Cheating Welfare: Public Assistance and the Criminalization of Poverty

This study of the welfare system is "simultaneously compassionate and scholarly . . . a rare insider perspective on how citizens understand and use welfare" (Corey Shdaimah, author of Negotiating Justice).

Since the 1990s, welfare policies have been informed by popular beliefs that welfare fraud is rampant. As a result, welfare policies have become more punitive and the boundaries between the welfare system and the criminal justice system have blurred—so much so that in some locales pros...