Books: My first book, The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing, was published by Oxford University Press in 2019.  It provides an account of how contemporary police practices have departed from the basic legal and philosophical tenets of liberalism.

My second book, The Police Identity Crisis – Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm, was published by Routledge in 2021. It examines the police role and identity from within a broader philosophical context, arguing that prominent conceptions of the police are inconsistent with a collective conception of justice.

My third book, Police Deception and Dishonety – The Logic of Lying (Oxford University Press, 2024) is available for pre-order.

Research interests: My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice; I am especially interested in criminal investigation and the moral limits of policing.  

My work has appeared in (or will appear in) Criminal Law and Philosophy, Law and Philosophy, Ratio Juris, Human Rights Quarterly, Criminal Justice Ethics, the Tennessee Law Review, Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought, the Washington University Jurisprudence Review, the University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy, and Intellectual History Review. 

You can check out some of my journal articles on my SSRN page and my PhilPeople page.

Other writings:

“The Possible World Defense: Why Our Current Legal Thinking about Entrapment is Philosophically Suspect,” American Philosophical Association blog.  Essay on philosophical problems with police stings (drawing from Chapter 5 of my book).

“Ice Cube and the philosophical foundations of community policing,” Oxford University Press blog.  Essay on police legitimacy, public reason, and community policing.

“Liberalism and Policing: The State We’re In,” In the Long Run (University of Cambridge website).  Short article on the state of policing in liberal societies (and a bird’s-eye view of my book), discussing how executive discretionary power has grown to such a degree that it has trended toward illiberal practices and policies.

“Informants, Police, and Unconscionability,” Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI).  Essay exploring the extent to which certain agreements between the police and informants are an affront (both procedurally and substantively) to basic tenets of the liberal tradition in legal and political philosophy (drawing from Chapter 4 of my book).

“Are ‘Orders’ From the Tweeter-in-Chief Legally Enforceable?” The Crime Report (CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice website).  Op-Ed on presidential law enforcement power and the rule of law.

Public engagement:

I was interviewed for a piece in The New Republic about the police’s use of drug informants.  I did a brief TV interview about the case in question here. 

Here is a wide-ranging interview/podcast — about my time as an FBI Special Agent and my research on the scope of police power — on the Prairie Public radio show, Why? Philosophical Discussions about Everyday Life.

This piece, Why ‘Liberal’ Policing Shouldn’t be a Contradiction in Terms, is a Q&A about how my book relates to current issues in criminal justice; it was printed in the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s The Crime Report.

Here is a brief TV interview about my book on an area morning show, Good Day Virginia.

And the American Philosophical Association interviewed me here.

I provide legal and policy commentary to various media outlets from time to time, and here are recent radio interviews with NPR’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle:

On trade-offs between privacy and criminal investigation in encrypted communication

On the FBI, the Constitution, and the rule of law (interview beginning at 11:00″)

On FBI investigative standards and practices (interview beginning at 20:30″)