Law Commons^™

Medicaid Maximization And Diversion: Illusory State Practices That Convert Federal Aid Into General State Revenue, Daniel L. Hatcher

All Faculty Scholarship

For years, states have been using illusory schemes to maximize federal aid intended for Medicaid services-and then often diverting some or all of the resulting funds to other use. And states have help. Private revenue maximization consultants are hired by states to increase Medicaid claims, often for a contingency fee. We do not know the exact amount of federal Medicaid funds that has been diverted to state revenue and private profit each year, but it is in the billions.

The states' revenue strategies take advantage of the matching-grant structure of the Medicaid program. When state funds are spent on eligible …

Book Review (Reviewing Louis Fisher's Congress: Protecting Individual Rights), Adeen Postar

All Faculty Scholarship

Fisher is currently the Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project, and is well known for his many years as Senior Specialist on Separation of Powers at the Congressional Research Service and as Specialist in Constitutional Law at the Law Library of Congress. He has extensive experience testifying before Congress on topics that include Congress and the constitution, war powers, executive power and privilege, and several aspects of the federal budget and its processes. He has written numerous books on these topics, including (to name only a few) The President and Congress: Power and Policy (1972); Defending Congress and the …

Exciting Changes In Central Baltimore: Examining The Homewood Community Partners Initiative, Gillian Rathbone-Webber

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

The Homewood Community Partners Initiative (HCPI) is one of the newest waves of development based in Baltimore.1 HCPI has a different approach to development than other economic development plans in Baltimore and, in comparison to some failed attempts in other areas of the City, it seems to be working. Baltimore has long suffered from blight, high rates of vacant buildings, and high crime. There have been many previous attempts to address and repair those issues with only some success. HCPI is attempting to mitigate all those issues by way of a community development agenda and a five-part plan.2 While the …

Recent Developments: Are Land Contracts Preying On Low-Income Buyers Or Do They Offer A Different Avenue For Home Ownership?, Christopher Barron

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

As of May 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced an investigation into the practice of land contracts and compliance with federal truth and lending laws. The CFPB’s investigation is in response to the increasing number of reports from organizations, such as the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), condemning land contracts for their predatory nature and disparate impact on low-income buyers, specifically those of color. Furthermore, land contracts have been labeled as “Wall Street’s Toxic Transactions” because of large wall street investment groups utilizing them for their own capital gain. Land contracts have been vilified for luring unsuspecting …

The Inequality Of America's Death Penalty: A Crossroads For Capital Punishment At The Intersection Of The Eighth And Fourteenth Amendments, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

We live in a divided society, from gated communities to cell blocks congested with disproportionate numbers of young African-American men. There are rich and poor, privileged and homeless, Democrats and Republicans, wealthy zip codes and stubbornly impoverished ones. There are committed "Black Lives Matter" protesters, and there are those who—invoking "Blue Lives Matter" demonstrate in support of America‘s hardworking police officers. In her new article, "Matters of Strata: Race, Gender, and Class Structures in Capital Cases," George Washington University law professor Phyllis Goldfarb highlights the stratification of our society and offers a compelling critique of America‘s death penalty regime—one, she …

Homeschooling: Choosing Parental Rights Over Children's Interests, Martha Fineman, George B. Shepherd

University of Baltimore Law Review

Homeschooling, the most extreme form of privatization of education, often eliminates the possibility of the child gaining the resources essential for success in adult life. It sacrifices the interests of the child to the interests of the parents, allowing them to control and isolate the child’s development. In addition, homeschooling frustrates the state’s legitimate interest in the child’s receiving a sound, diverse education, so that the child can achieve her potential as a productive employee and as a constructive participant in civic life. This Article uses vulnerability theory as a heuristic frame both to reexamine the dominant rhetoric of parental …

Decriminalizing Violence: A Critique Of Restorative Justice And Proposal For Diversionary Mediation, M. Eve Hanan

All Faculty Scholarship

The movement to reduce over-prosecution and mass incarceration has focused almost exclusively on non-violent offenders despite data showing that over half of all prisoners incarcerated within the United States are sentenced for crimes of violence. As a consequence of the focus on nonviolent offenses, the majority of current and future defendants will not benefit from initiatives offering alternatives to criminal prosecution and incarceration.

A discussion of alternatives to the criminal justice system in cases of violent crime must begin by acknowledging that violent crime is not monolithic. Many incidents meet the statutory elements of a violent crime, that is, the …