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At The Intersection Of Sovereignty And Contract: Traffic Cameras And The Privatization Of Law Enforcement Power, William Davenport Mercer
At The Intersection Of Sovereignty And Contract: Traffic Cameras And The Privatization Of Law Enforcement Power, William Davenport Mercer
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Many municipalities are making critical errors in their attempts to alleviate current financial burdens by contracting with private entities to perform many of their essential functions, most notably those agreements with companies to install traffic cameras and, in many cases, to monitor and cite offenders. By subcontracting part of their exclusive power to enforce law, these municipalities essentially bargain away sovereignty by parting with portions of their inherent police power. As these cameras fill a role played by the state’s law enforcement personnel, municipalities impermissibly infringe on the actual sovereignty of the state as well as the conceptual sovereignty of …
Responding To Welfare Privatization: New Tools For A New Age, Wendy A. Bach
Responding To Welfare Privatization: New Tools For A New Age, Wendy A. Bach
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Privatization of the operation of public benefit programs in the wake of welfare reform has diminished the effectiveness of traditional approaches to advocacy. A case study from New York City of how private contractors succeeded in reducing welfare roles while imposing punitive policies on poor families offers a glimpse of possible new advocacy tools. Requiring contract-monitoring bodies that involve community members and advocates could help facilitate transparent contracting processes and reshape social welfare programs to serve clients.
Welfare Reform, Privatization And Power: Reconfiguring Administrative Law Structures From The Ground Up, Wendy A. Bach
Welfare Reform, Privatization And Power: Reconfiguring Administrative Law Structures From The Ground Up, Wendy A. Bach
Scholarly Works
Since welfare reform in 1996, privatization has led to a radical reconfiguration in the dominant mode of governance in public benefits programs. The United States has largely moved from systems controlled through law and regulation to systems controlled through contracts. With this shift has come a significant diminishment in public accountability in general and, more specifically, a diminishment in the ability of poor communities and their advocates to intervene in the making of welfare policy. At the same time, privatization has proven to be an extraordinarily effective mechanism for imposing highly punitive welfare programs on poor communities. Building upon the …