Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Legal Analysis: The Transgender Bathroom Debate, Josselyn Sheer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article examines the current legal battles over transgender bathroom, locker room, and employment rights. In the recent years, there has been a major uproar surrounding the rights of transgender individuals; concurrently, our country is witnessing a shift in the ways in which individuals understand their gender outside of the binary male and female classification. While the word transgender can serve as an “umbrella term encompassing a wide array of identifies,” transgender rights have steadily grown across numerous areas (Buck, 2016, p. 465). However, there have been contentious legal issues that have put transgender individuals rights in the spotlight.

The …

Blurring Professional Borders In Service Of Anti-Poverty Collaboration: Combining Social Work Skills And An Anti-Oppressive Feminist Lens With Legal Aid, Andrew C. Schoeneman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The history of legal aid is contested and gendered. Like social work, since the late 1800s professionalization and broader political forces have pushed legal aid toward greater focus on individual-level interventions to alleviate poverty. As a result, the capacity of contemporary legal aid programs to work collaboratively with low-income communities to address their legal and non-legal concerns is limited. This article traces the shared histories and commitments of legal aid and social work, calls for an increased collaboration between legal aid programs and social workers, and proposes an anti-oppressive, feminist theoretical perspective to guide this collaboration. By embracing collaboration across …

Mixed-Status Families And The Threat Of Deportation, Eloisa P. Haynes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article offers a description of deportation, explores the effects of deportation in the lives of mixed-status families, as well as, outlines the social and economic cost of deportations to American communities. This article argues that the toll imposed on U.S. citizens, both relatives of those deported and members of the community, renders deportation, in most circumstances, an unfavorable policy that does more harm than good. A policy which is intended to protect Americans and curtail unauthorized migration, instead creates injustice, fragments families and communities, and creates a significant negative impact on the U.S. economy.

A Commentary: Why Civil Commitment Laws Don't Work The Way They're Supposed To, Philip D. Arben

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is often presumed that the legal rights of those who are mentally ill or alleged to be mentally ill are adequately protected by the changes in civil commitment statutes that most states instituted during the 1970s. The author who participated in the writing of these reform statutes recently observed 63 civil commitment hearings. The gap between the stated requirements of the statute and the actual conduct of the commitment hearings was substantial. This paper attempts to explain why the reality has failed to meet the promise.

Addressing Socio-Legal Problems: A Unifying Perspective For Social Workers, Raymond Albert

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Problems where social work and the law overlap have consistently challenged social work professionals, and the challenges promise to continue. The overlap exposes important interdisciplinary issues, which are best addressed when certain conditions are met. The article describes these conditions within the context of a perspective that underlines the interaction between the two fields and structures the professional's approach to these interdisciplinary problems.

Social Workers As Magistrates Or Jps?, Donald E. Maypole

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An inspection of data on magistrates and justices of the peace revealed that in many states the statutes do not require law degrees for the positions. A survey of a randomly selected sample of magistrates in one midwestern state found support for the claim that a law degree was not a pre-requisite for a magistrate's position. The author argues that social workers have the education and skills for magistrate and justice of the peace positions and proposes them as areas of employment.

Case Law And Social Welfare: A Framework For Analysis, Jan L. Hagen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper illustrates an approach for analyzing case law within the framework of social welfare programs and policies. Drawing on a framework first developed by Burns and later expanded by Gilbert and Specht, selected court decisions related to income maintenance are categorized on the basis of four parameters: basis of social allocation, the nature of social provisions, the structure of the delivery system, and the method of financing. Unlike the legal framework typically used to analyze court decisions, an assessment of court decisions along the parameters of social welfare policies and programs highlights the court's role and its importance in …

The Practice Of Social Work In Legal Services Programs, Heather B. Craige, William G. Saur, Janice B. Arcuri

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Because the legal difficulties of the poor are frequently symptomatic of longstanding economic, social and personal problems, a small number of legal services programs have hired social workers to collaborate with attorneys. A questionnaire was sent to all social workers employed by legal services programs encountered, job satisfaction and need for continuing education. Data on 48 social workers were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results indicate that social workers can increase the scope and depth of services delivered by legal services programs and also find considerable satisfaction in their work.

Interorganizational Conflict: The Case Of Police Youth Bureaus And The Juvenile Court, C. David Hollister, Joe Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Police departments, juvenile courts, training schools, and a variety of welfare organizations together constitute the network of agencies formally instituted to deal with juvenile deviance.I Because each of the organizations has an interest in reducing deviance, it is sometimes assumed that they share the same goals and work closely and cooperatively with each other. The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory study of inter-organizational relations at one link in this network: relations between police youth bureaus and the juvenile court.