Discussion thread thinking about your policy interests

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Discussion Thread: Thinking about Your Policy Interests

• State what policy or policies relevant to your chosen cognate interest you most.

Explain why.

• State what policy goal(s) you most want to see accomplished. Explain why.

• Drawing on assigned readings, identify three key features of the public policy

environment relevant to the public policy that interests you, and elaborate on the

ways in which these features of the public policy environment have shaped or will

shape debate on this policy issue.

There are many policies relevant to social policy that interest me. For example, policies about

healthcare, the vulnerable population, labor, criminal justice and corrections, and substance

abuse. Birkland (2015) defines policy as a statement by government of what it intends to do or

not to do – law, regulation, ruling, decision, or order. Specific policies that are most interesting

to me would be the War on Drugs and prison reform. The War on Drugs began under President

Nixon and has been around ever since even though historically and currently prohibitions seem

to fail (Coyne & Hall, 2017). Not only has this policy not succeeded in reducing drug use, drug

crime, and drug related deaths but according to Coyne and Hall (2017) the War on Drugs has

only made the situation worse, domestically, and abroad. As if that is the only issue, this policy

also disproportionately effects minorities more than their white counterparts even though white

people use and sell drugs at similar rates to minorities (Coyne & Hall, 2017). I am interested in

this policy because it is intriguing that has been continued for the last 50 years without much

success and has come with severe consequences (whether intended or unintended). Prison reform

is another social policy that interests me. The United States correctional facilities used to operate

with the goal being rehabilitation until the early 1970s when mass incarceration began (Ahalt et

al., 2020). Mass incarceration and overcrowding create hostile environments where negative

reinforcement is used to control situations and assert dominance. Ahalt et al. (2020) state,

“Despite an emphasis on institutional security, many correctional facilities become plagued by

violence, sexual assault, and suicide” (p. 527). This type of an environment does not prepare the

inmates for life outside of the facilities. Living in these conditions’ effects physical and mental

health deeply which gets carried into their life once released and since incarceration in the

United States disproportionately effects people of color, the poor, and individuals they are the

ones disproportionately affected with mental illness or substance use disorders (Ahalt et al.,

2020).

I would like to see policies created that would increase racial equity on a systemic level. I know

this general goal encompasses a span of areas, such as, education, housing, health, criminal

justice and corrections, labor, etc. but I think it is a very important and necessary issue that needs

to be addressed. President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for

Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government is a start. I say this is a start

because this is just a blanket statement that states it is the “policy of my administration that the

Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equality for all,

including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and

adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality” (The White House, 2021). There needs

to be more done to expand on this, like how and what the Federal Government plans on doing to

advance equality. This executive order does go on stating that within six months there should be

a report of what should be done based off a study (The White House, 2021). I would like to see

policies come out of this study that truly impact racial equity in all arenas, especially concerning

education, housing, economics, and criminal justice and corrections. These policies are

necessary, in my opinion, and I would like to see them implemented because they will help serve

the people in the United States that have historically been underserved and marginalized –

effecting their livelihood and success.

Three major features of the policy environment that would affect the policies which interest me

would be the population and social structure, public opinion, and the rules which tell the

government how to operate. These environmental factors, along with others, are discussed in

Birkland’s (2015) book. These three features specifically will and do impact debate concerning

racial equity policies. The population and social structure will and does impact debate

concerning racial equity debates because the demographics of the population shape what is

important to the majority. The population is growing but it is aging (Birkland, 2015). Birkland

(2015) mentions how by 2015 one-third of the United States’ population will be 50 or above, so

by now in 2022 there is still more than likely a big population that is older. This will affect

debates concerning racial equity since the older generations have different opinions than younger

generations. This leads into public opinion and political environment. When you take what the

population is concerned with and what the media is focused on this gives researchers what the

most important problem is to the people. Policy makers can take this information and use it to

use as what the government should consider important issues and focus on, therefore, influencing

certain areas of public policy more than others (Birkland, 2015). If racial equity is one of the

most important issues to the people, then this would be what the government would be focusing

on, however, if it is not important to most of the people then the government will not focus on it.

This also ties into the demographics of the population since age, race, gender, and class effect

what is most important to an individual. The structure of how the government operates can affect

the debate surrounding racial equity policies. These rules that the government must follow to

create transparency can also slow down the process of policy change since there has to be time

allowed for citizen participation and public scrutiny (Birkland, 2015). This allows the change to

be very slow concerning racial equity which with how often elected officials can change this

could mean no change since it provides time for public scrutiny of proposed changes.

References:

Ahalt, C., Haney, C., Ekhaugen, K., & Williams, B. (2020). Role of a US–Norway Exchange in

Placing Health and Well-Being at the Center of US Prison Reform. American Journal of

Public Health, 110(S1), S27–S29.

Birkland, T. A. (2020). An introduction to the policy process: theories, concepts, and models of

public policy making. Routledge.

Coyne, C. J., & Hall, A. R. (2017). Four Decades and Counting: The Continued Failure of the

War on Drugs. Policy Analysis, 1–28.

The White House. (2021, January 21). Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support

for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The White House.

Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-

room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-

support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/

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Discussion Thread: Thinking about Your Policy Interests • • • State what policy or policies relevant to your chosen cognate interest you most. Explain why. State what policy goal(s) you most want to see accomplished. Explain why. Drawing on assigned readings, identify three key features of the public policy environment relevant to the public policy that interests you, and elaborate on the ways in which these features of the public policy environment have shaped or will shape debate on this policy issue. There are many policies relevant to social policy that interest me. For example, policies about healthcare, the vulnerable population, labor, criminal justice and corrections, and substance abuse. Birkland (2015) defines policy as a statement by government of what it intends to do or not to do – law, regulation, ruling, decision, or order. Specific policies that are most interesting to me would be the War on Drugs and prison reform. The War on Drugs began under President Nixon and has been around ever since even though historically and currently prohibitions seem to fail (Coyne & Hall, 2017). Not only has this policy not succeeded in reducing drug use, drug crime, and drug ...
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