NCJ Number
95407
Date Published
Unknown
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The motivation of practitions directed by reform legislation is of paramount importance in predicting the quality of reform implementation, according to a theory developed largely from a 3-year assessment of a major California juvenile justice reform bill.
Abstract
In that assessment, the theory showed success in predicting implementation and resistance to the law. Some of its components have also successfully predicted efforts to introduce and pass corrective legislation in the years following enactment. The theory identifies three dimensions of legislation that relate to three areas of practitioner motivation. The first, philosophical resonance or dissonance, focuses on motivation related to professional values and considers the degree to which legislation is consonant with them. The second, the mandate or lack of mandate, relates to practitioners' fears of sanctions as a source of motivation. Where legislation is mandated, fears of reprisal come into play; where legislation is not mandated, practitioners feel less threat of reprisal. The third dimension involves incentives and disincentives. It relates to the motivation of self-interest. Legislation can include provisions that use this motivation to induce certain forms of implementation. Examples of effects of single dimensions and combinations of dimensions, distinctions among types of policy and their sources, a figure, and 12 references are supplied.