Dementia Policy Revisited

Abstract

Even though state governments assume public responsibility for persons with dementia, formal analysis of state laws concerning individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia has been rare. We responded to this by collecting and evaluating state legislation targeted towards individuals with dementia. These laws were collected by searching online statutory archives and were defined by the type of action, year of passage, and legislative purpose. Our research revealed that the legislatures have targeted an average of slightly more than five actions towards persons with dementia. We also discovered that the earliest legislative act targeting individuals with dementia was passed by South Dakota in 1939, and by the end of the 1997 sessions, 49 state legislatures had enacted at least one targeted law. We sorted the variety of legislative actions into eight categories and illuminated how the purposes of these laws differed from one state legislature to the next. This research expands knowledge concerning state policies targeting people with dementia, introduces a reliable method of collecting state laws, and contributes to the advocacy effort made on behalf of persons with dementia.     

Restoring Law and (Racial) Order to the Old Dominion

In 2006, cities and counties across the USA began adopting ‘Illegal Immigration Relief Acts’ to relieve themselves of the economic and social burden that undocumented immigrants were allegedly presenting. By restricting the access of undocumented residents to housing, jobs and social services, local ordinances would encourage undocumented residents to ‘self-deport’ from the locality if not from the nation. Highly contentious, politically and juridically, local anti-illegal immigration laws have divided communities. Proponents maintain that such laws merely uphold the ‘rule of law’, while opponents see them as thinly veiled efforts to drive out Latin American residents, with immigration status serving as a proxy for race. A growing body of scholarship examines local anti-immigrant law and offers significant insights into the causes and undeniably racialized effects of these laws. Yet the issue of racism requires more scholarly attention. Critical race theory holds that all racisms are historically particular and must be examined as expressive of particular conjunctures. To that end, this essay develops a theoretically informed and historically grounded analysis of local anti-immigration law. It establishes local and national interests in local anti-immigrant law and explains how these interests converge. Through a case study of Prince William County (PWC), Virginia, I examine local anti-immigrant activism and connect them to larger political shifts in the contemporary USA. I argue that local white propertied interests converge with national conservative and federalist interests in the county's anti-illegal immigrant law. The essay seeks to demonstrate the value of bringing cultural studies methodology to bear on (local) immigration law.     

‘We have very different positions on some issues’: how child welfare workers in Norway and England bridge cultural differences when communicating with ethnic minority families

This article compares how child welfare workers in Norway and England experience and cope with communication problems resulting from cultural differences. This study is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 53 front-line child welfare workers and draws on social theories that understand communication as a social act. We show cross-country variations in child welfare workers' perceptions of the communicative problems and coping mechanisms. In Norway, social workers think that minority parents' perceptions on children's needs and child-rearing and parents' lack of understanding of the child welfare system were challenging. Social workers in England perceive the physical abuse of minority children as problematic. They are also concerned about carers' fears of social workers forcing majority cultural values on minority families. While social workers in both countries spend more time with minority families, their approaches dealing with communication challenges correspond to their different problem perceptions. Social workers in Norway act as cultural instructors: they focus on the needs of the minority child and instruct parents about Norwegian values and the Norwegian welfare system. Social workers in England are cultural learners: they focus on practising in anti-oppressive ways, while protecting ethnic minority children from physical abuse. Both approaches avoid going into real communication about perceived problems and what a child might need. We also discuss the implications of these findings on social work practice.     

A clash of civilizations? Examining liberal‐democratic values in Turkey and the European Union1

Turkey's proposed entry into the European Union (EU) has been undermined by Europeans’ perceptions of Turkish–European cultural differences, particularly regarding the liberal‐democratic values that the EU promotes (democracy, rule of law, and respect for and appreciation of minority/human rights). Yet, cross‐national research on values has not focused on Turkey, the EU, and these liberal‐democratic values, leaving assumptions of cultural differences and their explanations untested. Through analyses of World and European Values Survey data (1999–2002), this article asks whether people in Turkey have the same values regarding democracy, rule of law (versus religious and authoritarian rule), and minority/human rights as people in EU member and candidate states (as of 2000)? What factors explain these values? I find that people in Turkey support democracy to the same extent as people in EU member and candidate states, but people in Turkey are more supportive of religious and authoritarian rule and are less tolerant of minorities. Although the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis expects liberal values to be ordered according to countries’ religious traditions, with western Christian the most supportive and Islamic the least, only for tolerance of minorities values is this pattern found. Instead, economic development most consistently explains differences between Turkey and EU member and candidate states in support for these values. I conclude with calls for theoretical refinement, particularly of the clash of civilizations thesis, along with suggestions for future research to examine more Muslim and Orthodox countries; I discuss the debate over Turkey's EU entry.     

Mighty Crime Victims: Victims' Rights and Neoliberalism in the American Conjuncture

Over the last 30 years, the victims' rights movement has expanded the role of victims in the American criminal justice system. As a result of this movement, judges, prosecutors and parole boards must now hear victims' views at all stages of the criminal justice process, including plea bargains, and sentencing and parole decisions. Legislative efforts have been spearheaded by victims' families, and legislation has been named after deceased victims. Also, victims' families can now view executions in states across the country. The victims' right movement assumes that the criminal justice system should privilege victims' interests over those of society. In so doing, it denies society as a consideration, which is tantamount to a denial of society itself. This article positions victims' rights' denial of society within the current conjuncture, marked as it is by the contradiction between neoliberalism and American liberalism. Victims' rights' denial of society is an expression of the denial of society implicit in American neoliberalism, which seeks to privilege individual interests over those of society. This paper argues that victims' rights is a powerful element of the neoliberal project for three reasons. First, victims' rights imputes the authority of legal discourse to neoliberalism's denial of society. Second, important actors in the rise of neoliberalism have also worked to establish victims' rights. Finally, victims' rights comprehensively circulates throughout America and offers powerful points of identification that incorporate Americans into the victims' rights formation. I explore the denial of society in three victims' rights practices: naming criminal legislation after crime victims and passing such laws in honour of victims; allowing victims' families to view executions; and prosecutors, judges and police personnel making legal decisions according to victims' wishes. I examine the consonant denial of society in three neoliberal practices – monetarism, supply-side economics and welfare reform – and demonstrate how neoliberal advocates like Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Paul Gann worked to advance victims' rights. I also describe the production, consumption and comprehensive circulation of victims' rights texts. Finally, I consider Cultural Studies' unique contribution to legal studies.     

Improving Child rights in the Gulf: Expectations from the brand-new child law of Oman

Located in the Arabian Peninsula, Oman has a unique place in the improvement of its citizens' life standards, including the recent child law projected by its Renaissance movement. The new law was issued on May 19, 2014—however, no reactions on expectations have been documented. In Oman, the main source for early childhood teachers is the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and graduates from the Early Childhood Education Department (ECED) are also expected to act as advocates for child rights in all sectors of the society. In light of these groups' prominence in advocacy efforts, it is important to understand their perspectives on changes in the law that could affect a child's life. This research study aimed to gain a better understanding of early childhood pre-service teachers' expectations of Oman's new child law. In addition, a detailed background on child rights and the new child law is offered here. The selective sampling method was deployed in this study—participants were 25 SQU students from ECED. Qualitative research methods were used. Findings showed that expectations of the new child law are abundant, yet a few concerns remain. Findings are discussed and recommendations for policy makers are made.     

Dementia policy revisited: an analysis of the state laws targeted towards individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Even though state governments assume public responsibility for persons with dementia, formal analysis of state laws concerning individuals with Alzhemier's disease and other forms of dementia has been rare. We responded to this by collecting and evaluating state legislation targeted towards individuals with dementia. These laws were collected by searching online statutory archives and were defined by the type of action, year of passage, and legislative purpose. Our research revealed that the legislatures have targeted an average of slightly more than five action towards persons with dementia. We also discovered that the earliest legislative act targeting individuals with dementia was passed by South Dakota in 1939, and by the end of the 1997 sessions, 49 state legislatures had enacted at least one targeted law. We sorted the variety of legislative actions into eight categories and illuminated how the purposes of these laws differed from one state legislature to the next. This research expands knowledge concerning state policies targeting people with dementia, imtroduces a reliable method of collecting state laws, and contributes to the advocacy effort made on behalf of persons with dementia.     

Norms about nonresident fathers' obligations and rights

The new welfare reform law includes a number of provisions designed to increase the amount of child support paid by nonresident fathers, but little is known about whether stronger child support enforement may create parental conflict. Parental conflict may increase when fathers do not wish to pay or when fathers pay and demand more time with their child but mothers resist these demands. Using seven-city data from the study of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, we find that very few parents are opposed to the idea that fathers should have child support obligations and rights to see their child and make decisions about how their child is raised. We also find very few disagreements among couples. However, we do find that nearly 20 percent of mothers object to fathers' rights to make decisions among parents whose romantic relationships have ended. We also find weak evidence that tough enforcement increases the odds that mothers will object to fathers' rights.     

LEGITIMATING TRANSPHOBIA

Transgender persons are strangers to the law; or put more accurately, the legal imagination is so deeply entrenched in normative gender binarism as to effectively render transsexuals a ‘freakish’ anomaly to law. This essay attempts to offer a reflection on transgenderism, law and sexual crime from a human rights and criminal law perspective. It focuses on one of the most violent types of institution in society – the prison – and asks: what are the legal imagination and practice surrounding transgender prisoners as they are linked to social and cultural transphobia? What ‘human’ rights can be practiced for a dehumanized class? It first surveys the legal predicament of transgender prisoners in the US prison system in relation to Eighth Amendment rights provided by the US Constitution. The US situation has seen cases that have importantly shed light on other jurisdictions when engaging with the combined questions of prisoners’ rights and transgender rights together. The analysis is then taken to the context of Hong Kong prisons in a modest application. In contrast to some other Asian contexts (such as Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia), critical cultural studies of transgenderism are non-existent in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, human rights studies of the same have only emerged through the work of legal scholar Robyn Emerton. It is hoped that a rights-based approach will emerge in Hong Kong for the protection of transgender inmates from sexual violence in local correctional facilities.     

Configuration to conviction: Network structures of political judiciary in the Austrian Corporate State

In this paper, we analyze the extent of political judiciary in the transformed system of the Corporate State of Austria using the computational methods of a network approach. We investigate the differences in the legal prosecution of the political opposition, namely of members of the Communist, Social Democratic and National Socialist parties based on Vienna as a case study. Based on over 1,800 court records from 1935 processed at the Viennese provincial courts, we evaluate the courts’ practice in contrast to the official legislature during the consolidated phase of the regime. In this study, we examine whether the law was strategically utilized against specific groups (following the concept of Kirchheimer (1965)’s political lawsuit), and as in the more lenient version of Fraenkel (1927/1968)’s tendency justice, we analyze whether the law was disadvantageously interpreted for political partisanship up to a blatant breach of conduct. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods with network science approaches, we identify patterns of political prosecution and structural predispositions for the sentencing of left- and right-wing groups of the political opposition. We can prove different practices of political judiciary and differentiate between the different treatment of Social Democrats, Communists and National Socialists in 1935 in Vienna. We identify specialized strategies to prosecute the political opposition, resulting in a clear bias against left-wing groups and a relative leniency in the conviction of National Socialists based on the evolution of charges in the courts’ actions. Using a multimodal network approach, we reveal key players and cooperation of judges and prosecutors which accounted for harsher sentences. We provide evidence that the system of control over the judiciary and over the political opposition was already crumbling in the Austrian capital in 1935, even before the “Anschluss” to NS-Germany in 1938.     

The Benefits of Frame Resonance Disputes for Transnational Movements: The Case of Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Internal rifts over framing and tactics often hinder groups from mobilizing the degree of support and resources necessary to achieve their stated goals. As a result of disparities in political culture and ideology, the existence of such rifts may be especially frequent and disabling for forms of transnational collective action. However, using the case of the transnational movement lobbying on behalf of Botswana's minority groups, particularly the indigenous San, this paper argues that frame resonance disputes can sometimes facilitate the achievement of a movement's immediate goals. This is for two main reasons. First, by appealing to different audiences, the movement can gain complementary and reinforcing forms of legitimacy and support. Second, states and their societies may possess different points of vulnerability, which can be more effectively targeted through the simultaneous use of multiple frames. By helping minority groups receive legal entitlement to their ancestral lands and opening a debate about the nature of Botswana's democracy, the transnational movement campaigning for the return of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve underscores the benefits of frame resonance disputes.     

Political restructuring,bureaucratization and minority groups in Myanmar: The case of Rohingya from 2011 to 2018

Politics of ethnicity can have serious repercussions if balance of interests is not maintained and this can lead to internal destabilization of states. This is the case in Myanmar, a situation which has brought suffering and deaths of thousands; effectively raising concerns and opprobrium against the government of Myanmar. Minority groups in Myanmar are greatly oppressed, though recent proceedings have seen the democratically elected government trying to avert the situation, while facing great restraints from the military which has been in control of the government for decades. The transformation process to uphold minority rights is marred with controversy as the Rohingya systematic alienation has persisted even in the new political dispensation. Discriminatory, cumbrous bureaucratic tendencies, are constantly used to control and manipulate the Rohingya to force them out of the country, a system which is ultimately backed by state sponsored violence. This research therefore, seeks to critically examine how the bureaucratic systems in Myanmar has been weaponized to systematically suppress rights of the Rohingya. Most research has focused on the butchering and series of violence against the Rohingya but this is generally a condensed and comprehensive analysis of the direct contribution of the bureaucrats as the implementers of public policy. This research concludes that, the doctrine of sovereignty has largely remained the salvation harboring and facilitating the continuity of repressive regimes despite the existence of the doctrine of limited sovereignty. Most importantly, the Rohingyian ordeal hints on the failures of the United Nations as actions of member states are conditioned by their selfish interests and states would only act where their national interest lie. There is need to create a global authority with executive legislative, judiciary, military and constitutional authority to exert authority over governments.     

Citizenship of Roma after the split of Czechoslovakia: A social problem to be faced by other multinational states

The division of Czechoslovakia into two independent republics in 1993 has far-reaching implications for the citizenship rights of the Roma and Sinti minority population. During the period of so-called socialism, their situation developed very differently from that of related groups living in Western Europe as their cultural identity was totally destroyed by the paternalism of the communist regime. The fundamental political change in 1989, and the advent of a market economy, affected the Roma population more than other Czech citizens. With the ending of a joint federal nationality many Roma living on Czech territory, being regarded as of Slovak origin, lost their citizenship status totally. To acquire Czech citizenship stringent conditions were applied which they were unwilling or unable to meet. The discriminatory nature of the nationality law in the Czech Republic was criticized by European Union and human rights experts, and some non-governmental organizations have also taken up the case. This paper raises fundamental issues of legally sanctioned exclusion and discusses the implications of citizenship concepts for other post-communist countries.     

Hospital Mergers

Abstract

When secular and sectarian (often Catholic) hospitals merge, women's reproductive healthcare services are often put in jeopardy. Some merger efforts are successful and others fail. Several issues arise as a result of this situation. First, what role do women's reproductive rights activists and their supporters play in effecting hospital merger decisions? This question does not assume that all women support women's rights organizations or that all women support a full range of reproductive rights. Secondly, what other factors seem to effect the outcome of merger discussions? In order to answer these questions, it is first necessary to understand the extent of Catholic hospital expansion and the nature of the hospital merger movement itself. These considerations will provide perspective for the two case studies of the American hospital merger movement that provide venues for examining the issues relating to participation and other factors that effect the outcome of merger talks. Cumberland and Baltimore are the two communities examined in this study. Though it would be a mistake to generalize to all merger situations based on these two cases, there are lessons that women's reproductive healthcare advocates can learn from the experiences of these two communities.

The issue of hospital mergers and the availability of reproductive healthcare services for women does raise an additional issue. Private sector decisions are being made that have a direct impact on public services, that is, the availability of a set of healthcare services in communities. This is not the direction that most public policy analysts consider.

The more frequently asked policy questions begin with public policy decisions and ask how they influence non-governmental decisions.     

The Self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and the Limits of United Nations Advocacy in Guerrero,Mexico (1998-2000)

This essay examines the visit to Mexico in February 2000 by Erica-Irene Daes, then chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. I use the occasion of this visit to analyze the relationship between a regional indigenous organization in the state of Guerrero, the Mexican national state, and the United Nations within the larger context of the development of international law. I argue that the persistence today of a centuries-old bias in international law that privileges the "nation-state" and a related individualistic bias in the conception of human rights make UN support for indigenous self-determination highly equivocal. I begin with an examination of the Consejo Guerrerense and how its experience helps to illustrate the issues confronted by the indigenous rights movement in Mexico today. Then I provide background to place this movement and the United Nations in the context of the development of international and human rights law. The discourse of international human rights and the ways in which these rights are defined and advocated by the UN has serious limitations for Indians in Mexico. This is a cautionary tale about the real possibilities for social change in our global world.     

Evangelical Women and Feminism:

Although a number of studies have demonstrated that evangelical women are more likely than other women to take anti-feminist positions, recent research suggests that there might be substantial support among evangelicals for certain feminist positions. Using data from the 1984 American National Election study, we find that evangelical women are indeed more antifeminist than other women, but that a sizable minority take feminist positions on a number of issues. Approximately one in six can be classified as having a politicized feminist consciousness, while an additional quarter are potential converts to the feminist cause. These potential feminists are fairly negative toward the feminist movement, however. This is due in part to the association by many evangelical women between the women's movement, lesbian rights, and abortion.     

Self-Employment and Immigrants' Incorporation: The Case of Turks in Germany

This essay discusses the impact of self-employment on immigrants' incorporation in the host society. It focuses on empirical material coming from Turkish migrants' business activities in Germany. After introducing the main features of contemporary German-Turkish entrepreneurship, the essay presents its socio-economic and cultural consequences for the Turkish minority. Relying on the numerous debates that can be found in the literature, it argues that this impact is ambivalent. In some cases, business ownership may constitute a way of achieving upward social mobility and a path towards a harmonious and pluralistic integration. But it is also frequently a reaction to disadvantage that fosters immigrants' socio-professional vulnerability and that may then lead to ghettoization. The essay then attempts to understand the reasons behind these divergent interpretations and suggests that they lie in the intermediary nature of trade, which is an activity that may connect people from different backgrounds but only in a limited way. Ethnographic observations and the concept of ‘plural societies’ are used to address this aspect of business. The conclusion suggests that, given the globally inferior position of Turkish immigrants, business might not be enough to enable them to catch up.     

The New Slave Narrative and the Illegibility of Modern Slavery

This paper argues that the first-person narratives of human trafficking that have been published since 1991 should be considered as the reemergence of the slave narrative. The paper outlines the contours of the slave narrative's revival, suggesting that the genre found fertile ground in the 1990s and 2000s through a confluence of diverse cultural forces – reinvigorated abolitionist advocacy, heightened public fluency in the discourses of slavery and rights, an expanded media terrain that encourages first-person testimony and post-9/11 cultural anxieties. This environment promoted the development of survivor testimony that would act as ‘flesh and blood' examples of the largely hidden and illegible human rights violation of modern slavery. Slave narrators face a crisis of legibility resulting from public scepticism regarding modern slavery, but what emerges from the public requirements for evidence is a generic tendency against the voyeuristic demands for the bodily detail and towards narrative strategies of displacement that direct attention towards external authorities and experiences. These strategies allow survivors to maintain control over their exposure in their life narratives, and thereby revise and interrogate the spectacular expectations promoted by many human rights projects.     

How to Make the Law Work? Budgetary Implications of Domestic Violence Laws in Latin America,Central America,and the Caribbean

SUMMARY

This study focuses on budgetary implications of domestic violence (DV) laws in the Latin American, Central American, and Caribbean (LAC) region. It is based on a survey of literature and data on DV legislation, literature reviews on the social and economic costs of DV, and an analysis of policies on DV in the region based on a survey of nonprofits working on DV in the region. The study shows DV is not being mainstreamed into ministerial budget line items as would be expected following the passage of law. There is clearly a difference between what is ratified in laws and the implementation of activities that follows those decisions. Funding for DV programs is insufficient to reach the entire target population and address the magnitude of the problem. Even after laws were passed, major sources of funding for DV services have continued to be discretionary funds from the ministries' budgets and international donor funds.