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Associate Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice & Law

Sarah Lageson is a social scientist and lawyer who researches and writes about data privacy, the U.S. criminal legal system, surveillance, technology, and automation/AI. Dr. Lageson is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the School of Law at Northeastern University, as well as an Affiliated Scholar at the American Bar Foundation. Her 2020 book, Digital Punishment: Privacy, Stigma, and the Harms of Data-Driven Criminal Justice is the recipient of the Michael J. Hindelang award, which recognizes an outstanding contribution to research in criminology and has been featured in the New York Times, the Guardian, National Public Radio’s Planet Money, WNYC’s The Takeaway, and other media outlets. Dr. Lageson’s research has been published in Criminology, Social Forces, Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Punishment & Society, the Annual Review of Criminology, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, among other outlets. Her public writing about issues related to law and technology has appeared in the Washington Post, Wired, Slate, Vice, The Appeal, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Conversation.  She received a PhD in Sociology from the University of Minnesota and a JD from Rutgers Law School, where she interned at the New York Office of the Appellate Defender and the New York Legal Assistance Group’s Pro Se Clinic at the Southern District of New York, and the Rutgers Expungement Law Project. Before academia, Dr. Lageson was an Americorps VISTA and worked in the nonprofit sector.

View CV
  • 2023 Rutgers Law School Scholarship and Leadership Award
  • 2021 Michael J. Hindelang Outstanding Book Award, American Society of Criminology
  • 2021 Herbert Jacob Book Prize, Honorable Mention, Law & Society Association
  • 2019 New Jersey State Office of Innovation Research Award
  • 2018 Privacy Law Scholars Conference Junior Scholar Paper Award
  • Sarah Lageson and Alessandro Corda. 2025. “Chasing a Clean Slate: The Shifting Roles of Privacy and Technology in Criminal Record Expungement Law and Policy.” Harvard Journal of Law & Technology.
  • Sarah Lageson and Robert Stewart. 2024. “The Problem with Criminal Records: Discrepancies Between Official State Records and Private Sector Background Checks.”
  • Katie Young, Karin Martin, and Sarah Lageson. 2024. “Access to Justice at the Intersection of Civil and Criminal Law.” Punishment & Society.
  • Sarah Brayne, Sarah Lageson, and Karen Levy. 2023. “Surveillance Deputies: When Ordinary People Surveil for the State.” Law & Society Review.
  • Sarah Lageson. 2023.“Digital Criminal Record Stigma and Surveillance.” Annual Review of Criminology.
  • Clean Slate Initiative $322,435. 2024-2026. Do Data Brokers Comply with Clean Slate?
  • Russell Sage Foundation, $74,973. 2025-2027. The Consequences of Expungement Policy on Immigration Outcomes

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Sarah’s Colleagues

Headshot of Donna Bishop

Donna Bishop

Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Ekaterina Botchkovar

Ekaterina Botchkovar

Undergraduate Program Director; Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Carlos Cuevas

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Co-Director of the Violence and Justice Research Lab

Kevin Drakulich

Associate Director and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; PhD Program Director; Director of Race and Justice Lab

Amy Farrell

Director and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Co-Director of the Violence and Justice Research Lab

James Alan Fox

Research Professor of Criminology

Natasha Frost

Associate Dean of Research; Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Co-Director of the Center on Crime, Race, and Justice

Headshot of Jack Greene

Jack Greene

Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Headshot of Ineke Marshall

Ineke Marshall

Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Criminal Justice

Headshot of Ramiro Martinez

Ramiro Martinez

Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Criminal Justice

Headshot of Nikos Passas

Nikos Passas

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Co-Director, Institute for Security and Public Policy

Simon Singer

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Headshot of Jacob Stowell

Jacob Stowell

Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Headshot of Brandon Welsh

Brandon Welsh

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Director, Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study, Co-Director, Crime Prevention Lab

Gregory Zimmerman

Gregory Zimmerman

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Master's Program Director; Director of Big Data and Quantitative Methods Initiatives; Dean’s Leadership Fellow