Mandatory Detention Policy: A Comprehensive Analysis

Running head: MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY
MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY
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MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY
Introduction
Public policy is the way in which the government of any country keeps order in the
country and fulfils the needs of the citizens of the country through different laws and
regulations that are explained in the constitution of that country (Dunn, 2015). Public policies
are present to address the needs of the people of the country and so these policies are divided
into different categories based on sections of the society. For example, there are health
policies which covers all the policies which are related to the health of the citizens and also
educates them in case of any epidemic or new emergent diseases. There are also legal policies
which takes care of all the laws and the determinants of what is to be called as a criminal
activity and what punishments are to be handed out for which crimes. Based on the public
policies, the state can evoke any action or contract that goes against the objectives of the
public policy (Ehrenberg & Smith, 2016).
Policy Process
The public policy process is the way in which a public policy is formed, implemented
and evaluated. Even though there are many individuals who have broken down the process
into different phases, the most common procedure of public policy process has been broken
down into six phases as mentioned below:
 Agenda Setting – This is the first phase of the cycle, where the policy makers decide on
which problems are to be addressed. There are several topics which are discussed before
the policy makers move forward with what to set as an agenda. The different kinds of
agenda may be systematic agendas, institutional agendas, discretionary agendas and
decision agendas (Birkland, 2015). The type of agenda is decided according to the
importance of the issue and the authority of the policy makers in addressing that issue.

MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY
 Formation of policy – This is the second phase of the cycle, where the solutions for
different problems are argued and discussed. In this phase, different parties intensely
negotiate with each other to give shape to a problem’s solution. They fight for their needs
and desires, against each other (Hill & Varone, 2016). There different concerns that come
to notice during this phase such as budgetary issues, political and personal constraints or
the ways of protecting the existing programs. Hence, the formation of public policies is
done my bargaining more than any other means.
 Legitimation of policy – The word legitimacy means that the actions of the
government is considered to be authoritative and legal by the public. To legitimize a
public policy, the policy needs to be followed through a legislative process. Once the
policy is legitimized, it becomes a law and hence can be implemented from thereon.
However, a policy becomes legitimized in true sense when the public starts to accept it
and act upon it (Hill, 2014). Therefore, the public has the right to reject a policy if they
find that the policy is not acceptable to them.
 Implementation of policy – This is the fourth phase of the public policy process which
determines that the policy has been put to action. After the policy has been implemented
the responsibility of keeping track of the policy shifts from the policy makers to the
policy implementer (Hill & Hupe, 2014). The policy can keep developing further even
after it has been implemented. The success of a policy can be traced back to this phase as
implementing the policy successfully is the main task.
 Evaluation of policy – After a policy have been implemented, the policy makes
evaluate if the policy have been implemented properly and if it had been able to achieve
the objectives that it had been set with. The policy makers evaluate and measure the
outcomes of the policy and steer between the efficiency and the effectiveness of the