tech, the legal system, & digital punishment
I study how technology has changed the criminal legal system. I focus on the creation of digital criminal records by the state and the private data industry that disseminates this information, harming millions of people and inflicting punishment and stigmatization outside of the formal legal system.
My book can tell you lots about this issue.
I’ve also written about this for Vice, Slate, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Appeal, the Crime Report. and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
My academic work in this area can be found in the ANNALS of American Political and Social Science, Law and Society Review, Punishment & Society, the British Journal of Criminology, and Law and Social Inquiry.
This research has also been covered by the New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, the LA Times, and The Marshall Project.
algorithmic injustice, big data & criminal record accuracy
I know from my research that criminal record data are pretty bad, and too often incorrect. Yet, we don’t know much about error rates or patterns. With co-investigator Robert Stewart, we evaluate the integrity of criminal record information from various public and private sources through a comparative analysis of criminal record databases, showing how even minimal criminal justice contact creates, maintains, and exacerbates existing social inequality through permanent, publicly-available information. Our methodological approach involves comparing quantitative data and supplementing these findings with qualitative interviews and fieldwork, thus offering a small data approach to a big data problem.
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Justice New Investigator/Early Career Program in the Social and Behavioral Sciences and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the American Bar Foundation. Our first publication from this project is forthcoming in Criminology.
This project has been covered in The Appeal.
criminal records policy
I also research the link between criminal records and discrimination, particularly in employment contexts. Together with Professors Chris Uggen, Mike Vuolo, and Ebony Ruhland, I studied the use of criminal records in organizational settings, the effects of criminal legal system contact on employment, and how this differs by race, in a project funded by the National Institute of Justice and the JEHT Foundation. Results from our field experiment on the effects of low-level arrests on employment are published in Criminology, and a related interview-based study of the audited employers appears in Law and Social Inquiry — with a longitudinal followup (conducted post-Ban the Box legislation) also published in Law and Social Inquiry. A related study of criminal record questions on job applications and implications of Ban the Box is published in Criminology and Public Policy. Publications detailing our methodology are available at Sociological Methods & Research and in this book chapter.
I also conduct qualitative research with public defenders and legal aid organizations. In a project with Valerio Bacak and Kathleen Powell funded by Rutgers, we study the broader social and economic forces that shape the indigent defense profession, the availability of legal aid to defendants, and the challenges public defenders face in their work.
Our research on public defenders can be accessed here and here.
public defenders and legal aid
As criminal record reform sweeps the country, I am also studying the implementation and impact of Clean Slate Policy on individuals and communities. This new project is funded by the Clean Slate Initiative and is a collaboration with Professors Elsa Chen (Santa Clara University) and Ericka Adams (San Jose State University). We are finishing data collection in late 2023. You can learn more about the study (and sign up to participate!) here.
In another project, I am collaborating with a team studying the implementation and effects of recreational cannabis legalization and cannabis expungement law, particularly for youth and young adults. Our project investigates if and how evolving cannabis policy impacts relationships between young people and police. This project is funded by the William T. Grant Foundation - you can read more about our study here.