Social Welfare Law Commons^™

When A Tent Is Your Castle: Constitutional Protection Against Unreasonable Searches Of Makeshift Dwellings Of Unhoused Persons, Evanie Parr

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will argue that all jurisdictions should follow the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II in validating makeshift dwellings used by people experiencing homelessness as spaces protected from unwarranted police intrusions by shifting evaluations of “reasonable expectations of privacy” to a more equitable standard that appreciates the realities of economic disparity. This approach to constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures is imperative to protect the rights of people experiencing homelessness, given that such individuals are regularly subjected to invasions of privacy and heightened exposure to the criminal justice system.

"All The Flowers May Die, But The Thistles Will Live": Sex Trafficking Through The Eyes Of A Police Officer-Researcher, Robert Chrismas

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article is a description of the research I conducted on the sex industry in Manitoba, Canada, from 2016-2017. I interviewed 61 people, of which six were political leaders, 23 were social workers, 24 were police officers, and eight were sex industry survivors. About half of the practitioners I interviewed are also sex industry survivors. As a veteran police officer with 35 years of law enforcement experience, my research journey was unique from conducting the interviews to reporting my findings. These are some of my experiences and the lessons I learned about gathering and sharing the stories of sex industry …

Federal Courts And The Poor: Lack Of Standards And Uniformity In Civil In Forma Pauperis Pleadings, Ezra Rosser

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Andrew Hammond's article, Pleading Poverty in Federal Court, shows that there is considerable variation in how federal courts consider requests by the poor for fee waivers in civil litigation. Courts not only use different forms to collect ability-to-pay information but they also apply different standards when determining whether fees should be waived. By focusing attention on federal court in forma pauperis motion practices, Hammond's article sheds light on how the poor can be negatively impacted by routine court practices that might ordinarily be treated as merely administrative. Hammond makes a convincing argument that federal courts should have uniform standards for …

Putting Family First: The Need For Reform In Minnesota's Foster Care Licensing Statutes And Processes To Support Relative Placement, Joanna Woolman, Elizabeth Slama

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalism, Entitlement, And Punishment Across The U.S. Social Welfare State, Wendy A. Bach

Book Chapters

In a 2018 letter the Trump Administration announced that it was open to proposals to include work requirements and other changes in state Medicaid programs. These proposals came in the form of administrative waiver requests that would allow particular states the flexibility to change the rules of Medicaid eligibility in their state. They were seeking permission to condition the receipt of Medicaid on compliance with work requirements and to “align” the Medicaid program with programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The Obama administration had consistently rejected such requests on the grounds that work requirements did not further the aims …

Punishing Families For Being Poor: How Child Protection Interventions Threaten The Right To Parent While Impoverished, David Pimentel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Social Welfare And Political Organizations: Ending The Plague Of Inconsistency, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

This article considers the use of social welfare organizations for political purposes, assesses the damage, and offers solutions. Part I of the article provides an overview of present law and compares social welfare and political organizations in the context of political campaign intervention. Part II considers the many serious ongoing harms that have resulted from the current legal framework. Part III assesses different solutions. The article concludes that in general, the disclosure and financing rules concerning the political activity of social welfare and political organizations should be consistent. Consistent rules would reduce incentives to deceive regulators and the public and …

When Less Is More: The Limitless Potential Of Limited Scope Representation To Increase Access To Justice For Low- To Moderate-Income Individuals, Kristy D'Angelo-Corker

Marquette Law Review

Both attorneys and judges take an oath to promote justice for all, however,

that is not the case in our current system. The world we live in today looks

incredibly different than it did just a few years ago and, as a result, the practice

of law must adapt to meet the changing needs of individuals in this new era.

Notably, the access to justice problem, specifically affecting low- to moderateincome

individuals, requires a shift in the availability of legal services

provided. Limited scope representation, which has been accepted by the

American Bar Association for 20+ years, where an attorney …

Police Surveillance Of Cell Phone Location Data: Supreme Court Versus Public Opinion, Emma W. Marshall, Jennifer L. Groscup, Eve Brank, Analay Perez, Lori A. Hoetger

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. As technology evolves, courts must examine Fourth Amendment concerns implicated by the introduction of new and enhanced police surveillance techniques. Recent Supreme Court cases have demonstrated a trend towards reconsidering the mechanical application of traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine to define the scope of constitutional protections for modern technological devices and personal data. The current research examined whether public opinion regarding privacy rights in electronic communications is in accordance with these Supreme Court rulings. Results suggest that cell phone location data is perceived as more private …

Proceedings Of Expert Forum On First Nations Social Assistance Reform, September 3, 2019, Naiomi Metallic, Fred Wien

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Social assistance, whether directed to the mainstream population or to First Nations, is not – according to Forum participants -- a sexy topic. Specifically, with respect to First Nation persons living on reserve in Canada, it has been largely a neglected field except for those directly responsible for administering it. Despite its substantive importance, it has not received a lot of attention from the academic research community, for example, nor is it usually near the top of the list of priorities for political leaders and governments.

Why is this the case? Perhaps it has to do with the history of …

Vulnerability And Social Justice, Martha Albertson Fineman

Faculty Articles

This Article briefly considers the origins of the term social justice and its evolution beside our understandings of human rights and liberalism, which are two other significant justice categories. After this reflection on the contemporary meaning of social justice, I suggest that vulnerability theory, which seeks to replace the rational man of liberal legal thought with the vulnerable subject, should be used to define the contours of the term. Recognition of fundamental, universal, and perpetual human vulnerability reveals the fallacies inherent in the ideals of autonomy, independence, and individual responsibility that have supplanted an appreciation of the social. I suggest …

The Ethical (Or Not So Ethical) Story Behind Your Bar Of Chocolate: The Untold Tale Of A Distressed Ghanaian Farmer, Nadia Ayensah

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

In a time where the ethics of business dealings have become a key factor in the likelihood of the success of that venture due to globalization, it is important to start considering those ventures that are so popular, but whose inner working are rarely heard of. This paper analyzes the history and process of cocoa production in Ghana. It looks at the status quo with regards to the social and economic standing of Ghanaian Cocoa farmers as opposed to the earnings made by cocoa processing companies. With the statistics derived, the paper then considers who is to take responsibility for …

The Demand Side Of Sex Trafficking In Minnesota: The Who, Where, And Why—And What We Can Do About It, Erinn B. Valine

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Big Brother Becomes “Big Father”: Examining The Continued Use Of Parens Patriae In State Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings, Emily R. Mowry

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The U.S. Constitution grants American citizens numerous Due Process rights; but, historically, the Supreme Court declined to extend these Due Process rights to children. Initially, common-law courts treated child offenders over the age of seven in the same manner as adult criminals. At the start of the 20th century, though, juvenile reformers assisted in creating unique juvenile courts that used the parens patriae doctrine and viewed children as delinquent youths in need of judicial parental guidance rather than punishment. Later, starting in 1967, the Supreme Court released multiple opinions extending certain constitutional Due Process rights to children in juvenile delinquency …

Predetermined? The Prospect Of Social Determinant-Based Section 1115 Waivers After Stewart V. Azar, Griffin Schoenbaum

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Section 1115 of the Social Security Act allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”) to waive some of Medicaid’s requirements so states can enact “demonstration projects.” A demonstration project is an experiment a state can conduct by modifying aspects of its Medicaid program. To waive Medicaid’s requirements for this purpose, the Secretary must determine that the proposed demonstration project will likely assist in promoting Medicaid’s objectives.

Using this standard, President Trump’s Secretary has approved waiver requests to enact demonstration projects that contain “community engagement” requirements. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has heard each …

Nudges That Should Fail?, Avishalom Tor

Journal Articles

Professor Sunstein (2017) discusses possible causes for and policy implications of the failure of nudges, with a special attention to defaults. Though he focuses on nudges that fail when they should succeed, Sunstein recognizes that some failures reveal that a nudge should not have been attempted to begin with. Nudges that fail, however, does not consider fully the relationship between the outcomes of nudging and their likely welfare effects, most notably neglecting the troubling case of nudges that succeed when they should fail. Hence, after clarifying the boundaries of legitimate nudging and noting the fourfold relationship between the efficacy of …

A Cure Worse Than The Disease? The Impact Of Removal On Children And Their Families, Vivek Sankaran, Christopher Church, Monique Mitchell

Marquette Law Review

Removing children from their parents is child welfare’s most drastic

intervention. Research clearly establishes the profound and irreparable

damage family separation can inflict on children and their parents. To ensure

that this intervention is only used when necessary, a complex web of state and

federal constitutional principles, statutes, administrative regulations, judicial

decisions, and agency policies govern the removal decision. Central to these

authorities is the presumption that a healthy and robust child welfare system

keeps families together, protects children from harm, and centers on the needs

of children and their parents.

Yet, research and practice—supported by administrative data—paint a

different …

Emergency Removals: Does The Statutory Language Of N.Y. Fain. Ct. Act § 1024 Safeguard Vulnerable Families From Foster Care Panic?, Sydney Myones

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the surge in emergency child removals by the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) in New York City following the high-profile death of Zymere Perkins, arguing that these removals are driven by "foster care panic" rather than a genuine change in family conditions. It critiques the broad discretion granted to ACS under N.Y. Fam. Ct. Act 1024 and advocates for a more balanced approach that prioritizes family preservation and addresses systemic biases.

Interdisciplinary Projects-Based Community Entrepreneurship Courses, Brandon Weiss, Anthony J. Luppino

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Over the last approximately fifteen years, the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law has developed a multifaceted set of courses, including interdisciplinary courses, pro bono clinics, and other programs and events relating to for-profit entrepreneurship and economic development, and social and civic entrepreneurship. This presentation will describe two recent interdisciplinary additions to these offerings-- the Law, Technology and Public Policy (LT&PP) course and the Entrepreneurial Urban Development (EUD) course. Both have strong elements of increased access to law and justice, with particular focus on presently disadvantaged and underrepresented individuals, groups, and communities. They significantly enhance the training …

Eitc For All: A Universal Basic Income Compromise Proposal, Benjamin Leff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Universal Basic Income ("UBI") is a concept that has recently begun to enter the popular political consciousness in the United States. It is defined as "a regular cash income paid to all, on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement." It is invoked for a wide variety of political and social purposes, but is almost always presented as radically different from existing governmental welfare and transfer systems. Once a UBI is disaggregated into discrete policy components, it is possible to imagine to what degree existing programs share the benefits (and detriments) of a UBI to a greater or …