Cutting Welfare Access For Young Adults With Disabilities Increases Crime Rates, Study Suggests

Topline

Cutting off access to welfare benefits for young adults with disabilities greatly increases the chances they will engage in criminal activity, according to a new Quarterly Journal of Economics study, which also found welfare benefits were much more likely to prevent crime than they were to discourage young adults from seeking formal employment.

Key Facts

Young adults enrolled in the Supplemental Security Income welfare program who saw their cash benefits terminated faced 20% more criminal charges over the next two decades than those who didn’t, according to the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan.

Those who lost benefits were most likely to participate in what researchers called “income-generating crimes” such as theft, burglary, fraud and prostitution, according to the study, which used data from the Social Security Administration and Criminal Justice Administrative Records System.

They were also 60% more likely to be incarcerated because of this spike in criminal activity, according to the study, which compared children enrolled in the SSI program before eligibility changes were made in 1996 to those after the program was reformed, which resulted in many losing the aid.

Removing welfare benefits had a larger effect on women than men, the study found, with women more likely to be charged for crimes like prostitution, fraud and forgery.

Disadvantaged groups—including Black youth and young adults whose parents have low incomes—were at a higher risk of incarceration as a result of losing the cash assistance, the study also found.

Surprising Fact

Young adults who had their welfare benefits taken away were two times more likely to be charged with an illicit crime than they were to find and maintain steady employment, the study found.

Key Background

Several studies have shown public assistance programs such as cash payments and housing aid can help reduce criminal activity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics study is the first to demonstrate a long-lasting increase in criminal activity in response to a loss of welfare benefits. The United States offers assistance to people with disabilities who have low incomes through the Supplemental Security Income program. Some children who have disabilities and parents with low incomes are also eligible for the program. Until 1996, children automatically qualified for the program after the age of 18 unless their incomes increased. As part of broader changes made to social welfare programs in the 1990s, the Social Security Administration decided to re-evaluate SSI benefits for children when they turned 18 using different medical eligibility criteria. The reforms resulted in about 40% of children—especially those with ADHD—losing their cash assistance after they turned 18, according to the study.

Big Number

5.2 million. That’s how many low-income adults with disabilities receive benefits through the SSI program. Those who lose benefits after turning 18 lose nearly $10,000 a year compared to those who continue to receive aid, according to the Quarterly Journal of Economics study.

Further Reading

Eight weeks of therapy, plus some cash, can change the lives of violent men (Washington Post)