My research uses mixed methods to investigate the politics of the U.S. criminal justice system across three complementary strands. First, my dissertation uses in-depth interviews to examine the working practices of local crime journalists, whose daily decisions shape audience perceptions of safety and punishment. Second, I analyze how contact with the criminal justice system—ranging from police stops to incarceration—alters political attitudes and civic engagement among affected communities. Finally, I evaluate the real-world consequences of criminal justice policies using administrative data and quasi-experimental designs.
This work has produced publications in venues including Criminology, Sociological Methods and Research, the American Political Science Review, and Sociological Science.
Beyond my existing publications, my research pipeline includes a sociological theory of carceral knowledge production, historical quantitative research on the legacies of U.S. racial regimes, and causal inference research on the effects of police interventions and management practices.