Domestic Violence Decision-Making at First Appearance
A quantitative study of how case information and courtroom factors shape bond and non-contact decisions in misdemeanor domestic violence cases.
I am a Sociology PhD student at the University of Central Florida studying how legal institutions make decisions, especially in domestic violence cases.
My research focuses on courts, discretion, legal records, and access to justice. I am especially interested in how information is produced and used early in the legal process, and how those decisions shape later outcomes.
Current work
Research underway
Hope Card Laws and Regulations Across the United States
A fifty-state study of the laws and policies governing Hope Card programs and portable documentation of protection orders.
Judicial Discretion and No-Contact Orders
A qualitative interview study of how judges exercise discretion when imposing pretrial no-contact orders in intimate partner violence cases.
Teaching
I want students to leave sociology better able to notice patterns, ask stronger questions, evaluate evidence, and connect individual experiences to larger social structures. As a graduate teaching assistant at UCF, I have supported Sociology of Law, Minority Aging and Health, Men and Masculinities, Social Power and Inequalities, and Social Theory.
Background
Before graduate school, I worked in emergency communications and criminal court operations in Orange County, Florida. Those experiences helped shape my interest in how legal institutions process information and exercise discretion.