I am an interdisciplinary social scientist specializing in the history and sociology of prisons and other criminal punishments, with additional interests in applied criminology, research design and methodology (quantitative and qualitative), theory development, and the production and reception of academic research. My substantive expertise focuses on law, punishment, and society; in recent years, I have become active in research groups studying how the hyper-politicization of academia is impacting research, teaching/mentorship, and public trust in universities. I am best known for my work on American prison history, my theories of penal change, my qualitative methods book, and my work exploring how political motivations have hampered academic research.
As of August 2026, I am a full professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. I hold a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from UC Berkeley, where I graduated in 2013; JSP is an interdisciplinary degree involving training in sociolegal studies, criminology, econometrics, history, philosophy, political science, and sociology. From 2023-2026, I served as coeditor of the Law & Society Review, the flagship journal of the Law and Society Association. From 2025-2026, I served on the Vanderbilt-WashU Commission on Scholarly Standards.
I am the author of more than 50 publications, including two books (published with Cambridge and Stanford’s university presses). My work has been featured in TIME, ABC News, WYNC, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the BBC’s History Extra, Deutsche Welle, and Die Presse. I have delivered public lectures for the Smithsonian, Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Philadelphia Athenaeum, while my written and oral commentaries have audiences in Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scotland, the UK, in addition to venues throughout the United States.
Separate from my university work, I serve as a consultant and occasionally an expert witness in court cases. My specializations include advising on or designing evaluation projects, conducting (quantitative and qualitative) data analysis, providing archival research on and explanations of prison history, and answering questions about penal policy (particularly prison policy and sentencing decisions).