My research focus on capitalist state violence in general and police violence in particular. I study the tensions that exist between police and democracy, and also the ways policing and police violence affect low-income communities in Latin America and the US.
I have conducted ethnographic work on the effects of police violence among residents of South Los Angeles, and São Paulo's periphery.
I am also interested in exploring the reasons and consequences of the import of U.S. policing strategies in Latin America. I have conducted research and published works on police reform and the adoption of "tough-on-crime" policies in Uruguay.
I am beginning a new research project on the governance of unhoused populations across the San Joaquin and Central Valley in California.
Together with Kevin Funk, we have examined the engagement, or more exactly the lack of engagement, with Marx and Marxism in political science in the US. We continue to explore the reasons behind this, as well as the development of Marxist analysis in Latin America.
My work has been published in International Studies Perspective, International Studies Review, Criminological Encounters, PS: Political Science & Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Social Studies and in several edited volumes.