INCIDENT BASED REPORTING

Incident based Reporting

Incident based Reporting

Introduction

The characterization of regulation as "symbolic" is a recurring theme in American political discourse and scholarship on regulation and public policy. Court cases are cast as "symbolic victories" when plaintiffs receive only minimal financial compensation or when no changes in behavior result from a ruling. Legislation is seen as symbolic v^/hen legislators support laws that they have no expectation will be enforced, but nonetheless allow lawmakers to portray themselves favorably to the public. Such legislation is said to be symbolic when it gives legitimacy to regulationmakers, but does not have demonstrable regulation enforcement effects. For some, regulations are "merely" or solely" symbolic when they communicate places on ideological assaults and affirm or change values, but nonetheless have only superficial application.

Thead covering is, they are gestures thead covering communicate consequential significance, but nonetheless have no genuine, material, enforcement-related impacts. Others, however, have reclaimed and, really, hailed the symbolic effects of law. Promoting mighty emblems of what should be treasured and what should be derided in humanity is no little thing - even when a particular court case or exact statute does not directly change behavior {McCann 1994; Zeegers. Witteveen and van Klink 2005). Often commentators and scholars differentiate between the symbolic dimensions and the "instrumental" influences of law (Rosenberg 1991; Howard 1999; Hawkins 2002). Laws are declared to have instrumental effects when court rulings, legislation and public policy results in changes in the behavior of officials, organizational entities or citizens, presumably to ameliorate a purpon:ed public problem. With regard to the instrumental consequences of regulationless person regulation enforcement in particular, scholars have concentrated empirical vigilance on a continuum of policeman behavior- detection, describing, enquiry, apprehend and conviction - that constitute the larger process of regulation enforcement (Goldstein 1977).

The symbolic and instrumental conceptions

The symbolic and instrumental conceptions of how law. Legal rules and principle purposes in humanity belies a more perplexing picture. Sociologists as well as those studying government, organizations and social command, have contended that symbolic and instrumental regulation are essentially perfect types. As such, laws can have both symbolic and instrumental effects - and neither (Zeegers et al. 2005). Moreover, the same regulation can be mostly symbolic in one context and both symbolic and instrumental in another context. In this item, we advance this comprehending of the varying ways in which the symbolic and instrumental dimensions of law can relate. To do so, we present an investigation of an area of law that many have characterized as exclusively symbolic - hate crime law - to determine the conditions under which a necessan/ first step in the process of enforcement is commenced - the recording of a "hate crime" event,' It is difficult to contest that one of the purposes of hate crime law is to recode - symbolically - the meaning of certain kinds of bias-motivated criminal acts. However, it is important to inquiry how and when this body of law furthermore has made instrumental ...