Collegiate Affiliation
Sociology

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. My research and teaching interests include law, punishment, race, and social movements. I use qualitative methods to investigate how the criminal legal system exacerbates and legitimizes racial and class inequities, focusing specifically on how legal professionals and impacted community members experience and resist mass criminalization in their daily lives.

My dissertation entitled Screaming Into the Void: Public Defenders and Resistance Lawyering in Southern Courtrooms examines the role of public defenders in criminal justice reform and transformation, using a multi-method case study of Gideon’s Promise (GP), an Atlanta-based public defense organization that trains defenders to resist mass incarceration. My forthcoming article in Law & Social Inquiry, “Public Defender Contestation and Compliance in Southern Courtrooms,” is based on 42 interviews with GP-trained attorneys in the South. Connecting research on courtroom workgroups and cause lawyering, I describe how GP aims to train public defenders to engage in resistance lawyering, using their skills and client relationship-building to obstruct, resist, and transform criminal courts.

Educational Background & Specialties
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Educational Background

  • M.A. : Sociology, University of Minnesota, 2019
  • M.A. : Sociology, University of Arkansas, 2016
  • B.A. - Magna Cum Laude: Sociology, Psychology, and Criminal Justice, University of Arkansas, 2014

Specialties

  • Punishment
  • Law
  • Race
  • Social Movements