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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:34 am
Time: 12:34 am
Results for welfare reform
3 results foundAuthor: Corman, Hope Title: Effects of Welfare Reform on Women's Crime Summary: We investigate the effects of broad-based work incentives on female crime by exploiting the welfare reform legislation of the 1990s, which dramatically increased employment among women at risk for relying on cash assistance. We find that welfare reform decreased female property crime arrests by 4–5%, but did not affect other types of crimes. The effects appear to be stronger in states with lower welfare benefits and higher earnings disregards, and in states with larger caseload declines. The findings point to broad-based work incentives—and, by inference, employment—as a key determinant of female property crime. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 18887: Accessed March 18, 2013 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18887 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18887 Shelf Number: 127992 Keywords: EmploymentFemale CrimeFemale Offenders (U.S.)Welfare Reform |
Author: Mauer, Marc Title: A Lifetime of Punishment: The Impact of the Felony Drug Ban on Welfare Benefits Summary: In his first State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton promised to "end welfare as we know it." Nearly four years later, on August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed legislation to do exactly that: the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). PRWORA's reforms were expansive and controversial for several reasons, including its implementation of a revised cash assistance program- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)- which limited the length of time eligible families could receive benefits and established work requirements for recipients. In addition, PRWORA made substantial changes to the operation of the federal food stamp program, which has since been renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Perhaps because of the general debate surrounding PRWORA's changes to cash assistance and food stamp programs, one significant provision of the law initially received little attention: along with other federal legislation related to the "war on drugs," PRWORA imposed a denial of federal benefits to people convicted in state or federal courts of felony drug offenses. The ban is imposed for no other offenses but drug crimes. Its provisions that subject individuals who are otherwise eligible for receipt of SNAP or TANF benefits to a lifetime disqualification applies to all states unless they act to opt out of the ban. Despite the magnitude of this change, the provision received only two minutes of debate after it was introduced on the Senate floor-one minute for Republicans and one minute for Democrats. It was then unanimously adopted by a voice vote. The brevity of Congressional discussion on the felony drug conviction ban makes it difficult to know the intent of Congress in adopting this policy, but the record that does exist suggests the provision was intended to be punitive and "tough on crime." As Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), the sponsor of the amendment, argued, "if we are serious about our drug laws, we ought not to give people welfare benefits who are violating the Nation's drug laws." Conspicuously absent from the brief debate over this provision was any discussion of whether the lifetime ban for individuals with felony drug offenses would advance the general objectives of welfare reform. In an effort to assess the impact of this policy, this report provides an analysis of the ban on receipt of TANF benefits for individuals with felony drug convictions. First, we survey the current status of the ban at the state level, including actions by legislatures to opt out of the ban in full or in part. Next, we produce estimates of the number of women potentially affected by the ban in those states that apply it in full. We then assess the rationale for the ban and conclude that, for a multiplicity of reasons, the ban not only fails to accomplish its putative goals, but also is likely to negatively impact public health and safety. Finally,we offer policy recommendations for future treatment of the ban on receipt of food stamps and cash assistance for individuals convicted of felony drug crimes. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 26, 2013 at: http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_A%20Lifetime%20of%20Punishment.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_A%20Lifetime%20of%20Punishment.pdf Shelf Number: 131707 Keywords: Drug Offenders (U.S.)Ex-Offenders RightsFelony OffendersWelfare BenefitsWelfare Reform |
Author: Corman, Hope Title: Age Gradient in Female Crime: Welfare Reform as a Turning Point Summary: This study explores how a major public policy change-the implementation of welfare reform in the U.S. in the 1990s-shaped the age gradient in female crime. We used FBI arrest data to investigate the age-patterning of the effects of welfare reform on women's arrests for property crime, the type of crime women are most likely to commit and that welfare reform has been shown to affect. We found that women's property crime arrest rates declined over the age span; that welfare reform led to an overall reduction in adult women's property crime arrests of about 4%, with the strongest effects for women ages 25-29 and in their 40s; that the effects were slightly stronger in states with stricter work incentives; and that the effects were much stronger in states with high criminal justice expenditures and staffing. The key contributions of this study are the focus on a broad and relevant policy-based "turning point" (change in circumstances that can lead people to launch or desist from criminal careers), addressing the general question of how a turning point shapes age gradients in criminal behavior, and the focus on women in the context of the age patterning of crime. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper 24464: Accessed April 5, 2018 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w24464 Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w24464 Shelf Number: 149704 Keywords: Female OffendersPoverty and CrimeProperty CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeWelfare ReformWomen Offenders |