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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Administration Of Public Assistance, James A. Krauskopf
The Administration Of Public Assistance, James A. Krauskopf
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay discusses the problems of implementation and administration of proposed welfare reforms. It gives a brief historical background on such reforms, describes the nature of their administration, discusses current and proposed reforms and the public perceptions of them, and compares welfare to other government expenditures. It concludes by recommending that social services be integrated at the local rather than federal level.
Urban Welfare Reform: A Community-Based Perspective, Margo D. Butts
Urban Welfare Reform: A Community-Based Perspective, Margo D. Butts
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay advocates for community-based efforts to redeem the welfare system. It first discusses the causes of welfare dependency, and the adverse effects of current reform proposals. It then outlines goals for effective welfare reform, and describes the welfare reform program being implemented by the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. It concludes that effective welfare reform requires community initiated programs that focus on remedying factors leading to poverty, best identified and dealt with on a local level.
Is There A Doctrine In The House? Welfare Reform And The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, Jonathan Romberg
Is There A Doctrine In The House? Welfare Reform And The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, Jonathan Romberg
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article proposes that courts should subject unconstitutional conditions cases to intermediate scrutiny rather than presuming that a conditioned benefit is either valid or invalid based on its formal attributes. In conducting intermediate scrutiny, courts should consider: (i) the degree of equality or neutrality demanded by the underlying constitutional right; (ii) the importance of the benefit to the recipient; (iii) the germaneness of the condition to the reason the government may legitimately deny the benefit in the absence of the condition, and thus whether the government is attempting to use its economic and regulatory powers to gain leverage over a …
Disability And Welfare Reform: Keep The Supplemental Security Income Program But Reengineer The Disability Determination Process, Gay Gellhorn
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The thesis of this Article is that reform of the Supplemental Security Income disability program is properly on the welfare reform agenda, but not in the terms cast by proposed legislation. Procedural reform targeting identified problems should be the first step, rather than the termination of the federal entitlement program or the re-writing of the eligibility criteria. Substantive reform should follow such procedural reform. Therefore, this Article will focus particularly on procedural reform, although it will place that discussion in the context of the current legislative climate. Part II of this Article describes the current disability determination process and why …
Race, Rat Bites And Unfit Mothers: How Media Discourse Informs Welfare Legislation Debate, Lucy A. Williams
Race, Rat Bites And Unfit Mothers: How Media Discourse Informs Welfare Legislation Debate, Lucy A. Williams
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The goal of this article is to expose and critique the media images of poor women that drive legislative debate in AFDC public policy issues. Part II discusses the media image and its centrality in shaping social perceptions of welfare. Part III explores the impact of media images on law-making by focusing on three statutory time periods: 1935, when the AFDC program was initially enacted as part of the Social Security Act; 1967, when the first mandatory work requirements were, added to the AFDC statute; and the present, when states are implementing widely divergent categorical eligibility requirements that restrict AFDC …
The Implications Of Current Welfare Reform Proposals For The Housing Assistance System, Sandra J. Newman
The Implications Of Current Welfare Reform Proposals For The Housing Assistance System, Sandra J. Newman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay assesses proposals to reform welfare from the perspective of effects on housing assistance. The focus is on the two welfare reform proposals that have received the most attention during late 1994 and early 1995: the Clinton Administration's Work and Responsibility Act (WRA and the Republican Party's Personal Responsibility Act (PRA). This analysis is limited to the provisions in each bill regarding time limits, eligibility restrictions, and work requirements for AFDC recipients, and estimates how the housing assistance system would be affected if these provisions were in effect today. This analysis focuses on two types of impacts: effects on …
The Failures Of Litigation As A Tool For The Development Of Social Welfare Policy, Susan V. Demers
The Failures Of Litigation As A Tool For The Development Of Social Welfare Policy, Susan V. Demers
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article argues that litigation is largely counterproductive to the development of a coherent and feasible social welfare policy and interferes with the constitutionally-derived separation of powers. It describes the proper role of the courts when evaluating government actions and the proper procedures for doing so. It then discusses several cases brought against the New York State Department of Social Services and local governments, arguing that the courts have abandoned their appropriate role, and using these decisions to illustrate its thesis.
Changing Legal Contexts For Affirmative Welfare Reform, Melville D. Miller, Jr.
Changing Legal Contexts For Affirmative Welfare Reform, Melville D. Miller, Jr.
Fordham Urban Law Journal
To test whether the block grant approach currently under consideration in Congress actually achieves the goal of providing states with the flexibility necessary to effect meaningful policy changes, this Essay contrasts the way two different reform proposals would be treated in the current legal and regulatory environment to the way they would likely fare under the proposed legislation. One proposal used in this analysis is a comprehensive welfare reform program, self-described as "progressive," that was developed by a community-based, grass roots coalition in New Jersey. The New Jersey reform proposal aims to improve outcomes for recipients, rather than simply to …
Note: Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution To Welfare Fraud At Our Fingertips, James J. Killerlane Iii
Note: Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution To Welfare Fraud At Our Fingertips, James J. Killerlane Iii
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Note describes the finger imaging process and summarizes the current New York Social Services law regarding public assistance. It also outlines the current finger imaging bill before the New York State Legislature. Part III examines and considers the two major policy arguments against the implementation of the program. Part IV outlines the legal controversy regarding finger imaging and addresses each express concern as well as constitutional issues. Part V compares New York's finger imaging legislation with similar legislation already in place in California and argues that the New York program will be as effective as California's. In conclusion, this …