Lauren McCarthy

Lauren A. McCarthy is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Master’s (2004) and PhD (2011) in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on the relationship between law and society in Russia, police and law enforcement institutions, civilian oversight, and the issue of human trafficking. Her book, Trafficking Justice: How Russian Police Use New Laws, from Crime to Courtroom published by Cornell University Press (2015) explores how Russian law enforcement agencies have implemented laws on human trafficking, and was based on her dissertation which won the Edward S. Corwin Award (best dissertation in Public Law) from the American Political Science Association. Her articles have been published in a variety of journals and her research has been supported by the Fulbright Institute for International Education and a Kennan Institute Fellowship (2013). She is also a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, Higher School of Economics in Moscow and a member of PONARS (Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia).