Invisible Punishment: Collateral Consequences of Denying Welfare Benefits to Women Convicted of Drug Offenses

BALTIMORE—A 1996 welfare reform provision imposing a lifetime ban on people convicted of possessing or selling drugs has had multiple negative consequences on low-income women, children and communities of color, according to Patricia Allard, a criminal justice policy analyst at the Sentencing Project.

Allard and Imani Walker, a former welfare recipient who is now an advocate at the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, will discuss these consequences and Allard's new report, "Life Sentences: Denying Welfare Benefits to Women Convicted of Drug Offenses," at a forum sponsored by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore on March 18th.

Nineteen states are implementing the ban, 10 have opted out, and 21 additional states have partially opted out, of which Maryland is one. Although Maryland allows mothers to receive benefits if they are in treatment, Allard says the state should fully opt out. Her recently released report is the first-ever national analysis of the more than 92,000 women affected by the ban. Her findings show that:

• More than 135,000 children are at risk of triggering attention from child welfare services and the criminal justice system because of the ban; and
• African-American women and Latinas are disproportionately overrepresented in the women affected by the provision.

"Although benefits are technically not denied to children of convicted parents, often children face hardship because parents don't have enough funds to provide basic support such as food and housing," says Aurie Hall, OSI-Baltimore's Criminal Justice program officer. "We need to strengthen these families, not make the children suffer more than they have."

As Congress once again prepares to reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Allard and Walker plan to use the discussion with advocates to strategize on how best to encourage lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and Annapolis to end the ban.

"We think it's bad public policy to deny benefits to people with a conviction," Allard says. "Even if you tie benefits to treatment, that still isn't a good answer. Not everyone with a drug conviction suffers from an addiction. Many times the problem is economic."

The forum is part of an ongoing series on criminal justice issues supported by OSI-Baltimore.

The Open Society Institute is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open society around the world. OSI's U.S. Programs seek to strengthen democracy in the United States by addressing barriers to opportunity and justice, broadening public discussion about such barriers, and assisting marginalized groups to participate equally in civil society and to make their voices heard. U.S. Programs challenge over-reliance on the market by advocating appropriate government responsibility for human needs and promoting public interest and service values in law, medicine, and the media. OSI's U.S. Programs support initiatives in a range of areas, including access to justice for low and moderate income people; independence of the judiciary; ending the death penalty; reducing gun violence and over-reliance on incarceration; drug policy reform; inner-city education and youth programs; fair treatment of immigrants; reproductive health and choice; campaign finance reform; and improved care of the dying. OSI is part of the network of foundations, created and funded by George Soros, active in more than 50 countries around the world.