How Indiana lost control of its welfare system - 1650 Words

How Indiana lost control of its welfare system (Essay Sample) Content: Name Instructor Course Date How Indiana lost control of its welfare systemPrivatizing of the states social services was created primarily to save the taxpayersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ money. The pact concerned IBM and the State of Indiana; IBM was run the management of the stateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s welfare work. The deal was worth $1.3 billion and was sealed by Mitch Daniels, the governor in December 2007. The Governor promised that the privatization of the Indianaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s State welfare and the food stamp programs could reduce the taxpayerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s burden by saving $1 billion in the next decadeThe new system aimed to rectify several areas of control, the primary area of concern was to be the financial aspect, the new system sought to provide reprieve to taxpayer by reducing their workload. The arrangement expected to cut the taxpayer load by $ 1 billion in the year that was to follow. Another area it was to take charge in was the call centre section; this entailed the handling of calls from the applicants of social services issues. Lastly the handling of the workload was another area, the system was to handle approximately a third of all the stateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s welfare burden and which included handling of the food stamp programs.The fresh system brought several transformations in the FSSA. The changes had an effect on the financial, structural and strategic areas of the welfare set up. Financially, the welfare was working too hard to save on finances hence ended up denying the citizens the services they required. Structural changes came when the IBM was to take over the running and management of about a third of the State welfare caseload. More to that the call centre docket was to be handled by Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) a business process outsourcing based in Dallas, the ACS was hired by IBM after the takeover to handle calls from applicants of social services. Lastly effects on the structural aspect came when individual caseworkers were done away w ith.Strategically changes that came up due to the new system were the methods of storing household records. Previously, the caseworkers stored them electronically and they could be accessed by all case workers who were located all across the state. The personal contact that existed could no longer be possible. The new system did away with the conventional system of face to face operations and introduced applications from home. However the application was to be carried out online or through the telephone.In operations control a lot of changes occurred, both IBM and ACS. According to George Thompson who used to work for a call center agent with ACS, the group did not pay its workers and for that reason its operations were hindered as the workers stopped their services to residents of Indiana. He added that ACS was just in the contract just for money and that the situation was worse because the training of the call center agents was very haphazardly done. The state of the operations o f ACS was emphasized by Angie Connaught another former employee. Angie said that the managers of the call center lacked experience.In effort to conduct screening control ACS started to hold the residents for long on phone. The screening mechanism in the fresh system was a mess. IBM in hiring of ACS to run the call center failed to screen them adequately for experience and efficiency, the result was poor service delivery. Applicantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s document with their details were misplaced and lost resulting in disastrous outcomes for some of them.IBM and ACS moved to curb the inefficiency which was being experienced by Indianaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s FSSA; however their bureaucracy in the issuance of the benefits saw the collapse of the system. They used to disallow services to their clients mentioning lack of cooperate as the reason. According to Medicaid and federal rules do not recognize failure to cooperate as a reason to dismiss claims.In reference to characteristics of effective control t he privatization failed in various aspects. Firstly, the economic feasibility was not realistic; the strategic placement was not effective while the corrective action did not improve the situation. Lastly the accuracy of the project was wrong from the planning phase (Deming, 29)State human services Chief Mitch Rob said most of the problems are not new and have long plagued the state's application process for the food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits received by 1.1 million people.Before the onset of the new system of the Indiana FSSA, a number of problems weighed down the sector. The problems were mostly experienced in the application process of the stateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s food stamps, the Medicaid and the other benefits the people were supposed to have. According to Rob Mitch who was the chief of Human services in Indiana, the issues were not new and had been around for a long time (Problems noted as FSSA privatization begins, no page)One of the prevalent situations prior to the priva tization was lack of direction by the staff in regard to specific processing guidelines that were to be used by the different public assistance programs. The workers were confused and did not know what to do. (Indiana Public Benefits Eligibility System)FSSA's chief Robb also acknowledged that there existed a major staffing problem; he added that the problem was there when the caseworkers got employed by the state instead of ACS. According to him the problem was due to existence of alternative job opportunities to the caseworkers in other large cities. The problem was noted in lesser levels in the regions of Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend and Gary areas. Greater delays were experienced in the processing of food stamps the release of welfare payments which were referred to as "Temporary assistance for Needy Families. (The Unequal State of America, 1)According to Food and Nutrition Service, the Agency that monitors the running of the food stamp program, they said that caseloads had great variations in various counties. In the report they had examined access to customer service and the program which was conducted in 10 counties in northern Indiana counties which spanned several days. The examination had taken place in the initial transition period which began March 19.Before the era of privatization, instances of failure to follow the guidelines provided by the federal government and the state government in dealing with applications for food stamps were rife. The federal noted that the requirements set were not adhered to appropriately. These issues were said to have been taking place for over a decade and was one of the reasons tha...

Law Research Paper On Imprisonment Of Innocent People - 2750 Words

Law Research Paper On Imprisonment Of Innocent People (Research Paper Sample) Content: IMPRISONMENT OF INNOCENT PEOPLEStudents Name:Institution Affiliation:AbstractThis paper focuses on discussing the various aspects concerning erroneous convictions, which as Gould et al. (2013) stipulates, has seen innocent people being exonerated in the last three decades. The points being talked about include the central theme of the paper, the current problem being researched, and the solution to the problem. Moreover, other aspects include the opinions of critics about the problem and its solution, literature on the problem and its solution, the gaps in the literature that the solution can address, and implications of the research if successful. In conclusion, the paper determines if the aim of the paper is achieved by integrating all the information outlined in the other parts of the paper. In this regard, the body of the paper is broken down into eight sections, each of which tackles every one of the aspects mentioned above. It, therefore, is clear that the probl em and its solution are the foundations in which this paper is embedded. The problem being talked about is the imprisonment of innocent people while the solution to that involves the integration of the Judicial System (JS) and the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to enable Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) to work in close collaboration with the judiciary.Keywords: Judicial System, Law Enforcement Agencies, Law Enforcement OfficersIMPRISONMENT OF INNOCENT PEOPLEIntroductionThe central subject of this paper that is the basis of this particular research is the imprisonment of innocent people. This activity is often the responsibility of the judiciary branch of any government around the globe (Canes-Wrone et al., 2012). That government branch, at times referred to as the JS, is enriched with the power and authority to translate and apply the law, arbitrate legitimate debate, and administer justice. From this description, it is clear that the JS is a system of courts, which means that the people usually involved in the same include the judges (Canes-Wrone et al., 2012), magistrates, barristers, prosecutors, and so on.Even though the JS is tasked with the roles already mentioned, those particular responsibilities would not be in existence without the LEAs and LEOs whose duties are to present people believed to have committed criminal activities to the JS. McMains and Mullins (2014) portray that the LEAs are involved with enforcing laws by managing crises and ensuring that the LEOs make arrests where necessary. Some of the LEAs within a country include federal LEA, Local LEA, and State LEA. As for the LEOs, they include the special jurisdiction police, local police, highway patrol, sheriffs, and so forth. Despite having these institutions to ensure error-free convictions, it is evident from various research that many innocent people are still being imprisoned.The Current ProblemThe theme of the paper presented above brings forth the current problem being researched, wh ich is wrongful convictions. Thompson (2012) explains that the wrongful convictions demonstrate that occasionally decisions that the JS make whereby it is stated that an individual is guilty to the point that no doubt can arise to that effect is often dead wrong. These guilty verdicts that are usually erroneous regularly rest on three sorts of focal, and frequently questionable, lay witness declaration. They include the identification testimony of the eyewitness, the testimony of a police officer concerning the confession of a defendant, and the testimony of a police informant concerning the implicating statements of a defendant.Dissimilar to the testimony of other lay witnesses, the testimony generated by the police regarding criminal situations is regularly rendered inconsistent by coercive or suggestive conducts of the police or by the motivations of the police to lie (Thompson, 2012). This fact presents itself as one of the current primary problems that lead to the issue of impr isoning innocent people. Furthermore, it is a basic component that recognizes different types of testimonial prove from this sort of confirmation. The part of the police in acquiring these statements is a vital factor in surveying the consistent quality of confessions, the testimony of informants, and the identification of the eyewitnesses. In this regard, the current problem that leads to the imprisonment of innocent people is with the part being played by the LEOs (police).The Possible SolutionThe suitable solution to the problem explained above is the integration of the two frameworks involved with arrest and imprisonment of individuals, which can be easily identified as the LEAs and the JS respectively. This integration should be accompanied by various changes to the manner in which the two frameworks being talked about undertake their exercises. For instance, when considering the LEAs, the primary change should be militarizing the domestic policing (Hall Coyne, 2013). The two authors stipulate that if changes in the technology have been critical in the development of government as a whole, it has been indispensable in the extension of the American military as well as those of other countries and the militarization of domestic policing.Enhancements in observation and data innovation are undeniably vital in the present operations of the police and military strengths both locally and abroad. Hall and Coyne (2013) explain that progresses in the innovations concerning computers have altogether diminished the expenses of the social affair about a wide range of data. Exercises such as wrongdoing mapping, assembling and getting to criminal histories, and suspect observing, which was once outlandish or could be brought out just through many hours of on location observation and other work in the fields, can presently be directed using the utilization of the web and other technical tactics. Furthermore, advancements once utilized only by the army like facial-acknow ledgment frameworks, imaging, checking of the satellite, and scanners of the retina, are currently consistently exchanged to also, used by police officers in the various nation around the world for domestic exercises (Dempsey Forst, 2013).Such developments have opened the entryway for the militarization of the domestic policing as well as encouraged the simple exchange of military abilities to domestic police strengths. Since the LEAs will always be obtaining crucial information about criminals and their activities due to these technological advancements, their integration with the JS now comes in to avoid convictions of innocent people. For illustration, all the information and data about a specific case should be presented to the JS in real time to avoid cases that take place later such as lies and exaggerations. This fact means that the JS should have a server that records the information from the LEAs about potential cases of crime that will be dealt with in the courts of law.I f a criminal activity takes place, and the police officers are at the scene collecting evidence and recording witnesses accounts, this information should be directed to the LEAs in real time using video cameras as well as voice recordings (Dempsey Forst, 2013). From the LEAs, the info should be transferred to the servers of the JS such that the judges and magistrates can review the information before and even during the court proceedings. In such a case, distortion of information and evidence would be difficult because all the parties involved will already have the first-hand information. Imprisonment of innocent people, therefore, might be significantly reduced if not alleviated altogether.Critics Opinions about the Problem and the SolutionDuring the preparation of undertaking this research as well as the time of conducting it saw various critics bring forth diverse opinions about the viewpoints of the problem and the solution already presented in this paper. Some critics lamented that the problem involving imprisonment of innocent people (Reiman Leighton, 2015) is not a key issue in the globe today since it is always rare to find a police officer being coerced or lying in a court of law. In fact, such critics believe that where there is smoke, there is a fire in that an individual accused of doing something must have had a hand in that particular criminal activity.In this regard, they say that even if the person did not perform the actual crime, he or she might have aided the individual who did, which makes him or her guilty as well. Similarly, some say that the majority of the JS, as well as the LEAs, are usually thorough in whatever they always do. For this reason, they believe that the chances of a person found guilty being innocent are very slim. They, therefore, also suggest that the theme of this paper is not a problem as such.As for the solution, the integration of the two frameworks explained above, which can be made possible due to the technologic al advancements today (Douglas et al., 2013), has as well received massive criticism. Some of the critics claim that providing the JS with a server that records all the criminal activities taking place cannot be possible. They say it will require a server with a massive amount of space to be able to record all the criminal info. Similarly, others say that this solution will increase the workload of the judges, magistrates, and other people involved with the JS. They conclude that this increase in the workload might lead to more errors during the court proceedings since the judges and magistrates will be forced to go through a broad scope of information before eventually coming up with a verdict.In the same note, other individuals believe that the solution might not work basing their argument on the fact that information and data transfer from police officers to the LEAs and then to the JS might n...