Transcript War on Terrorism

Citizen Influence on Policy?
• What does Dye say?
• Is there congruence between opinion & policy?
• Examples?
– Life Sentence for Drug Dealers
– Death Penalty
– Flat Tax
– Immigration
– Minimum wage
• Why congruence or lack thereof ?
When does public opinion matter?
• What is the role of the media?
• What is the role of public officials?
• What is the role of political institutions
(rules of the game)?
• What is public opinion?
Year
% of respondents saying mentioning
immigration as the most important
issue in California
%
Sample size
1998.00
5.6%
5171
1999.00
8.7%
3349
2000.00
3.6%
6809
2001.00
4.4%
9294
2002.00
5.6%
6946
2003.00
3.2%
9489
2004.00
6.9%
13484
2005.00
9.2%
11615
2006.00
20.2%
14825
2007.00
21.7%
6063
Criminal Justice Example?
• Early American History focused on rehabilitation (very
radical compared to Europe at the time)
• Early twentieth-century criminal justice: Professionalization
• 1960s and 1970s: Crisis – rehabilitation in the presence of
rising crime
• 1980s to 2000: politicization of criminal justice. Rise of
Punitive Measures
• Current: Fiscal concern over price of locking up nonviolent offenders.