Constructing the public will: How political actors in New York State construct, assess, and use public opinion in penal policy making

Abstract

Prior research has failed to attend adequately to the ways in which state-level political actors in the USA think about and relate to public opinion. While some research has considered how political actors, such as legislators and state agency staff members, assess public opinion on penal issues, that body of research has been limited both conceptually and methodologically. This article argues that an enterprise perspective on policy making combined with a constructionist perspective on public opinion have the potential to deepen our understanding of penal policy making. To that end, descriptive data from interviews with a wide range of political actors in New York State are considered for what they indicate about the dynamics of public opinion construction, assessment, and use among political actors engaged in penal policy making.

Rethinking Public Opinion in Penal Policymaking: Recommendations for Research

“…Recent research on the ways in which political actors construct, assess, and use public opinion in penal policymaking suggests that political leaders (including legislators, their staffs, advocates, and others) ''conceptualize public opinion loosely and creatively'' (Roberts et al 2003, 64). Evidence for the creative and variable construction of public opinion by political actors was found in qualitative research on Illinois policymakers working in a variety of policy arenas (Herbst 1998), among members of Congress working on national security issues (Rosner 2007), and among political actors working on crime control issues in New York State (Brown 2011). This body of research suggests that rationalized and systematized forms of opinion such as polling figures are discounted by policy makers, while variable personal experiences, instincts, and loose assessments of media coverage, especially op-ed pieces, tend to inform constructions and co-constructions of public opinion.…”

“…Complex individual-level, sub-national, and inter-jurisdictional variations in the conceptualization and impact of public opinion in penal policymaking complicate varieties of populism discussed earlier in this paper. The extant literature has failed to take into account variations in the ''paths of access'' for the public at local, state, and federal levels (Miller 2008, 119); differences in political structures and political cultures between states (Barker 2009); and fluid definitions and operationalizations of public opinion among political actors themselves (Brown 2011).…”

“…This means talking with, observing, and evaluating how political leaders think about and relate to the public. As previously noted, interview research on these issues has been undertaken within specific states (Brown 2011;Herbst 1998) and at the federal level (Rosner 2007). Critical to this small body of work has been an ''enterprise perspective'' on policymaking (Salisbury and Shepsle 1981;Whiteman 1995) that emphasizes the collaborative and interactive processes of policymaking and the construction of social problems and public opinion about those problems.…”

“…Critical to this small body of work has been an ''enterprise perspective'' on policymaking (Salisbury and Shepsle 1981;Whiteman 1995) that emphasizes the collaborative and interactive processes of policymaking and the construction of social problems and public opinion about those problems. Methodologically, this has meant tapping into the experiences of a wide range of political actors, including legislators, legislative staff, agency staff, advocates, and journalists, who are likely to co-create ideas about public opinion (Brown 2011). Future research should replicate this type of work across multiple jurisdictions.…”

“…While attention has been given as to why public views have seemed to support harsh punishment policies (Tonry 2004; Unnever and Cullen 2010), our understanding of public opinion in penal policymaking is deficient. A number of complications have hampered research in this area: variations in conceptualizations of public opinion (Frost 2010; Herbst 1993), variations in the ways in which political actors (broadly defined) construct or make sense of public opinion (Brown 2011; Herbst 1998; Rosner 2007), and variations in the roles and effects of public opinion across different states (Barker 2009) and at different levels of government (Miller 2008).…”