DSpace Repository :: Browsing by Author "Fording, Richard C."

Browsing by Author "Fording, Richard C."

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The Affordable Care Act and the Diffusion of Policy Feedback: The Case of Medicaid Work Requirements
(Russell Sage Foundation, 2020) Fording, Richard C.; Patton, Dana; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Over the last five years, many states have sought to limit access to Medicaid by adopting restrictive policies. How can we reconcile this development with studies that imply that Medicaid should be insulated from policy backlash? The answer lies in understanding the policy feedback effects that accompanied Medicaid expansion and how these effects created electoral pressure that led to policy modification. We situate our expectations within a policy diffusion framework that accounts for variation in both the content and timing of policy adoptions across states. We develop and test several hypotheses using survey data and an original dataset on gubernatorial support for Medicaid work requirements. Our hypotheses are generally supported and provide a more nuanced understanding of the policy feedback effects following Medicaid expansion.
Automated content analysis and the development and utilization of legal doctrine in the Federal courts
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Porter, Chase; Smith, Joseph L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The citation and interpretation of precedent and the development and utilization of legal doctrine are distinct concepts. Whereas previous literature has focused on the use of precedent, this study makes a theoretical argument for the importance of distinguishing between precedent and doctrine and applies automated content analysis tools to the measurement of legal doctrine in court opinions. These tools are used to study doctrinal utilization by the Supreme Court and the circuit courts in the United States judicial system. From a theoretical perspective, this study leverages a qualitative case study of the development and application of the Lemon test in Establishment Clause jurisprudence to illustrate the importance of carefully distinguishing between the concepts of precedent and doctrine. The case study exposes potential weaknesses in dependence upon Shepard’s Citations as a tool for understanding the development of legal doctrine. The concept of doctrinal vitality is proposed as a way to measure the impact of legal doctrine across time. Given the difficulties that are inherent in measuring a qualitative concept (language) quantitatively, a careful examination of various automated text analysis methodologies was conducted. The programming language Python was used to analyze the doctrinal composition of court opinions through unsupervised topic modeling and supervised sentence counting. Utilization of doctrinal language was modeled as a function of variables that impact judicial behavior on the Supreme Court and circuit courts, including doctrine age, judicial ideology, doctrinal vitality, opinion characteristics, and hierarchical effects. While the substantive findings are mixed, this dissertation considers important theoretical implications regarding the development and utilization of legal doctrine and explores the potential benefits and challenges related to the use of automated text analysis in the study of legal doctrine.
Corruption, political institutions and foreign direct investments: a disagregated study
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Munga, Jane; Gibler, Douglas M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
There is great debate if corruption deters or helps foreign direct investment (FDI). In my dissertation I forward this debate and offer two suggestions. The link between corruption and FDI is best observed at the FDI industrial level. I disaggregate FDI into three dependent variables: market-seeking, labor-seeking and raw materials-seeking FDI. Second I argue the relationship between FDI and corruption is affected by the prevailing political institutions in a host country. I include veto players as a measure of political institutions. I conduct quantitative analyses and results indicate that FDI is indeed a firm level decision. I find that for the most part corruption and weak political institutions are a deterrent to FDI, however, in raw materials-seeking corruption compensates the consequences of a defective bureaucracy and bad policies. These findings show that foreign investors invest in different host environments in pursuit of different institutional advantages. The positive relationship between weak political institutions and corruption on raw materials-seeking FDI should however, not be interpreted as an ultimate institutional advantage. Results indicate that corruption is an effective tool in the short-term only, in the long run, the positive effects of corruption on raw material-seeking FDI diminish indicating that a government's commitment to foreign investments is best signaled by legitimate government institutions.
Criminal disenfranchisement policies across democracies: the impact of democracy, punishment and race
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Chowdhury, Ishita Tasmia; DeRouen, Karl R.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Democracies generally agree that suffrage important; however, many democracies continue to disenfranchise prisoners. Currently, 80 electoral democracies impose some restrictions on the voting rights of prisoners. Some countries impose restrictions beyond the prison sentence. This study explores the factors that impact the variation in disenfranchisement policies across 111 electoral democracies. More specifically, this study examines the impact of democracy, punishment and racial and ethnic fractionalization on the variation of prisoner disenfranchisement policies. The findings demonstrate that the participatory aspects of democracy such as third wave democratization, and democratic participation have a negative effect on the profanity and degree of disenfranchisement across electoral democracies.
Devolution, discretion, and the effect of local political values on TANF sanctioning
(University of Chicago Press, 2007) Fording, Richard C.; Soss, Joe; Schram, Sanford F.; University of Kentucky; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Bryn Mawr College; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
One of welfare reform's most significant consequences is the devolution of policy-making authority from the federal government and states to local governments and frontline workers. What is perhaps less often appreciated is that devolution of authority to state governments has been accompanied by a significant decentralization of policy-making authority within states. As a result, prior research has not given sufficient attention to local political context as a factor shaping program implementation. This article examines the effect of local political values on the use of sanctions to penalize welfare recipients. Analyzing administrative data from the Florida Department of Children and Families for over 60,000 welfare clients, we find that there is a statistically significant amount of local variation in sanctioning rates across the state of Florida, even after controlling welfare clients' characteristics. Local sanctioning patterns are systematically related to selected characteristics of local communities, including their ideological orientations.
Disparities in syringe exchange program efficacy in urban and rural environments
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) McCan, Zachary Hardister; Fording, Richard C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Policies intended to reduce the harm caused by substance abuse in the United States have been shown to have positive results in reducing the rates of communicable diseases and overdose related deaths in communities that have chosen to implement such policies. Specifically, syringe exchange programs have been shown to reduce the rates of HIV/AIDS in cities and counties that have them. Currently, most syringe exchange programs are in large cities leaving hard hit rural communities to suffer with the effects of HIV/AIDS with fewer resources than their urban counterparts. When syringe exchanges are in rural areas, a combination of proximity to the programs, stigmatization, policing policy, and other environmental factors reduce the ability for syringe exchange programs to operate at their maximum level of effectiveness. It is important to understand exactly what the disparity in efficacy in syringe exchange programs in urban and rural environments is, and what causes it so that local, state, and federal policymakers can work to tailor programs and policies to rural communities. This study uses fixed effects and interactive models to analyze time series panel data to test the effect of syringe exchanges in urban and rural contexts. The data was collected primarily from census data, but an independent measure of social capital is also used, as well as information from nonprofit groups such as the Foundation for Aids Research, and the North American Syringe Exchange network. The fixed effects model control for homogeneity in counties over time, and additional control variables include if a county is in a Medicaid expansion state, health insurance rates, and the presence of a syringe exchange program in a county. Using this data, I find that as rurality increases, syringe exchange programs are less effective, per the hypothesis, alongside several other findings. This research suggests that governments would be wise to both increase syringe exchange program coverage, especially in rural areas, and implement mobile syringe fleets.
Do Welfare Sanctions Help or Hurt the Poor? Estimating the Causal Effect of Sanctioning on Client Earnings
(University of Chicago Press, 2013) Fording, Richard C.; Schram, Sanford F.; Soss, Joe; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Hunter College (CUNY); University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities
This article examines the effect of financial sanctions for noncompliance on the earnings of TANF clients. Current research on TANF sanctioning is descriptive, and few studies estimate the effect of sanctions on client outcomes. To estimate the causal effect of sanctioning, we utilize longitudinal data from Florida and a difference-in-difference propensity-score matching estimator. We compare the growth in earnings of sanctioned clients to a comparable sample of nonsanctioned clients four quarters after exiting TANF and find that sanctioning has a statistically significant negative effect on earnings among TANF clients. The effect is consistent across racial groups, larger among clients with at least 12 years of schooling, and generally increases with the frequency of sanctioning. The finding that sanctioned clients exhibit significantly lower growth in earnings than similar nonsanctioned clients suggests that sanctioning may serve to undermine TANF''s goals of reducing welfare use and improving earnings in severely disadvantaged families.
Does appearance matter?: the effect of skin tones on trustworthy and innocent appearances
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Birdsong, Conner Key; Johnson, Ida M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Decades of research show that among first time offenders Blacks receive a harsher punishment in general than Whites, even after controlling for legally relevant and non-relevant factors. Sentencing disparities between Blacks and Whites contain the presence of colorism. Color is an important component of individual appearance and could send attitudes about one’s demeanor, values, remorse, honesty, and even guilt (Burch, 2015). The current research aims to examine the relationship between the skin tone of capital case inmates and perceived levels of trustworthiness and innocent appearances. Photographs of convicted capital case inmates were shown to undergraduate, entry-level criminal justice students to determine whether the skin tones of capital case inmates influence their views of trustworthiness and innocent appearances. These views were obtained by rating the photographs of capital inmates on two scales measuring levels of trustworthiness and innocence. An analysis of variance was conducted to compare mean ratings of trustworthiness and innocence for each skin tone category. The results revealed a significant relationship between skin tone and perceived levels of trustworthiness. Specifically, student raters rated a light skin photograph higher on trustworthiness when a light skin photograph preceded a dark skin photograph. A discussion of these results, policy implications, and limitations are reviewed. Keywords: colorism, appearance, skin tone, trustworthiness, innocence
Evaluating the impact of state variation on gender and race through campaign finance
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Sojka, Laura Merrifield; Fording, Richard C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
In spite of the increasing campaign finance legislation aimed at equalizing barriers in political campaigns, a fundraising gap persists across gender and race lines. In the era of modern campaigning, with the expenses of advertising and polling, among others, ample funds are necessary but not universally accessible to all candidates. This dissertation addresses the relationship between the candidate's gender and race with campaign fundraising, and the possible mediating impact of three dimensions of the state political context - state legislative professionalism, state Republican party strength, and state culture (South vs. Non-south). I evaluated fundraising totals across 15 states for over 3,000 candidates in the 2006 state legislative elections. Ultimately, the findings suggest that after controlling for other candidate characteristics, as well as district and state context, there is a slightly negative relationship between gender though not statistically significant and a substantially negative relationship between race, which is statistically significant. It demonstrates that, with other mitigating factors controlled, female candidates fundraise slightly less and non-white candidates fundraise much less than their counterparts. In addition, there appears to be notable variation in the effect of gender/race on legislative professionalization and the Southern states in relation to the fundraising gap. This study finds that candidates from underrepresented groups continue to fundraise less than their white, male counterparts and that state variation is important in understanding the gender/race gap in campaign finance.
How law clerks influence: information at the U.S. Supreme Court
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Kromphardt, Christopher David; Smith, Joseph L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The role of law clerks at the United States Supreme Court has long been a source of curiosity among observers and scholars alike. Of particular interest are what characteristics determine which applicants are selected to clerk and what influence clerks have on the justices' decision making. Using a two-part framework that identifies information asymmetries, where clerks possess relevant information that they can transmit to their justices, and conditions under which this information leads a justice to learn about policies' impact, I uncover evidence of a causal mechanism by which clerks wield systematic influence over the justices' decision making. I show that information clerks convey that is derived from their ideological preferences and from their experiences and socialization influences their justices' votes on the merits. In the concluding chapter, I argue that these findings shed light on the broader class of principal-agent relationships of which the justice-clerk dynamic is an example and discuss how law clerks pose an opportunity for scholars to learn how principals acquire and use information from their advisors.
Immigration policy in the American states: an event history analysis of state adoption and diffusion of the cooperative immigration enforcement 287g program
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Bozovic, Laura Beth; Borrelli, Stephen; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The focus of this dissertation is to determine why states have chosen to cooperate with the federal government to enforce immigration laws. In order to identify why certain states are aligning with the federal government, an event history model is utilized to test state level factors leading to adoption of the 287g cooperative immigration enforcement program. The study concludes that the costs associated with sudden population growth increases the likelihood of state level immigration enforcement efforts, while, local level adoptions of the 287g program reduces the likelihood of statewide adoption.
Kids these days: political knowledge, young people, and the internet
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Starling, Anderson Milton; Cassel, Carol A.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
In order for Americans to fully and effectively participate in their government, they must be adequately informed and knowledgeable about the policies, people, and processes therein. Prior literature has shown that those with lower levels of political information (women, less educated, and the young) are often the same groups whose political interests are under-represented in government. For this reason, this dissertation seeks to determine where and how political knowledge is distributed amongst demographic groups and also how, specifically, Internet access and use affect overall levels of political knowledge. As with most new media, political scientists were unsure the effect the Internet might have on the American public. Initial theories on ways the Internet would trigger population-wide gains in political knowledge have given way to more current theories about why this has not been the case. This dissertation's purpose is to add to the literature on the Internet and political knowledge by assessing the ways traditional political knowledge gaps have been affected by increases in Internet access and use. At the forefront of the three major analyses is the political knowledge gap between young people and older cohorts. Are the young, often provided with more opportunities for access and higher skills in Internet use, gaining political knowledge at a faster rate than older cohorts? Analyses of the effects of Internet access and Internet use are performed over separate survey data. One of the analyses in this dissertation also focuses on two additional political knowledge gaps, the education-and gender-based knowledge gaps, and how frequency of Internet use compares to the use of more traditional media. In addition to spotlighting the ways Internet and other media have affected political knowledge levels, measurement issues relating to political knowledge in the American National Election surveys are also addressed. In two of the three analyses, new composite items are constructed and tested as measures of political knowledge of the American population.
Litigants and law: the determinants of litigation outcomes
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Krell, Matthew Reid; Smith, Joseph L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
I investigate the determinants of settlement and plaintiff payouts in federal civil trial litigation. Using a process theory framework, I analyze the impacts of multiple litigation phases on the outcomes of cases and on one another. While most work on litigation offers uncertain inference due to the possibility of using a selected sample, I include both settled and adjudged cases in my sample. This allows me to more closely approximate a random sample, making inferences to the population of disputes more defensible. I find that there’s very little evidence that judicial ideology plays a substantial role in trial-court outcomes, and some evidence of strategic behavior among trial judges. The primary determinants of both whether a case settles, and the outcome to the plaintiff, is the relevant facts and law. The major theoretical contribution of this dissertation is the integration of dialogue among the litigants and the court. Empirically, it innovates on its use of payouts instead of a simple win/loss metric, using events other than the final outcome to measure determinants, and using multiple ideological measures. My findings suggest that our analyses of trial courts should be predicated on the uniqueness of that institutional setting rather than importing models from collegial courts.
Moral perfectionism, infinite responsibility, and the ethical in critical race theory
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Fletcher, Andrew C.; McKnight, Utz Lars; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This dissertation is an investigation into the value of moral perfectionist thought broadly construed as a means of further developing antiracist strategy and theory, especially with regard to facilitating self-originary, antiracist political action by White subjects. To that end, I draw connections between the theoretical contributions of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Stanley Cavell, Michel Foucault, and Emmanuel Levinas regarding ethics and the ethical, and I argue that all four thinkers fall under the broad classification of moral perfectionist thought, albeit with distinct core assumptions and approaches. This dissertation submits moral perfectionist strategies for motivating White subjects to see the ethical harm inflicted upon them by practices of race, despite social, economic, and political inequalities from which they otherwise profit. Race per se represents an ethical harm to White subjects insofar as it denies people of color the status of “other” for whom Whites would otherwise care and accept responsibility; race also limits Whites’ ability to do self-work and obtain their unattained, but attainable, next selves since it restricts who can count as the friend with whom they would otherwise converse (in the Emersonian perfectionist sense) and be constructively challenged. I position above moral perfectionist theorists into conversation with a variety of thinkers from the tradition of critical race theory to flesh out the importance and potential of the new model of ethical subjectivity that I propose.
Multicultural politics & women’s activism: when do race and nation enter women’s frames?
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2016) Rainey, Chanley E.; Fording, Richard C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Women’s advocacy organizations often invoke moral arguments and frame issues in ways that make them legible within discourses on sexuality and race, with significance for struggles over decolonization, national representation, and schism within women’s movements. Postcolonial feminist theories help make sense of women’s activism that engages both racism and women’s rights. They provide a map of the symbolic terrain on which policy debates are fought, enabling us to identify the paths available (as well as closed) to women’s organizations as they negotiate a collective identity for their members, diagnose the problems they want to address, propose solutions, and select a strategy for persuading others to adopt their perspective. With a map like this, we can anticipate the ways in which different women’s organizations, differently positioned in terms of racial or national identity, may diverge, as well as routes to alliance. These are the tasks to which I turn when looking within the case of Trinidad and seeking to explain the different uses to which Afro-Christian, East Indian Hindu and Muslim women put race/nation in their activism. As a paired comparison of women’s activism in Trinidad and Guyana show, however, similar policy questions debated in comparable contexts (decolonizing states with histories of explicitly racial politics) can lead to strikingly different conversations, depending on whether ethno-nationalist frames occupy a central or peripheral position on the national stage. Theories of collective action framing, and the related concepts of state resonance and discursive opportunity structures, point to the role of institutionalized discourses and government priorities in shaping the choices activist women make about how to evaluate proposed problems and solutions to gender-based grievances. Process tracing reveals that values and beliefs institutionalized in state policies affect women’s strategic framing by creating discursive political opportunities. Broadly then, the contributions made further develop social movement theory by analyzing the causal mechanisms linking state-based discursive opportunities to the frames constructed by prominent women’s organizations. Because the Trinidadian case involves opportunities created by multicultural policy, the study also provides some insight into the effects of such policies on minority women’s activism in decolonizing, multiethnic societies.
Neither sword nor purse: the development of Supreme Court influence over lower courts
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Todd, James; Smith, Joseph L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Lower court compliance with the superior courts is now a norm in the judicial system of the United States. This dissertation will examine the development of the Supreme Court's ability to influence the decisions by lower courts. My general theory is that lower court compliance with the Supreme Court became more of a certainty as the federal judicial system developed statutorily, particularly after 1875. I will test the impact that three judicial reforms had (and continue to have) on Supreme Court power over lower courts: the Jurisdiction and Removal Act of 1875, the Judiciary Act of 1891, and the Judges Act of 1925. These reforms, I will argue, added characteristics to the judicial system that help predict compliance, all of which are still present in the system and can be shown to have an effect on compliance in contemporary times. These characteristics include the availability of federal forums for the implementation of constitutional policies, the authoritative communication of Court policies by intermediate courts to trial level courts, and the ability of the Court to select cases that allow it the opportunity to announce clear policy. To test my theory, I will use a variety of historically important Supreme Court policies and employ a coding scheme for lower court cases to test whether a case presents an instance of compliance or non-compliance with the specific Supreme Court policy.
The politics of social intimacy: regulating gendered and racial violence
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Smith, Lindsey; McKnight, Utz Lars; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This project explores the constructions of gender, intimacy, and race and the ways these issues are informed by history and the law. The idea of consent, while originally described in texts as a legal concept between citizens, transformed into a way to navigate intimate relationships in the private sphere. This muddied the ways women and men were understood to form relationships and the limits of those relationships. In the same ways that gender was arbitrated through legal language, race is often ensnared in the same processes and institutions. Tolerance has been offered as one approach, but instead of mitigating this violence, it has more firmly entrenched it into the democratic process. Hannah Arendt’s description of the social frames an understanding of intimacy and narratives. Arendt’s work critically creates a space for the category of the social, something found around but outside of the public and private. Instead of working to make the private seen as a sphere for political action, I will focus on the potential of the social as a method of political action. While Arendt has obvious racial bias, I will use her own response to anti-semitism to develop a different approach to Black politics that allow for identity-based responses. Lauren Berlant’s Intimate Publics addresses the potential for coalition building in the social. Using the sorority system as a way of teasing out notions of femininity, discipline, sexual violence, and intimacy, I will describe the ways that a woman subject is produced and how this then works to shape our notions of race. Women’s identities, particularly white women, are constructed through an association with race and sexuality, by unpacking this development, its possible to see how this is socially and institutionally enforced. Part of this enforcement will focus on the narratives of sexual violence. Rape is an issue that not only confronts legal questions, but also the nature of a woman’s ability to participate in democracy. Tying this together will be the importance of political theory. This serves to define the contemporary issues, solutions that have been offered and new potential approaches to intimate violence.
Predation in state and nation: towards a theory of minority participation
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Davis, Brandon Davis; Fording, Richard C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
U.S. criminal justice policies have created the uniquely American style of carceral punishment. Since 1973, America has seen a sustained and substantial rise in its incarceration population and the manifestation of mass incarceration. Currently, the U.S. imprisons 2.23 million people, which amounts to 23% of the world’s total incarcerated population. Support for more punitive policies came from Whites and Black residents, politicians, and community. I maintain that the carceral predation has a political spillover effect of reducing Black political power by adversely affecting the political socialization process and development of efficacy. I hypothesize that carceral contact directly affects the political behavior of those personally contacted and those with network contact, and this effect is greater for African Americans than for Whites. I posit that carceral contact negatively impacts political trust, and that individuals can rationally assign the distrust to a specific level of governance. This effect should also be larger for Blacks. Thirdly, I theorize that carceral contact negatively affects not only the social and cultural aspects of political efficacy, but also the psychological components of political efficacy. I hypothesize that carceral contact and predacious political environments have an adverse impact on the development of self-esteem, happiness, and calmness. In the following chapters I will attempt to aid in the development of a theory of minority participation through the theoretical development of the concept of predation, presenting a new Black voting calculus, and empirically testing how carceral contact affects participation via political socialization and efficacy.
The preservation of repression: counterinsurgency strategic conflict policy formation and substitution
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Douresseaux, Jasmine Leigh; DeRouen, Karl R.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Insurgency is an organized movement, or group, which aims to overthrow the state or government through violence and subversion. Counterinsurgency is the attempt by a legitimate or state power to defeat and contain an insurgency. Counterinsurgencies create strategic policy to achieve goals. The policy is comprised of tactics, actions taken to achieve a desired goal. These tactics can be violent and coercive, like repression, or constructive, like efforts to rebuild infrastructure. Previous research suggests that repression does not lead to counterinsurgency victory. Despite this, counterinsurgent forces employ some tactic of repression in all phases of all insurgencies occurring after the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights banned their use in 1976. In fact, this study finds that, on average, repressive tactics are more prevalent than constructive tactics. Why are repressive tactics so prevalent? To answer this overarching question, this inquiry seeks to determine how counterinsurgency decision makers select tactics, structure strategic policy, and improve the odds of success. A theory of strategic conflict policy formation and substitution explains counterinsurgency strategic planning, decision making, and policy execution. The theory proposes two types of policy substitution occur: programmed policy substitution and adaptation policy substitution. Programmed policy substitution asserts an innovative trigger-branch strategic policy structure that substitutes tactics according to the conditions within each conflict. Adaptive policy substitution explains policy shifts that occur after counterinsurgency failures. The project utilizes a mixed methodology approach, applying case study pattern matching, logistic regression, and Cox proportional hazard modeling methods to test hypotheses derived from the theory. The results suggest that counterinsurgencies use repressive tactics to first achieve condition changing goals and then to preserve those new conditions. Repression is triggered by similar conditions to those that cause insurgency onset. The findings support the long-held belief that constructive tactics are associated with counterinsurgency victory. Finally, the study suggests that decision makers with comparable experience in similar conflicts in the area are better at designing strategic policy because they are better at determining threats, predicting conditions, and planning more complex strategies.
Race and the Local Politics of Punishment in the New World of Welfare
(University of Chicago Press, 2011) Fording, Richard C.; Soss, Joe; Schram, Sanford F.; University of Kentucky; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Bryn Mawr College; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
To illuminate how race affects the usage of punitive tools in policy implementation settings, we analyze sanctions imposed for noncompliant client behavior under welfare reform. Drawing on a model of racial classification and policy choice, we test four hypotheses regarding client race, local context, and sanctioning. Based on longitudinal and cross-sectional multilevel analyses of individual-level administrative data, we find that race plays a significant role in shaping sanction implementation. Its effects, however, are highly contingent on client characteristics, local political contexts, and the degree to which state governments devolve policy control to local officials.

Browsing by Author "Fording, Richard C."

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