I am a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and work at the intersection of law and the social sciences using both quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as legal analyses. Currently, my three primary areas of research interest are:
(1) Learning how parole hearings work on the ground, the factors that affect whether an inmate is granted parole, and the implications of my findings for mass incarceration.
(2) Figuring out how distributive inequalities in the civil and criminal justice systems are caused or influenced by "legal consciousness"--a term that refers to how people think about the law. For example, who asserts their rights in police-citizen encounters? Why? What are the legal implications?
(3) Thinking about how to improve legal education by developing a thorough empirical understanding of how law students navigate law school. My first book, How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School (Stanford University Press, 2018) draws on interviews and surveys of more than 1100 law students from over 100 law schools. I'm currently working with several collaborators on a new network analysis of law students at three different law schools.
My work has appeared in law reviews and social science journals, including Law & Society Review, Social Forces, California Law Review, and Harvard Law Review. It has also been cited by courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the Washington State Supreme Court. I hold a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University, a JD from Stanford Law School, and have worked in a number of legal settings, including the Federal Defender's Office for the Northern District of California, the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office, and the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School.
I've designed and taught a variety of law school, graduate, and undergraduate courses, including Courtroom Evidence, Policing and Surveillance, Law & Society, and the Sociology of Criminal Procedure. In 2018, I won UMass Amherst's Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the university's highest teaching honor.
(1) Learning how parole hearings work on the ground, the factors that affect whether an inmate is granted parole, and the implications of my findings for mass incarceration.
(2) Figuring out how distributive inequalities in the civil and criminal justice systems are caused or influenced by "legal consciousness"--a term that refers to how people think about the law. For example, who asserts their rights in police-citizen encounters? Why? What are the legal implications?
(3) Thinking about how to improve legal education by developing a thorough empirical understanding of how law students navigate law school. My first book, How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School (Stanford University Press, 2018) draws on interviews and surveys of more than 1100 law students from over 100 law schools. I'm currently working with several collaborators on a new network analysis of law students at three different law schools.
My work has appeared in law reviews and social science journals, including Law & Society Review, Social Forces, California Law Review, and Harvard Law Review. It has also been cited by courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the Washington State Supreme Court. I hold a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University, a JD from Stanford Law School, and have worked in a number of legal settings, including the Federal Defender's Office for the Northern District of California, the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office, and the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School.
I've designed and taught a variety of law school, graduate, and undergraduate courses, including Courtroom Evidence, Policing and Surveillance, Law & Society, and the Sociology of Criminal Procedure. In 2018, I won UMass Amherst's Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the university's highest teaching honor.