She studies and teaches on the relationships between law, politics and society. Her research focuses on punishment - in both domestic and international contexts. She examines how racial stratification, legal activism and political arrangements drive the conception, legitimation, and transformation of state-sponsored systems of social control. Her work has been published in a variety of leading journals. Most recently, in the University of Iowa Law School's Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, she analyzes how the War on Drugs contributed to the dramatic rise of imprisonment in the United States since 1980. Her current book project investigates the origins of mass incarceration in the United States using a case study of Florida over the course of the 20th century. Her new research examines the diffusion of "rule of law" assistance and its influence on criminal justice reform in post-conflict nations.