{"title":"The Evolution of Sentencing Policy in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania","authors":"Courtney E. Broscious, Kathy S. Javian","doi":"10.15367/com.v22i1.638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15367/com.v22i1.638","url":null,"abstract":"Criminal justice reform has become an important policy area in the American states and federal government due to the extremely high rates of incarceration in the United States. In addition, high and disproportionate rates of incarceration for black people is an important civil rights issue that needs attention at all levels of the criminal justice system, from policing to parole. This case study of the mid-Atlantic states generates hypotheses for a 50-state model on one aspect of this system: sentencing policy. The mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are similar in terms of political culture and demographics and have key differences in incarceration rates that make them good choices for a comparative case study using the “most similar systems” or “comparable cases” design. Through our case study we identify policies that we believe contribute to rising incarceration levels as well as suggest reforms. Specifically, we argue that the combination of Pennsylvania’s structured sentencing guidelines and indeterminate sentencing have contributed to high levels of incarceration that have persisted even as the push for punitiveness in the criminal justice system has diminished. These factors in conjunction with political variables should be studied further in a quantitative model of the 50 states in order to provide areas for reform.","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"369 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82605072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Arrested development: the Soviet Union in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, 1955–1968","authors":"Jeffrey S. Ahlman","doi":"10.1080/14662043.2023.2176996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2023.2176996","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"32 1","pages":"117 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74916133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Working at becoming a communist’: institutional belonging and political self-making of women in the Communist Party of India (Marxist)","authors":"Proma Raychaudhury","doi":"10.1080/14662043.2023.2169364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2023.2169364","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Gendered relations of power contribute to the signification inherent in political parties. The formal rules and informal processes through which hegemonic gender regimes are reproduced and contested in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) are subjected to Feminist Institutionalist analysis here. In addition, the institutional belonging and political self-making of women party members are also assessed in the state of West Bengal. The experiential concepts of institutional belonging and self-making can enhance Feminist institutionalist research by identifying the processes that shape gendered behaviour of actors in institutions. The idealised revolutionary communist subjectivity that represents the institutional standard of appropriateness of gendered behaviour in the CPI(M) is explored. The co-constitutive relationship between institutions and political subjectivities is elaborated. The paper argues that the institutional belonging and political self-making of women in the CPI(M) are characterised by a politics of boundary-creation from as well as horizontal solidarities with fellow women colleagues.","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"308 1","pages":"36 - 64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76501673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The local roots of communist support in Kerala","authors":"B. Sunilraj","doi":"10.1080/14662043.2023.2177038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2023.2177038","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Studies have noted geographical variations in support for the communist parties in Kerala. However, practices adopted by communists in Kerala to maintain their dominance in these geographical regions and how residents of these places relate to these practices have not been sufficiently explored. This article, based on field insights from a panchayat in North Kannur investigates party-society links. It is argued that while material factors help link party and voter, these links are complex and do not conform to clientelism or patronage, as conventionally understood. These links are embedded in a local social context which adds elements of mutuality and non-hierarchical interaction between citizens and party. Ideology also conditions party-society linkages.","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"8 1","pages":"65 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88557542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ripe for revolution: building socialism in the Third World","authors":"Q. Slobodian","doi":"10.1080/14662043.2023.2176994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2023.2176994","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"139 1","pages":"115 - 116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85365372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Candidate selection in India: municipal elections and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)","authors":"Rashmi Singh","doi":"10.1080/14662043.2023.2172792","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2023.2172792","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyses the theoretical and methodological challenges of researching candidate selection and party nomination practices in Indian politics using a case study of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. It focuses on the nature of informal politics and institutions that over-write and complicate the candidate selection process, and on the challenges of identifying the hidden effects of these parallel processes on the competition for official party nominations. The article discusses the complex and protracted nature of internal party negotiations over candidate short-lists and how these layered and unseen strains at the final stages of selection impact the openness and transparency of the process in the BJP. The findings indicate that unofficial lobbying for party tickets is an important but overlooked informal institution that impacts the process in significant ways and deters inclusion in the party selection processes.","PeriodicalId":46038,"journal":{"name":"COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS","volume":"29 1","pages":"90 - 114"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86103749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}