From the 2020 PhD Dissertation Award Committee:

“We are thrilled to give APPAM Award for Best Dissertation in Public Policy and Management to Dr. Cody Tuttle. Dr. Tuttle earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland in May 2020, under the supervision of Professor Melissa Kearney. His dissertation, entitled "Government Responses to Crime and Racial Inequality" covers multiple extremely salient topics. One chapter studies mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, showing empirical bunching, with black and Hispanic offenders being much more likely to be charged with the threshold amount of drugs that leads to a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence. Another chapter studies the long run economics effects of school desegregation, using confidential U.S. Census data and the fact that subsequent busing assignment was by a student’s race and the first initial of their last name to show positive effects on adult outcomes for black students who were bused to former majority-white schools. Finally, the third chapter uses the 1996 welfare reform that imposed a lifetime ban on food stamp receipt for convicted drug felons who commit their offense on or after August 23, 1996 to show that this ban increased recidivism. This body of work exemplifies all of the criteria for this award: novelty, a large contribution to policy, practice, and management, high quality work of great significance, and timeliness.”

You can read more about this award at APPAM's website