He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a master’s degree in linguistics, and a Ph.D. in criminal justice. His research examines the sociolinguistic organization of police-citizen encounters and nineteenth-century American parricides. His works have appeared in journals such as International Roundtable for the Semiotics of Law, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Critical Criminology, Discourse & Society, and Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society.