Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D.
Director of Research
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D., conducts and synthesizes research on criminal justice policies. She has written about racial disparities, lengthy sentences, and the scope of reform efforts. In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, she explained why people serving long sentences for violent crimes should have been included in COVID-era decarceration efforts. Her report, “A Second Look at Injustice,” is a comprehensive analysis of a growing, powerful tool to curb mass incarceration: second look policies that enable extreme sentences to be re-evaluated. She regularly presents to academic, practitioner, and general audiences and her work has been featured in outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and WNYC’s On the Media. She also edits The Sentencing Project’s Race and Justice Newsletter. Dr. Ghandnoosh earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation, “Challenging Mass Incarceration: A California Group’s Advocacy for the Parole Release of Term-to-Life Prisoners,” was an in-depth study of a South Los Angeles-based group challenging extreme sentences.
