Dr. Harmon received his Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Oregon. Dr. Harmon is a quantitative research methodologist and justice policy researcher. He came to Portland State University after spending two years working in a similar position at Illinois State University. His current research focuses on the effects of sentencing reforms on a number of fronts, most notably the consistent and pervasive racial and ethnic disparities in imprisonment. These disparities have permeated the U.S. criminal justice system and left a devastating and lasting imprint on generations of people of color. He has studied the connection between politics, the economy, and criminal justice policy and the impacts on people of color. He has spent the last ten years studying what was driving policy changes and why they have disproportionately affected people of color. He has recently begun to move his sentencing research in a slightly different direction by adding a spatial component to it.
Dr. Harmon also works to develop more robust statistical models and has co-authored a paper on panel analysis. He continues to work on developing statistical methods that provide the most reliable and valid results; results that can be used to demonstrate what is actually happening in the criminal justice system in an attempt to better inform our arguments and make sound recommendations for change.