This feature is part of an ongoing RSF blog series, Work in Progress, which highlights some of the research of our current class of Visiting Scholars.

The recent deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police in cities such as Ferguson and Baltimore have renewed a national discussion on the racial inequalities that permeate law enforcement and the judicial system. Yet, while most have focused attention on excessive police force in black communities, Visiting Scholar Mona Lynch (UC Irvine) presents compelling new evidence that federal prosecutors have been a crucial part of the driving force behind mass incarceration—in particular, following the federal crackdown on drugs in the 1980s. As she wrote recently in an op-ed for the New York Times, "For decades, our federal court system has been quietly perpetrating some of the deepest injustices in the name of the war on drugs."

During her time in residence at the Foundation, Lynch is writing a book on how ongoing changes in federal drug sentencing laws have manifested at the local court level. Among other topics, she is examining the ways in which entrenched norms, practices, and incentives within federal courts contribute to racial disparities in drug sentencing. In a new interview, Lynch discussed her ongoing research on how drug cases are adjudicated in trial-level federal courts.