by
Davis, Robert C. (Robert Carl)
Call Number
344.7303288 22
Publication Date
2009
Summary
Clinics have dealt with a range of victims' rights issues in trial courts, including the rights to be present, to be consulted about plea offers, to make an impact statement, to be notified of changes in defendants' detention status, to restitution, and to privacy. However, the principal issue has been victims' standing before the court to enforce their rights. In some states, standing has been acknowledged, at least in limited ways. In other states, clinics have made or are making steps toward such recognition or have been successful in representing victims without the issue being directly confronted. In one state, attorneys' ability to represent victims in criminal court is currently in serious question. This book discusses how some clinics have won significant gains at the appellate and federal court levels concerning victim standing, the rights to be consulted and heard, and the right to privacy. The authors conclude that the state clinics are beginning to fulfill the intentions of their architects and funders. All of the clinics have pushed the envelope of victims' rights in their state courts. Some have won significant victories in gaining standing for victims and expanding the definition of particular rights. Others are enjoined in the battle. But all have raised awareness of victims' rights with prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, and police officials.
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Electronic Resources
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0.1179
by
Hassell, Scott, 1974-
Call Number
363.705610973 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
This report addresses the conceptual basis of the National Environmental Performance Track program, a voluntary program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 2000 and 2009; its program design; and its implementation. Performance Track sought to improve the quality of the environment by encouraging facilities to recognize and improve all aspects of their environmental performance and by providing a range of benefits, including broad-based recognition, regulatory benefits, and a more open and collaborative relationship between facilities and their regulators. While Performance Track's concepts, design, and implementation had mixed success, the significant environmental challenges that the United States faces require that EPA continue to seek out new approaches that can complement and enhance traditional regulatory approaches. The authors recommend that EPA continue to experiment with voluntary programs, designing tightly focused ones; promote information sharing and networking among regulated entities; strive for complete, clear, and understandable program concepts, designs, and expectations; protect the EPA brand; independently evaluate key program elements; continue to try to change corporate culture to benefit the environment; and identify new ways to independently validate environmental performance.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.1147
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by
Crane, Keith, 1953-
Call Number
382.422820973 22
Publication Date
2009
Summary
Assesses economic, political, and military concerns arising from the United States' dependence on foreign oil. In 2007, on a net basis, the United States imported 58 percent of the oil it consumed. This book critically evaluates commonly suggested links between these oil imports and U.S. national security. The major risk to the United States posed by reliance on oil is the economic costs of a major disruption in global oil supplies. On the other hand, the study found no evidence that oil exporters have been able to use embargoes or threats of embargoes to achieve key political and foreign policy goals. Oil revenues are irrelevant for terrorist groups' ability to launch attacks. The study also assesses the economic, political, and military costs and benefits of potential policies to alleviate challenges to U.S. national security linked to imported oil. Of these measures, the adoption of the following energy policies by the U.S. government would most effectively reduce the costs to U.S. national security of importing oil: (1) Support well-functioning oil markets and refrain from imposing price controls or rationing during times of severe disruptions in supply. (2) Initiate a high-level review of prohibitions on exploring and developing new oil fields in restricted areas in order to provide policymakers and stakeholders with up-to-date and unbiased information on both economic benefits and environmental risks from relaxing those restrictions. (3) Ensure that licensing and permitting procedures and environmental standards for developing and producing oil and oil substitutes are clear, efficient, balanced in addressing both costs and benefits, and transparent. (4) Impose an excise tax on oil to increase fuel economy and soften growth in demand for oil. (5) Provide more U.S. government funding for research on improving the efficiency with which the U.S. economy uses oil and competing forms of energy.--Publisher description.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.1147
by
Jackson, Brian A., 1972-
Call Number
363.3480684 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
The ability to measure emergency preparedness - to predict the likely performance of emergency response systems in future events - is critical for policy analysis in homeland security. Yet it remains difficult to know how prepared a response system is to deal with large-scale incidents, whether it be a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or industrial or transportation accident. This research draws on the fields of systems analysis and engineering to apply the concept of system reliability to the evaluation of emergency response systems. The authors describe a method for modeling an emergency response system; identifying how individual parts of the system might fail; and assessing the likelihood of each failure and the severity of its effects on the overall response effort. The authors walk the reader through two applications of this method: a simplified example in which responders must deliver medical treatment to a certain number of people in a specified time window, and a more complex scenario involving the release of chlorine gas. The authors also describe an exploratory analysis in which they parsed a set of after-action reports describing real-world incidents, to demonstrate how this method can be used to quantitatively analyze data on past response performance. The authors conclude with a discussion of how this method of measuring emergency response system reliability could inform policy discussion of emergency preparedness, how system reliability might be improved, and the costs of doing so. --From publisher description.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0981
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