He received his B.S. 2005 in Physics and Psychology from Rutgers University and his M.A. 2007 and Ph.D. 2011 in Criminology, Law Society from the University of Florida. He was a 2009 recipient of the prestigious Harry Frank Guggenheim Dissertation Fellowship for his research exploring the consequences of justice system contact on developmental trajectories of violence using integrated methods—propensity score matching and latent class growth analysis.