Bio

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Denver. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. 

I research how criminal justice systems respond to socio-spatial changes like gentrification, suburbanization, and fiscal crises. I am currently analyzing how police defunding impacts crime and incidents of police brutality. Another active research project analyzes how high concentrations of institutional landlords affect rents.

My scholarly work has appeared in Social Forces, Urban Studies, Crime & Delinquency, the British Journal of Criminology, and City & Community.  “Governing Through Police,” a study I co-authored with Adam Goldstein, won the American Society of Criminology’s Petersilia Award for the best article of 2020. My general-interest writing has appeared in Slate, the New York Daily News, the Appeal, and AM New York.

I received my PhD from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. While there, I was a dissertation fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, a research associate at Arnold Ventures, and a graduate teaching fellow at Hunter College. Before getting my PhD, I worked as a paralegal and before that as an elementary school teacher. I grew up in a suburb outside Denver. In my spare time I like to hike in mountains and walk in cities.