Research

My research primarily focuses on criminal legal systems. Most of my work is mixed-methods; I find that combining both quantitative and qualitative methods best addresses my questions. Below, I provide details on the big questions that motivate me and my current projects that address them.

National Research

Nationally, I focus on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race with the criminal legal system. The large question I seek to answer is: How does the criminal legal system – from crime to reentry – create and exacerbate inequalities for gender, sexual, and racial minorities in the United States? I am currently working on several projects to address this.

Policing: I am working on two projects examining policing in the United States. (1) The first, in conjunction with Dr. Bradley Holland, Dr. Brianna N. Mack, and fellow graduate student Sadé L. Lindsay, investigates Black communities’ understandings of and responses to police violence. We are currently collecting data in the Columbus area using ethnographic methods, focus groups, surveys, and randomized experiments. (2) The second, in conjunction with Sadé L. Lindsay, uses in-depth interviews to examine the impacts of police brutality and media coverage on Black women’s wellbeing, familial relationships, mothering strategies, and overall inequality.

Mass Violence: (1) I recently published a mixed-methods paper in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency with two graduate student colleagues, Scott W. Duxbury and Sadé L. Lindsay. In it, we show how the media disproportionality portray white mass shooters as mentally ill and sympathetic while criminalizing Black and Latino mass shooters. (2) As a follow-up to this study, Sadé L. Lindsay and I won a research grant from the Criminal Justice Research Center to examine the impacts of this disparity using experimental methods.

Substance Use: I work on two projects examining illicit substance use. (1) My master’s thesis, which is currently under review with co-authors Dr. Vuolo and Dr. Brian C. Kelly, focused on prescription drug misuse. Specifically, using both quantitative and qualitative data, we examined differential pathways toward misusing prescription drugs during sex based on respondents’ gender and sexuality. (2) Second, I work with Dr. Vuolo and Dr. Kelly on their NIH-funded grant examining the independent and interactive efficacy of state opiate policies to prevent misuse, abuse, and death.

Additionally, (3) I have a third, mixed-methods collaborative project with Dr. Vuolo, Dr. Kelly, and fellow graduate student Maria Orsini that examines how the linkage of marijuana use to Black and Latino groups in the early 20th century accelerated the passage of state marijuana bans.

 

International Research

My second main focus is international and examines genocide, the “crime of crimes.” My main motivating question is: How do genocides (and the multitude of crimes of which they consist) impact individuals and societies in the long-term? I have three collaborative projects that work to address this question.

Gacaca: Several years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, existing national and international legal systems proved incapable of handling the hoard of genocide cases. As a result, the government implemented the transitional justice mechanism known as gacaca courts, which were based on a traditional Rwandan justice practice. In a quantitative collaboration with Dr. Hollie Nyseth Brehm and colleagues, we (1) work to prepare the first comprehensive dataset of all gacaca trials, and we use these data to (2) predict post-genocide community punitiveness and (3) post-genocide community crime rates.

Demographic Consequences of Mass Violence: In a collaboration with Dr. Nyseth Brehm, Dr. Kammi Schmeer, and Dr. Michelle O’Brien, I quantitatively examine the long-term, subnational demographic consequences of community violence exposure during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Specifically, we examine (1) educational outcomes, (2) marriage and cohabitation, (3) fertility, (4) crime rates, (5) religiosity, and (6) migration.

Reintegration and Reentry of Convicted Genocide Perpetrators: I work with Dr. Nyseth Brehm on her NSF-funded, longitudinal, mixed-methods study examining the reintegration and reentry of convicted genocide perpetrators who spent time in prison or community service camps (TIG) following the 1994 genocide. In addition to assisting with survey design and implementation, I also collect primary data with individuals who were recently released. I was awarded an independent grant from the Mershon Center for International Security Studies to focus on the processes affecting women who participated in the genocide as they reenter Rwandan society. Dr. Nyseth Brehm and I co-authored an op-ed on initial findings of the study and its relevance to the U.S. in The New York Times.

 

Other Projects

Smoking (national): In line with my interests in substance use, I also have 2 projects examining smoking behaviors and policies. (1) I recently published a study in Social Science & Medicine with Dr. Vuolo, Dr. Kelly, and Dr. Elaine Hernandez on smoking denormalization, smoke-free air policy, and smoking behaviors among young adults. (2) With the same colleagues, I recently published a paper in Demography examining educational disparities in the efficacy of smoke-free air policies.

Women’s Health (international): Related to my interests in gender inequalities, I work on a collaboration with Dr. Schmeer, medical resident Erika Reese, and staff members at the Lily Project. Using unique data collected in rural Nicaragua, we quantitatively examine the prevalence and correlates of sexually-transmitted infections (especially HPV), cervical cancer, and teenage pregnancy among rural Nicaraguan women.