Teaches “Democracy, Race and Equal Protection” ; research statement: Police and prosecutors wield enormous power on behalf of the state. Both have the authority to surveil, search, interrogate, arrest, detain, imprison— and even kill. Theoretically, this authority is justified as necessary to protect vulnerable members of our society. In practice, however, law enforcement often serves pernicious racial, economic and gender hierarchies. Under what conditions is the authority of criminal law enforcement democratically legitimate? Can these conditions be achieved through incremental reform or do they require entirely new institutions? These problems are the core themes of my research career. |