Associate Professor, Public Policy & Sociology
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies
CAPS Biography:
My research focuses on mass incarceration and population health, broadly defined; however, much of my work explores changing patterns of racial inequality in delinquency and punishment, labor market participation, and vital rates such as mortality. Individually, these bodies of work indicate how mass incarceration, population health, and demographic processes converge to affect the lives of disadvantaged men, women, and children, including aging populations. Collectively, my research uncovers new insights into the changing and persisting nature of poverty and inequality in America and abroad. My work uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data to investigate how institutions affect life-course dynamics, aligning closely with the CAPS signature theme, health and well-being, particularly among specific populations – people and families that have experienced criminal justice contact. Fitting squarely within CAPS signature theme of family and intergenerational supports, my research agenda over the last 15 years has examined the causes and consequences of mass incarceration on children and families, poverty and wealth inequality, and the racial disparities of exposure and measurement therein. My work shows that parental incarceration is highly concentrated among parents and families that are socioeconomically disadvantaged, disproportionately among racial-ethnic minority groups. I currently lead a $1.61M research study – a randomized control trial – in six California counties, exploring the effects of economic, socioeconomic, and informational inequality on court-order compliance in rehabilitation program completion, as a study of monetary sanctions and hidden financial punishments in the criminal legal system. My research findings have been shared before policy audiences, including the Parental Incarceration workshop at the White House in 2013 and in testimony to the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code on “Fines, Fees, and Other Monetary Sanctions” in 2023.
