I might first start by rewarding mothers who are not beating and neglecting their kids despite living in poverty, but then, I didn't go to Harvard

lottery day

DC mothers accused of child neglect to get cash as part of poverty study

$500 a month, plus a lump sum payment of $3,000 — you can buy plenty of crack with that.

“For this particular problem, folks are in a form of legal jeopardy,” Jim Greiner, the faculty director at Harvard’s Access to Justice Lab, said of parents accused of child neglect.

“There’s a lot of strong feelings on both sides — and what we think should happen in that case is evidence,” he said. “Let’s actually look at what happens when you take steps to alleviate poverty.”

Greiner said the Mother Up program will be limited to black mothers whom the Child and Family Services Agency investigated for child neglect and found the accusations to be substantiated, but still allowed their children to remain in the home.

Not all poor people beat and neglect their children — in fact, most don’t, I assume. Here’s an alternative experiment: pay mothers — and fathers, if they can be located — to impose a curfew on their children, so that 12-year-olds aren’t on the street at 2:00 AM shooting at rival gang members. Just a thought.