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2005

Social Welfare Law

Institution
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Articles 1 - 30 of 33

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Return Of The Ring: Welfare Reform’S Marriage Cure As The Revival Of Post-Bellum Control, Angela Onwuachi-Willig Dec 2005

The Return Of The Ring: Welfare Reform’S Marriage Cure As The Revival Of Post-Bellum Control, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

In 1996, the United States Congress began its imposition of a marital solution to poverty when it enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act ("PRWORA"). Nearly ten years later, Congress has strengthened its commitment to marriage as a cure for welfare dependency with proposals such as the Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2005. If passed, this bill would provide 1.5 billion dollars for pro-marriage programs and require each state to explain how its welfare program will encourage marriage for single mothers who receive public aid. With these proposals, Congress has continued to construct poverty as …


Encouraging Moderation In State Policies On Collecting Food Stamp Claims, David A. Super Sep 2005

Encouraging Moderation In State Policies On Collecting Food Stamp Claims, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

Regulations issued by the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture in July 2000 promote efficient and effective food stamp claims collection by the states. These regulations give states significant flexibility in tailoring their procedures on filing claims. States can incorporate waiver and compromise policies that increase efficiency and can serve low-income households.


Poverty And Communitarianism: Toward A Community Based Welfare System, Michele E. Gilman Jul 2005

Poverty And Communitarianism: Toward A Community Based Welfare System, Michele E. Gilman

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article analyzes how communitarian political theory addresses poverty and impacts American social welfare programs. For several decades, communitarian and liberal philosophers have debated how best to achieve justice through their competing notions of personhood. Whereas liberal theorists stress the values of individual autonomy and state neutrality, communitarians assert that people are socially constituted and that liberalism therefore pays too little attention to the value of community. Yet despite their attempts to articulate a superior form of justice, communitarian theorists either ignore or misunderstand issues related to poverty, as this Article explains. Nevertheless, their insights are helpful in thinking about …


Are Rights Efficient? Challenging The Managerial Critique Of Individual Rights, David A. Super Jun 2005

Are Rights Efficient? Challenging The Managerial Critique Of Individual Rights, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

This Article contends that enforceable individual rights can improve the efficiency of government operations. The last decade has seen enforceable individual rights eliminated in a wide range of areas, from welfare to the treatment of immigrants and prisoners in U.S. jails to, most recently, the treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere overseas. In most instances, opponents of enforceable individual rights have quarreled little with the substantive norms underlying these rights. Instead, they have argued that enforceable legal rights would unduly burden government administration. Supporters of individual rights have tended to concede that they are inefficient, arguing instead that …


Improving Fairness And Accuracy In Food Stamp Fraud Investigations: Advocating Reform Under Food Stamp Regulations, David A. Super May 2005

Improving Fairness And Accuracy In Food Stamp Fraud Investigations: Advocating Reform Under Food Stamp Regulations, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

Some state food stamp agencies are overly aggressive in pursuing charges that claimants have committed intentional program violations. Just as failure to pursue allegations of fraud can undermine the Food Stamp Program’s goals, so can intimidation of claimants. States should take care to follow appropriate procedures in their investigations, and Food and Nutrition Service regulations offer ample grounds to advocate fair treatment of clients. Four key principles should guide states’ antifraud efforts.


The Disability Integration Presumption: Thirty Years Later, Ruth Colker Mar 2005

The Disability Integration Presumption: Thirty Years Later, Ruth Colker

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

The fiftieth anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision has spurred a lively debate about the merits of “integration.” This article brings that debate to a new context – the integration presumption under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). The IDEA has contained an “integration presumption” for more than thirty years under which school districts should presumptively educate disabled children with children who are not disabled in a fully inclusive educational environment. This article traces the history of this presumption and argues that it was borrowed from the racial civil rights movement without any empirical justification. In …


Brown’S Legacy: The Promises And Pitfalls Of Judicial Relief, Deborah Jones Merritt Mar 2005

Brown’S Legacy: The Promises And Pitfalls Of Judicial Relief, Deborah Jones Merritt

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

Brown v. Board of Education marked a turning point for both civil rights and judicial activism. During the half century since Brown, social activists of all kinds have sought policy changes from the courts rather than legislatures. That trend has produced social benefits but, over time, it has also shifted political power to elites. This essay explores the possibility of retaining Brown's promise for racial equality while reinvigorating an electoral politics that would better represent many of the people Brown intended to benefit.


Social Security, Generational Justice, And Long-Term Deficits, Neil H. Buchanan Mar 2005

Social Security, Generational Justice, And Long-Term Deficits, Neil H. Buchanan

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

This paper assesses current methods for evaluating the long-term viability and desirability of government activities, especially Social Security and other big-ticket budget items. I reach four conclusions: (1) There are several simple ways to improve the current debate about fiscal policy by adjusting our crude deficit measures, improvements which ought not to be controversial, (2) Separately measuring Social Security’s long-term balance is inappropriate and misleading, (3) The methods available to measure very long-term government financing (Fiscal Gaps and their cousins, Generational Accounts) are of very limited value in setting public policy today, principally because there is no reliable baseline of …


Welfare Fraud: The Constitution Of Social Assistance As Crime, Janet E. Mosher Mar 2005

Welfare Fraud: The Constitution Of Social Assistance As Crime, Janet E. Mosher

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.


Toward A More Expansive Welfare Devolution Debate, Steven Schwinn Feb 2005

Toward A More Expansive Welfare Devolution Debate, Steven Schwinn

Faculty Scholarship

Leading up to and in the wake of national welfare reform, commentators, scholars, and advocates debated one of the key ingredients in the 1996 legislation: devolution of responsibility for the design and administration of welfare from the federal government to the states. Pro-devolutionists argued that devolution would create 50 state welfare experiments, would result in welfare programs tailored to the unique needs of individual states, and would lead to a race to the top in the quality of welfare programs. Anti-devolutionists argued that devolution would encourage states to compete to repel welfare recipients, to avoid becoming welfare magnets, and, ultimately, …


An Experiment In Integrating Critical Theory And Clinical Education, Margaret E. Johnson Jan 2005

An Experiment In Integrating Critical Theory And Clinical Education, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

Critical theory is important in live-client clinical teaching as a means to achieve the pedagogical goals of clinical education. Feminist legal theory, critical race theory, and poverty law theory serve as useful frameworks to enable students to deconstruct assumptions they, persons within institutions, and broader society make about the students' clients and their lives. Critical theory highlights the importance of looking for both the "obvious and non-obvious relationships of domination." Thus, critical theory informs students of the presence and importance of alternative voices that challenge the dominant discourse. When student attorneys ignore or are unaware of such voices, other voices …


A Theory Of Access To Justice, Robert Rubinson Jan 2005

A Theory Of Access To Justice, Robert Rubinson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article draws upon three observations: 1) the vast majority of disputes involve low-income litigants; 2) the vast majority of public and private resources of dispute resolution are allocated to disputes involving wealthy individuals and organizations; 3) any principled moral or ethical analysis demonstrates that the stakes are much higher in disputes involving low-income disputants than in disputes involving affluent individuals or organizations. Thus, the legal matters that attract a minute percentage of dispute resolution resources implicate issues of food and shelter, life and death. The Article describes a methodology - called "Resources of Dispute Resolution" or "RDR" - for …


This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land: Markets And Institutions For Economic Development On Native American Reservations, Ezra Rosser Jan 2005

This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land: Markets And Institutions For Economic Development On Native American Reservations, Ezra Rosser

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This paper presents the current land regime and nature of economic development found on most Native American reservations, drawing predominantly from the Navajo Nation. It then considers the situation according to (1) neo-classical economics and (2) New Institutional Economics (NIE). The paper begins with the paired assumptions that economic growth can and should reach reservations and that the U.S. and tribal governments can improve upon past performance and institutional arrangements. Policy solutions to reservation commercial and light industrial underdevelopment, corresponding to each economic perspective in turn, are then discussed. The paper broadens the range of policy options available to tribes …


The Trade-Off Between Self-Determination And The Trust Doctrine: Tribal Government And The Possibility Of Failure, Ezra Rosser Jan 2005

The Trade-Off Between Self-Determination And The Trust Doctrine: Tribal Government And The Possibility Of Failure, Ezra Rosser

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This paper argues that tribes and scholars need to come to grips with the trade-off between trust and self-determination, and that failure to do so-by for example expressing a yearning that the trust doctrine was stronger-will lead to poor choices by tribes. Choices thus need to be based on an understanding of this trade-off and tribes must be aware that exercising self-determination inevitably will lead to a weakening of the trust doctrine over the areas which tribe's assume authority. This point is illustrated using a close analysis of the arguments used by the parties and the Supreme Court's treatment of …


Medicare Should, But Cannot, Consider Cost: Legal Impediments To Sound Policy, Jacqueline R. Fox Jan 2005

Medicare Should, But Cannot, Consider Cost: Legal Impediments To Sound Policy, Jacqueline R. Fox

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Toward A More Expansive Welfare Devolution Debate, 9 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 311 (2005), Steven D. Schwinn Jan 2005

Toward A More Expansive Welfare Devolution Debate, 9 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 311 (2005), Steven D. Schwinn

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Leading up to and in the wake of national welfare reform, commentators, scholars, and advocates debated one of the key ingredients in the 1996 legislation: devolution of responsibility for the design and administration of welfare from the federal government to the states. Pro-devolutionists argued that devolution would create 50 state welfare experiments, would result in welfare programs tailored to the unique needs of individual states, and would lead to a race to the top in the quality of welfare programs. Anti-devolutionists argued that devolution would encourage states to compete to repel welfare recipients, to avoid becoming welfare magnets, and, ultimately, …


Retrospective On Justice And The Poor In The United States In The Twentieth Century, Henry Rose Jan 2005

Retrospective On Justice And The Poor In The United States In The Twentieth Century, Henry Rose

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.


Responsibility For Unintended Consequences, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2005

Responsibility For Unintended Consequences, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

All Faculty Scholarship

The appropriateness of imposing criminal liability for negligent conduct has been the subject of debate among criminal law scholars for many years. Ever since H.L.A. Hart’s defense of criminal negligence, the prevailing view has favored its use. In this essay, I nevertheless argue against criminal negligence, on the ground that criminal liability should only be imposed where the defendant was aware he was engaging in the prohibited conduct, or where he was aware of risking such conduct or result. My argument relies on the claim that criminal liability should resemble judgments of responsibility in ordinary morality as closely as possible. …


Reunification Of Child And Animal Welfare Agencies: Cross-Reporting Of Abuse In Wellington County, Ontario, Lisa Anne Zilney, Mary Zilney Jan 2005

Reunification Of Child And Animal Welfare Agencies: Cross-Reporting Of Abuse In Wellington County, Ontario, Lisa Anne Zilney, Mary Zilney

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Institutional change has resulted in the separation of organizations for the protection of animals and children. This project reunites two organizations to examine associations between human violence and animal cruelty. For 12 months, Family and Children's Services (FCS) investigators and Humane Society (HS) investigators in Wellington County, Canada, completed checklists to examine connections between forms of violence. FCS workers found some cause for concern in 20% of 1,485 homes with an animal companion. HS workers completed 247 checklists, resulting in 10 referrals to FCS. The first study of its kind, this project details the findings of cross-reporting in Wellington County …


Making Work Pay: Promoting Employment And Better Child Support Outcomes For Low-Income And Incarcerated Parents, Ann Cammett Jan 2005

Making Work Pay: Promoting Employment And Better Child Support Outcomes For Low-Income And Incarcerated Parents, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice prepared this report in response to concerns about child support debt—in particular as it creates a barrier to employment for low-income parents and works at cross-purposes with the goals of the child support program. Drawing on examples from other states, this report identifies a range of policies that inform child support practice in New Jersey and offers administrative, legislative, and programmatic solutions to address child support arrears owed by low-income and incarcerated parents.


Charitable Accountability And Reform In Nineteenth Century England: The Case Of The Charity Commission, James J. Fishman Jan 2005

Charitable Accountability And Reform In Nineteenth Century England: The Case Of The Charity Commission, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Why is it so difficult to carry out effective institutional change? Why did the principle of charitable accountability, a nearly unanimously supported ideal, ring so hollow in practice? This Article offers hypotheses about the difficulties of administrative reform, through the prism of the nineteenth century, which may apply to contemporary issues of charitable accountability.


Charity Scandals As A Catalyst Of Legal Change And Literary Imagination In Nineteenth Century England, James J. Fishman Jan 2005

Charity Scandals As A Catalyst Of Legal Change And Literary Imagination In Nineteenth Century England, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Nineteenth century England, often called the age of reform, was a period of enormous political, social, and economic change. In the first two decades came an increase in the rate of transformation of the economy, the polity and society and a greater stir and movement in all spheres of public activity caused by more “rational and purposeful” control based upon measuring, counting and observing. Political, economic and governmental institutions developed modern structures and approaches. Charitable regulation reflected these trends. As part of a broader movement of inquiry, supervision and statutory reform, and in an effort to remedy the social evils …


Note: The Impact Of Medicaid Estate Recovery On Nontraditional Families, Diane Lourdes Dick Jan 2005

Note: The Impact Of Medicaid Estate Recovery On Nontraditional Families, Diane Lourdes Dick

Faculty Articles

This article analyzes the impact of Medicaid estate recovery laws on nontraditional families, and offers policy solutions that protect families from unintended consequences while preserving the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program.


Capitalism, Social Marginality, And The Rule Of Law's Uncertain Fate In Modern Society, Ahmed A. White Jan 2005

Capitalism, Social Marginality, And The Rule Of Law's Uncertain Fate In Modern Society, Ahmed A. White

Publications

The rule of law is liberalism's key juridical aspiration. Yet its norms, centered on the principles of legality and legal generality, are being compromised all over the political and legal landscape. For decades, the dominant explanation of this worrying condition has focused mainly on the rise of the welfare state and its apparent incompatibility with the rule of law. But this approach, though shared by a politically diverse range of scholars, is outdated and misconceives the problem. A central function of the modem state has always been to prevent capitalism's inherent tendencies toward social marginalization from devolving into general social …


Community Economic Development Under Protest, Ngai Pindell Jan 2005

Community Economic Development Under Protest, Ngai Pindell

Scholarly Works

Storming Caesars Palace casts the War on Poverty in a new light to illustrate the "rich potential of a poor women's movement for economic justice." Orleck challenges "scholars and policymakers [to] rethink the conventional wisdom that the War on Poverty was a failure." Through "seeing and hearing from welfare mothers in all their complex, contradictory humanity," she hopes to unsettle existing ideas of effective anti-poverty strategies. Orleck is understandably troubled by the glacial pace of progress in the lives of poor people in America, concluding that "after a cacophonous, half-century debate about America's so-called underclass, few creative or genuinely new …


The Community Dimension Of State Child Protection, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 2005

The Community Dimension Of State Child Protection, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Housing First' For The Chronically Homless: Challenges Of A New Service Model, Nestor M. Davidson Jan 2005

Housing First' For The Chronically Homless: Challenges Of A New Service Model, Nestor M. Davidson

Faculty Scholarship

Increasingly in recent years, policymakers have focused their efforts on ending chronic homelessness and, in particular, on individuals grappling with mental illness, substance abuse, and similar challenges. Central to this effort has been the rise of a new model of service provision called Housing First. Housing First reverses the long-standing practice of conditioning housing on compliance with treatment plans or other service requirements, instead providing immediate independent living for chronically homeless individuals with dual or multiple diagnoses and only then making intensive services available. This Commentary reviews this important policy shift and explores some conceptual and practical challenges in moving …


Privatization And Punishment In The New Era Of Reprogenetics, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 2005

Privatization And Punishment In The New Era Of Reprogenetics, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Principles Of Non-Arbitrariness: Lawlessness In The Administration Of Welfare, Christine N. Cimini Jan 2005

Principles Of Non-Arbitrariness: Lawlessness In The Administration Of Welfare, Christine N. Cimini

Articles

This article explores whether there exists a concept of non-arbitrariness that imposes limitations on the administration of welfare benefits without rules, regulations, policies or procedures. To address this question, the article examines the concept of non-arbitrariness within various jurisprudential doctrines and the potential applicability of the concept to limit arbitrary governmental action in the welfare context. In each of the areas where courts regulate arbitrary governmental action, underlying judicial concerns give rise to jurisprudential principles. Four principles stand out. First, at a minimum, there must be a rational relationship between the government’s ends and the means it chooses to reach …


Do Different Types Of Hospitals Act Differently?, Jill R. Horwitz Jan 2005

Do Different Types Of Hospitals Act Differently?, Jill R. Horwitz

Other Publications

This essay is based on testimony delivered before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means on May 26, 2005.