Her legal scholarship focuses on law and social change.
She has written extensively in the area of domestic violence and feminist theory, and in the area of race, class, and development. Her recent work on the intersection of class theory and race emphasizes the ways in which law made solidarity difficult for American workers while the ideology of white privilege helped conceal the divisive role of law.
Professor Mahoney’s work in criminal law began with an effort to resolve problems involving domestic violence and claims of self-defense and expanded to include feminist theory and challenges to social change.