practice, the benefits for children who are separated from their birth parents of maintaining some form of connection with their family of origin is now widely accepted. The arguments in support of this are found mainly in research concerning adoption and stem from four inter-related themes: children's rights to know of their heritage and background; parents' rights to information about the well-being of their children; the benefits of having knowledge about origins; and concerns about the impact of not knowing. The effects on the developing identities of those who, for various reasons, are unlikely ever to know the details of their birth parent(s) is an under-researched issue. Karen Winter and Olivia Cohen use a case study to illustrate some of the gaps concerning knowledge in this area. They argue that there is much to be learnt from the development of research projects which have as their focus the accounts of children and young people, from a wide range of care arrangements, regarding identity issues where they have no connections with or knowledge about their birth parent(s).