Nazgol Ghandnoosh
- Criminal Justice
- Race & Ethnicity
Connect with Nazgol
About Nazgol
Ghandnoosh conducts and synthesizes research on criminal justice policies. She has written about the racial gap in punitiveness, efforts to reduce racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes, and the dramatic reductions in New York, New Jersey, and California’s prison populations. Her current projects underscore the need for reforming severe sentences. Her dissertation examined resistance to mass incarceration through an in-depth study of a South Los Angeles-based group advocating for higher parole rates for term-to-life prisoners.
Contributions
No Jargon Podcast
In the News
Publications
Demonstrates that people serving parole-eligible life sentences are imprisoned longer than their counterparts in the past. Identifies four factors driving this growth in prison terms based on data from 31 states and the federal government for available years since 1980.
Argues that policies further restricting immigration are ineffective crime-control strategies because foreign-born residents of the United States commit crime less often than native-born citizens.
Profiles the experiences of three states – New York, New Jersey, and California – that have reduced their prison populations by about 25% in the past decade while seeing their crime rates generally decline at a faster pace than the national average.
Synthesizes two decades of research revealing that white Americans’ strong association of crime with African Americans and Latinos is related to their greater support for punitive policies.
Highlights initiatives in more than 20 states designed to address the four causes of racially unequal outcomes in the criminal justice system.