Research Projects

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Brief descriptions of research projects I have worked on:

Dissertation: Does the Right Hand Know What the Left Hand is Doing? General Assistance Welfare, Crime, and Punishment in the United States
  • Supported by an Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship, 2012-2013 (U of M Graduate School)
  • Using a 50-state data set for the years 1950 to 2010 to fit event history and fixed effects models
  • Investigating the historical changes in state General Assistance (GA) welfare programs and how fluctuations in policy and provision have affected rates of crime and incarceration over time and space 

The Effects of Incarceration on the Health of Individuals, Families and Communities
  • Research Assistant with Principal Investigator Chris Uggen (co-investigator Jason Schnittker)
  • Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • Description: This project seeks to map, in a precise and rigorous fashion, the impact of incarceration on all Americans, not just those who have had direct contact with the criminal justice system. Starting with the effects of incarceration on the health and health care of current and former inmates, the project will then move to more macro levels of analysis, including families, communities, and US states.  The project will examine health in a broad sense, looking at mortality, physical morbidity, and mental health

The Minnesota Exits and Entries Project
  • Research Assistant with Principal Investigator Chris Uggen 
  • Funded by the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  • Description: Studies to-date of community re-entry have focused very narrowly on prisoners. The time has come to tell a more comprehensive and comparative story of reentry and adjustment. The Minnesota Exits and Entries Project interviewed young people age 18 to 25 as they left seven different institutional settings: (1) foster care; (2) mental health treatment; (3) chemical health treatment; (4) the armed forces; (5) juvenile justice institutions; (6) municipal jails; and, (7) the prison system. 

Successful Transitions: Evaluation of the Hennepin County Home School Intensive Aftercare Program (IAP)
  • Research Assistant with Principal Investigator Laura Abrams
  • Description: This mixed-methods evaluation study examined the re-entry process for youth leaving a residential treatment facility. Youth were interviewed once before leaving and three times after exiting the treatment program. Staff were also interviewed and data from administrative records were analyzed to understand what helps and hinders successful re-entry for adjudicated youth.