Interesting new policy - cutting off welfare from those in jail

[PepperElf]

Michigan is starting a new program.

People are being cut off from welfare if they have warrants out for their arrests or if they're in jail.


The notion is that

1) If you have a warrant out for your arrest you should be in jail anyway, at least until you make bail

2) If you're in jail already you're already getting free room and board, plus food and entertainment... so you don't need food stamps or welfare.

3) If you have family that depends on you for welfare they themselves can still apply for benefits.


Or in a nut-shell... they're cutting off people from double-dipping into tax-payer money. And this also means more money that'll be available for other needy families applying for assistance.

[fireheart17]

I'm not entirely familiar with the welfare system in the US, but this makes a TON of sense.

One thing I'm a little curious of: do the welfare offices work with other agencies as well i.e. tax offices, births deaths and marriages etc. to ensure that all details are correct? Yes I'm aware of people who make false identities and whatnot, but it sounds like the welfare office could actually also be of benefit to the police if those in question are fugitives.

[PepperElf]

From what I read the system automatically checks the list of warrants. The only link I have for it so far is at

http://peopleoffoodstamps.com/2011/0...for-criminals/

http://detnews.com/article/20110908/...#ixzz1XUEdBtJN



oo interesting. they also proposed capping the salary for people in political office.

Budget director John Nixon and Michigan Economic Development Corp. president Michael Finney each are making $250,000 annually. The governor normally would be paid $159,300 annually, but [Govenor] Snyder, a multimillionaire former businessman, is taking only a $1 salary this year.

[Greenday]

Criminals don't get paid for not contributing to society.

Saves the government some money.

Win-win

[bainsidhe]

It makes sense, yet how do you handle the logistics of canceling and then reinstating benefits to someone who has an arrest warrant or is arrested? For example, you can be arrested and then bailed out pretty quickly, depending on the crime. If your arrest automatically cancels your benefits, does bailing you out within 24 hours mean a lot of hassle to have bennies re-instated? What if it's for something minor like jaywalking? It sounds great in principal, but the logistics and administrative costs could be outrageous.

On the other hand, I'm 100% for canceling bennies to anyone that's serving a prison sentence.

[Nyoibo]

Well, 1, getting bail does not mean you're innocent, it just means you or someone else has the money to get you out of jail until your trial. 2, who ever got a warrant for arrest for jaywalking? 3, and this is important, they need to have something in place so that if someone does have a warrant and their payments are cancelled and they are found innocent, that they are eligable for back pay of benifits while they were cancelled.

[PepperElf]

Plus... i should remove the part about bail.
that was my own assumption.

sorry



although if you're on welfare already.... what's the chance of you being able to afford your bail anyway?


the main idea of the law is that they don't want to enable people to harbor fugatives

[bainsidhe]

I knew someone who had an arrest warrant out for them because of traffic tickets. Yes they were stupid and it was there own fault, but there's a lot of reasons someone may have a warrant. That doesn't mean they're on America's Most Wanted as a terrible fugitive from justice. Like I said, I love the idea, I just think it'd be a bit complex and figuring it out is over my pay grade.

[Nyoibo]

although if you're on welfare already.... what's the chance of you being able to afford your bail anyway?

Most people don't have the money for bail, that's what bail bonds are, basically it's a loan which is repaid when the person turns up for trial.

I knew someone who had an arrest warrant out for them because of traffic tickets. Yes they were stupid and it was there own fault, but there's a lot of reasons someone may have a warrant. That doesn't mean they're on America's Most Wanted as a terrible fugitive from justice. Like I said, I love the idea, I just think it'd be a bit complex and figuring it out is over my pay grade.

Then quite possibly it would motivate people to actually take responsibility and turn up to their court date or pay their fines, I still don't see a problem with it.