Sarah Brayne

Sarah Brayne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. In her research, she uses quantitative and qualitative methods to understand whether and how surveillance shapes individual trajectories and population-level disparities. Her first book, Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing (Oxford University Press), draws on ethnographic research within the Los Angeles Police Department to understand the social implications of law enforcement’s use of predictive analytics and new surveillance technologies. In earlier work, Professor Brayne developed a theory of “system avoidance,” using survey data to test the relationship between criminal legal contact and involvement in medical, financial, labor market, and educational institutions. She is currently conducting a research project on aging within the criminal legal system, in which she leverages qualitative and quantitative data to understand whether and how involvement in the criminal legal system shapes—and is shaped by—health, aging, and mortality across the life course.

Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford, Professor Brayne taught at the University of Texas at Austin, where she co-founded the Texas Prison Education Initiative. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of British Columbia, an MA and PhD in Sociology from Princeton University, and completed a postdoc at Microsoft Research.