Research Agenda
AMerican INstitutions
My research examines the role of race in the shaping of American institutions including exploring questions concerning descriptive representation, the role of race-centric identity groups in shaping the policy process, and the impact of race in the federal court system.
Race and politics
Elements of race permeate virtually every decision made at local and national levels, every piece of legislation enacted, every policy adopted, and every vote cast in America. I seek to explore how and why marginalized groups are impacted by these decisions.
Collective influence over policy
My broader research agenda focuses on how Black people develop and deploy collective action strategies to shape policymaking processes and outcomes.
Featured Work
The foresight of Frontlash: how Weaver captured liberal states’ influence on the punitive transformation of the American criminal justice system
In 2007, Vesla Weaver penned “Frontlash,” a comprehensive account of the punitive transformation of America’s criminal justice system. Her work has since been cited in hundreds of projects centered around questions of crime, criminality, policing, and punishment in America. However, one surprising area where those have yet to be systematically applied is the scholarly understanding of how punitive criminal justice policies have spread throughout American states since the Civil Rights Movement. Using a social network analysis (SNA) to infer and examine the diffusion of 14 punitive policies adopted from 1965 through 2020, we find evidence that mirrors what Weaver called a “liberal dilemma.” Faced with mounting electoral pressures, liberal states abandoned efforts to address the root causes of inequality and, instead, succumbed to more conservative states’ crime narratives. In doing so, liberal states carved out their versions of punitive criminal justice policies to appear “tough on crime.” By applying Weaver’s insights, we shed light on the current state of criminal justice policymaking and the broader implications of “Frontlash” on America's larger racial policy environment.
Concurrent pressures of mass protests: the dual influences of# BlackLivesMatter on state-level policing reform adoption
This article seeks to clarify the relationship between Black Lives Matter and the enactment of state-level police reform by engaging with a broader discussion surrounding policy innovation that has taken shape in recent decades. We ask, what contributes to the differences in state responsiveness to the BLM movement? Moreover, is there a link between the protests, themselves, and state-level police reform enactments? We find, a state’s response to demands for police reform is heavily dependent on a combination of both the conditions within their state as well as their position in the overall police reform diffusion space. More importantly, we find that the BLM movement, itself, played dual roles in applying pressure on states to enact reforms from August 2014 – December 2020: (1) reform efforts on the part of lawmakers were proportionate to the frequency that BLM protesters take their grievances to the street, and (2) policy adoptions are largely shaped by the state-to-state diffusion network where states with the highest frequencies of protests are most influential. The results of this analysis should serve as a sharp rebuttal for those that question and downplay the effectiveness of Black-led social movements in achieving substantive policy change.
The people’s intervention: how #BlackLivesMatter circumvented a culture of congruent criminal justice policies in American states
Since 2014, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has worked to initiate police reforms designed to increase accountability and reduce the extrajudicial killing of Black and brown people. However, policy designs are typically congruent—meaning the allocation of benefits and burdens is generally aligned with how the target group is perceived by society. How could the movement motivate policy noncongruent action that would likely burden police—a group privileged by their position within a congruent, punitive, and racialized criminal justice policy culture? An examination of the innovation and diffusion of 12 noncongruent police reforms from 2014 to 2020 suggests the movement’s demands (1) reoriented the political and social contexts that fueled past diffusion processes, (2) activated key institutional actors—Black lawmakers—who served as entrepreneurs in state institutions, and (3) reactivated innovative states to serve as “leaders”in a new wave of noncongruent reform. This analysis provides a useful framework to understand how marginalized communities and their allies can exact real policy change in a political environment known for its unresponsiveness to the demands of marginalized groups.
Incorporation is Not Enough: The Agenda Influence of Black Lawmakers in Congressional Committees
Traditionally, scholars argue that the committee structure is central to the policymaking process in congress, and that those that wield the gavel in committees enjoy a great deal of influence over the legislative agenda. The most recent iterations of Congress are more diverse than ever before. With 55 members—of whom, five chair full committees and 28 sit atop subcommittees—the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is in a place to wield a significant leverage over the legislative agenda in the 116th Congress. However, noticeable proportional gains in minority membership in Congress have yet to produce sizable policy gains for the communities they represent. An examination of bill sponsorship from the 103rd–112th congresses reveals underlying institutional forces—i.e., marginalization and negative agenda setting—leave Black lawmakers at a distinct disadvantage compared to their non-black counterparts. Bills in policy areas targeted by the CBC are subject to disproportionate winnowing in congressional committees. Unfortunately, a number of institutional resources often found to increase a bill's prospects—including placements and leadership on committees with jurisdiction over policy areas of interest—are relatively ineffective for CBC members looking to forward those key issues onto the legislative agenda.
When good trouble sparks agenda change: Disentangling the evolution of the Congressional Black Caucus' positions on police reform
The Black Caucus’ position on crime and community policing has been a constant juxtaposition between advocating for the health and safety of Black communities while decrying the ever-toxic relationship with the American policing and carceral systems. This is evident in the organization's overwhelming support for the infamous 1994 Crime Bill—a largely punitive bill that has since been directly linked to the over-policing and incarceration of Black Americans. Recently, however, the organization has adopted a policy stance that reflects a commitment to reforming the American policing system. This article traces the organization's evolution from support for prevention-based, punitive policies to comprehensive police reform in the period since the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill. We find this transformation has been one that is both responsive to exogenous shocks—high profile killings of unarmed Black Americans and the resulting protests—as well as an endogenous change—organizational turnover and ideological drift within the organization. These factors create active and latent processes that worked on the Congressional Black Caucus’ behaviors and preferences.
No Justice! Black Protests? No Peace: The Racial Nature of Threat Evaluations of Nonviolent #BlackLivesMatter Protests (With Tyler C. Camarillo)
Abstract: Nonviolent protests have been at the center of minority interest advocacy for nearly a century, as marginalized communities air their grievances in search for substantive policy change.While groups organize and demonstrate in a peaceful manner, there is no guarantee that onlookers will perceive them as such. We find it necessary to explore what factors shape perceptions of social movement protests and how the racial composition of a demonstration can elicit dramatically different responses from onlookers. \To examine the impact of racial identity on protest evaluations, we conduct a survey experiment on a total of 921 respondents. We simulate a media report concerning a Black Lives Matter protest to determine how subtle changes in the racial com-position of the demonstration elicit varying perceptions of a potential for violence. We find that protests that comprise all-Black participants are perceived to have a higher probability to end in violence than more diverse demonstrations. These findings come despite an assurance that the protest in question was peaceful. Consistent with minority threat theory, these perceptions are largely driven by the sentiments of white respondents. We argue that ill-conceived threat perceptions, rooted in the racial composition of Black Lives Matter protests, complicate the mission of those charged with making visible the plight of Black Americans. Even when Black protesters adhere to the “rules” of non-violent protest, there is no guarantee that the biases of on-lookers will not drown out their efforts. These findings have wide reaching implications on the exercise of First Amendment right to protest, the role of the media in reporting on protests, and the expectations of government interactions with protesters
From Complexity to Clarity: A Network Approach to Better Understanding Issues on a Black-Interest Agenda (FORTHCOMING, WITH JOHN D.RACKEY)
Abstract: For decades the burden of drawing institutional attention towards Black issues has rested on the shoulders of representatives of color. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how, exactly, Black lawmakers use discourse to communicate Black-interest policy issues to the larger institution. Using discourse network analysis, this study examines Special Order floor speeches organized by the Congressional Black Caucus from the 111th through the 114th Congresses to determine how Black issues are defined and – consequentially – intertwined. We find that during our period of study, CBC members define twenty-seven unique core policy problems. More importantly by identifying the underlying attributes of each issue, the discourse around Black interests in the House provides valuable information for the policymakers that pursue change in those issues and researchers looking to better understand their actions.
Working Papers: Please contact me for complete works
Cross-Cutting Legislation and The Impact of Committee Reform on the Pursuit of Black Interests in the House of Representatives
Abstract: The value of increased diversity in lawmaking bodies and the reconciliation such increases with a perceived lack of substantive policy gains by Black representatives has been at the center of scholarly debate for several decades. Increasingly, scholars have argued, it may be necessary move beyond examinations of voting behavior to identify where members of color represent the interests of their unique constituencies. This analysis seeks to explore the strategy surrounding Black lawmakers effort to shape the legislative agenda in the House of Representatives and how institutional change over time may have impacted their probability of success. More specifically, through an evaluation of bill success from the 103rd to the 112th Congress, I find a positive influence of sponsoring bills that result in multiple committee referrals on the likelihood of bill success at the committee stage and in floor votes. These successes span across the broader sponsorship of Black members as well as in policy areas targeted by the Congressional Black Caucus. I also find that such conditions were not the case prior to a series of reforms that rearranged policy jurisdictions and referee procedures.
An Advocacy Coalition Approach to Understanding In-Group Issue Support Networks within Diversity Infrastructures in the House of Representatives
Abstract: Identity caucuses - like the Congressional Black Caucus - are becoming central in the pursuit of minority interests in the House of Representatives. As the organization's members increasingly reliant on the caucus to achieve substantive legislative goals, it is important to understand how the group's members coalesce around the issues that impact the unique constituencies that they represent. The Black Caucus is often thought of as a cohesive organization - evident in their roll-call vote patterns. Unfortunately, existing literature and theories of black representations fall short of a comprehensive explanation of caucus activity at across multiple stages of the legislative process and across both core and secondary interests. Through an examination of cosponsorship in the 110th Congress, I find that presumptions found in Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) provide a sound foundation that explains in-group cohesion in core policy areas.
Towards “Commonality”?: The Evolving Core Policy Issues of the Congressional Black Caucus
Abstract: Lawmakers of color have long been presumed to be in pursuit of a particular set of policy outcomes aimed at improving the quality of life for a segment of the population that has, since the incarnation of this nation, been proportionately and likely substantively underrepresented in Congress. As a result, scholarship con-cerning the policy concerns held by members of color take on the identity often referred to as “Black issues”. This moniker is often narrowly defined, restrictive in nature and consists of often racialized, contentious policy issues. Increasingly, scholars argue the modern generation of Black lawmakers may be shifting away from such policies of “difference” and moving towards a politics of “commonality” - a more pragmatic and less contentious set of policy goals. This analysis takes a unique approach to measuring legislative agendas to determine to what degree these assumptions hold as time has progressed. I employ a measure of “Issue Centrality” derived from social network analysis that deviates from traditional practices of gauging the impact of relational connections between people, and views legislative agendas as a set of interconnected policy issues pursued by members and the groups that are composed of these individuals. In examining the issue agenda of the Congressional Black Caucus from the endpoint of focus for Canon, I find not only does his prediction of CBC members promoting less contentious, less racialized issues hold firm, these policies of “commonality” have since supplanted the policies of “difference” atop the core set of issues pursued by the caucus from the 103rd through the 112th Congress.
Old Policy, New Politics: A Lesson of Institutional and Policy Drift from the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization
Abstract: Schattsneider's now-foundational commentary, asserting that ``new policies create new politics", certainly captures the nature of legislating in this modern political atmosphere. The ruling invalidating Section 4 and effectively grounding one of the major enforcement mechanism in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) will likely have long-term ramifications on American electoral processes. The John Roberts-authored majority ruling outlined how a broken process of policy evaluation and updating culminated in the Court finding the coverage formula - designed in the earliest versions of the Act - antiquated. What lessons can be derived from the Court decision in Shelby v. Holder? I find that the current iteration of the Voting Rights Act, or the remnants of the Act that remains after Shelby is the product of a perfect storm of two forms of drift - endogenous and exogenous - and their imposition of these costs on an institution and its actors, complicating the furtherance of a temporary piece of legislation.
By Any Means Necessary: Voter Suppression and Republican Viability in a Browning Nation
Abstract: How do political actors and parties respond to threats to their viability? This study explores the roles that evolving demographics and electoral competition, highlighted by the 2008 Presidential election, played in the enactment of suppressive voting legislation across the country. Using 2010 Census Election data, I find the enactment of suppressive legislation since 2010 has largely occurred in competitive states and states with the most extreme increases in minority participation, while the aggressive posture a state takes in seeking multiple forms of restrictive legislation is dependent upon surges in minority population.
It Takes a Village: Identity Caucuses & Cultivating Effective Descriptive Representatives in the Modern Congress
Abstract: As traditionally underrepresented groups seek to increase proportionality in Congress, the cultivation of effective representatives often takes on a more impactful role within the ranks of the disadvantaged. Minority and female representatives face institutional barriers that threaten their ability to advance very specific agendas through the legislative process. Thus, members of these identity groups often suffer from deficits in overall effectiveness. Are identity caucuses the proper mechanism to step in and aid minority and female representatives in overcoming the steep learning curve that often accompanies freshmen lawmakers as well as inherent barriers that work to thwart substantive representation gains? This study evaluates identity caucus membership from the 109th to the 113th Congress and finds that the benefits that may come with caucus membership – increased information flow, opportunities for broadening networks, and coalition building – have the potential propel them out of their initial deficit and raise the effectiveness of rookie lawmakers to the point that they outperform their non-member counterparts.
The Compounding Effects Ex Post Facto Policy Decisions on Strict Voter-ID States: A Study of Alabama and DMV Closures
Abstract: In 2011, the state of Alabama, in conjunction with a wave of conservative states, adopted their version of strict voter identification legislation. One year later, on October 1, 2015, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) – citing budget concerns - announced the closure of 31 drivers’ license offices – the very offices also charged with the issuance of voter identification cards. Critics of this move contend it may have been politically motivated in an effort to suppress participation and compound the effects of the newly implemented voter identification policy. This study seeks to gauge the impact of these DMV closures – independent of the impact of the implementation of voter identification – in an effort to capture how limiting access to required documentation effects registration levels within a respective jurisdiction. It also looks to determine if traditionally disadvantaged populations were disproportionately impacted by this policy decision. Analysis reveals, not only did registration rates in effected counties suffer massive decreases in overall registrants, but the closures altered the proportion of white-to-non-white registered voters.
Other Works
Blog Post
"Why Senate Democrats should vote for cloture on Grouch’s nomination"
with John D. Rackey. London School of Economics American Politics and Policy Blog. April 3, 2017.