She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota in 2007. Her research interests focus on the consequences of mass imprisonment for the family, with an emphasis on childhood wellbeing and racial inequality, culminating in a series of articles and book, Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality. In other work, Dr. Wakefield is an investigator on a multi-disciplinary, NICHD-funded (PO1) study of human capital interventions during childhood and adolescence. Her research is focused on the congruence (or “fit”) between substance use prevention policies and the developmental needs of children and youth.