People leaving prison experience significant challenges upon release. Due to limited funding, only a small proportion of prison leavers receive specialist reintegration support to help them return to the community. Those who receive support have better outcomes across a range of domains and are less likely to be reincarcerated. This study sought to understand how digital services, such as smartphone-based applications, can provide a low-cost, scalable option to extend reintegration support to a broader cohort. To ascertain this, interviews and workshops were conducted with people with lived experience of prison, program staff from a leading community service organisation (CSO) that provides reintegration services, and policy and operational staff from an Australian state's Department of Justice (DOJ). It was found that digital services have the potential to help prison leavers find and access relevant services, coordinate their own support, and establish supportive peer networks. This paper outlines the critical design considerations that such a service should encompass, including that it must recognise the diverse needs of prison leavers and embed self-determination.
The inability of global governments to meaningfully progress sustainable development over the past three decades is deeply concerning. AI is increasingly framed as a solution for achieving such outcomes, sometimes uncritically. We argue that: 1) for AI to improve public decision-making, the conditions and factors influencing public decisions must be better understood and considered; 2) to mainstream AI-enabled insights, transformations of those conditions and factors are necessary; and, 3) critical governance questions about those transformations must be addressed. To develop our arguments we draw on: original research identifying factors shaping public decision-making; ongoing interdisciplinary research exploring conditions that influence the use of AI for sustainable development policy; and, conceptual framings from literature concerned with transitions, earth system governance, leverage points and policy entrepreneurship - all sharing ambition to understand transformative change. In so doing, we seek to advance critical knowledge on the, potentially, transformative implications of AI in public decision-making.
Abstract Regulation plays a vital role in reducing harms and promoting public order. However, regulatory reform has been likened to painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it never ends. Coupling this reality with the increasing array of areas requiring regulation, there is an acute need for regulators to become more effective in how they work. We discuss the leadership skills needed to ensure regulators consistently contribute to the creation of public value. Points for practitioners Regulators can be more effective when they appreciate their authorising environment and the factors which make that environment dynamic. Careful calibration of enforcement practices to the capabilities of those being regulated can reduce conflicts and improve outcomes. Regulators with good communication skills can do much to resolve apparently intractable disputes.
Regulatory technology (RegTech) has its origins in private sector applications of information technology in pursuit of more efficient compliance with government regulations. Initially, the term "RegTech" referred to either the technical solutions intended to aid financial service providers in managing regulatory issues or to the companies and organizations that develop and deliver such solutions. Increasingly, regulatory experts are stretching the term's coverage to include efforts by governments to harness technical solutions in pursuit of more efficient targeting and conduct of regulatory monitoring and enforcement. Whether deployed within the private or public sectors, RegTech holds significant potential to improve regulatory compliance, reduce compliance costs, and improve the speed and accuracy with which known harms can be addressed and emerging risks can be identified. Here, we focus on the potential for RegTech to support the creation of public value. We suggest public value is most likely to be realized when governments (1) keep focused on regulatory purpose and effective design and (2) build effective collaboration with RegTech providers and regulated entities.
OVID'S INTEREST IN THE PSYCHOLOGY of his female characters has been noticed as much in the Heroides as it has in the Metamorphoses. This is perhaps more immediately visible in the Heroides, where the reader's attention is focused on a solitary female, without any other distracting characters.1 Given the nature of the Heroides, it is reasonable to assume that the heroines would frequently refer to their abandoned and therefore solitary state, and such is the case. Charges of abandonment are legion, and are often joined with laments about being alone, regardless of veracity.2 Some heroines, like Briseis and Medea, suffer a double separation: from their lovers and from their parental homes. In the character of Ariadne, Ovid is able to exercise his skill in an unique triple estrangement, as Ariadne is cut off from Theseus (her lover), from her family on Crete and, perhaps most importantly, from all visible signs of human civilization. This threefold alienation is underscored by Ovid's use of the adjective sola, which he applies twice to Ariadne herself and once to the island upon which she has been abandoned.3 The theme of loneliness assumes a distinctive significance in Heroides 10, as no other letter is marked by the triple repetition of a theme
The United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) were ratified with much enthusiasm by all UN member states in 2015. However, subsequent progress to meet these goals has been hampered by a lack of data available to measure the SDG indicators (SDIs), and a lack of evidence-based insights to inform effective policy responses. We outline an interdisciplinary program of research into the use of artificial intelligence techniques to support measurement of the SDIs, using both machine learning methods to model SDI measurements and explainable AI techniques to present the outputs in a human-friendly manner. As well as addressing the technical concerns, we will investigate the governance issues of what forms of evidence, methods of collecting that evidence and means of its communication will most usefully inform effective policy development. By addressing these fundamental challenges, we aim to provide policy makers with the evidence needed to take effective action towards realising the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable development ('SD') is a longstanding internationally accepted and adopted policy concept, but little is known about how well it is understood and applied by public decision-makers. This article enhances that understanding by empirically examining public servant experiences within the State of Victoria, Australia. Thematic and statistical analyses of 35 semi-structured interviews and 97 online survey responses yield seven key insights: (1) SD is more widely understood than the associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), although variable understandings exist for both, and participants indicate neither are being widely or consistently implemented; (2) Definitions of SD are inconsistent, and a holistic understanding of the concept is absent within some decision-makers' intuitive thinking, but potential for consensus exists; (3) Applications and interpretations of the polluter pays and precautionary principles of sustainable development are similarly varied; (4) Legislative and institutional structures are likely contributing to the latter findings; (5) Implementation is considerably impacted upon by heuristics and framing; (6) Leadership is recognised as a necessary catalyst for the achievement of the SDGs within Victoria; and, encouragingly, (7) public decision-makers possess many ideas for enhancing intergenerational equity, and overall decision-making effectiveness. These novel insights illustrate sustainable development is not being consistently considered or achieved by public decision-makers in Victoria, and that solutions can and must be identified and implemented to achieve the 'future we want'.
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