Daniela Oramas Mora

Assistant Professor

Racial and ethnic disparities, courts and sentencing, prosecutorial discretion, policy evaluation, and quantitative methods

Dr. Daniela Oramas Mora is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. She earned her Ph.D. from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. She also holds an M.A. in Criminology from the University of South Florida, and both a B.A. in Criminology and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida. Her research focuses on racial and ethnic disparities within the criminal justice system, prosecutorial discretion, courts and sentencing, and policy evaluation.

Selected Publications

Oramas Mora, D., Mitchell, O., & Spohn, C. (2026). Rethinking drug prosecution: The impact of progressive prosecutors on outcomes and disparities. Crime & Delinquency.

Bowman, R., Mitchell, O., Oramas Mora, D., & Boggess, L. (2026). Court communities, courtroom workgroups, and individual court actors: Where does diversity matter? Law and Human Behavior.

Oramas Mora, D., Mitchell, O., & Spohn, C. (2025). Does variation across judicial circuits matter? Examining the role of bail schedules and pretrial detention on drug case outcomes in Florida. Journal of Criminal Justice, 99, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102464

Oramas Mora, D., Terrill, W., & Foster, J. (2023). A Decade of Police Use of Deadly Force Research (2011-2020). Homicide Studies, 27(1), 6-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679221123591

Oramas Mora, D. (2023). [Review of the book Borderland Circuitry: Immigration Surveillance in the United States and Beyond by A. Muñiz]. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 34(3), 470-473. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2022.2139851

Bowman, R., Oramas Mora, D., Mitchell, O., & Spohn, C. (2023). Gender in the courtroom workgroup: Understanding the relationship between the composition of workgroups and the gender gap in punishment. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 50(3), 410-428. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221140362

Lynch, M., & Oramas Mora, D. (2023). Wrong Side of the Track: Crimes by Railroads in the US, 2000-2017. Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime, 60(2), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631309X231203707

Mitchell, O., Oramas Mora, D., Sticco, T., & Boggess, L. (2022). Are progressive chief prosecutors effective in reducing prison use and cumulative racial/ethnic disadvantage? Evidence from Florida. Criminology & Public Policy, 21, 535-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12598

Mitchell, O., Yan, S., & Oramas Mora, D. (2022). Trends in prison sentences and racial disparities: 20-Years of sentencing under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 60(2), 300-338. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278221120677

Grants and Fellowships

George Mason University, Faculty Research and Development Awards (FRDA) Grant, $10,000, Summer 2025

Arizona State University, Graduate College Completion Fellowship Recipient, Fall 2023 – Spring 2024

Courses Taught

CRIM 100: Introduction to Criminal Justice

CRIM 408: Criminal Courts

CRIM 424: Constitutional Law: Criminal Process and Rights

CRIM 495: Capstone in Criminology, Law and Society

CRIM 515: Criminal Justice Research Methods and Data Analysis

CRIM 796: Directed Reading: Immigration: Law and Courts

Education

Ph.D., Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University (2024)

M.A., Criminology, University of South Florida (2020)

B.A., Criminology, University of Florida (2018)

B.S., Psychology, University of Florida (2018)

Recent Presentations

Oramas Mora, D. (2026, March 3). Rethinking Justice: Bail, Detention, and the Future of Prosecutorial Reform. Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, The University of Mississippi. (Guest Lecture)

Oramas Mora, D., Bowman, R., Arredondo Cruz, J., & Faison, L. (2026). Factors influencing plea bargaining: Comparing progressive and traditional prosecutors in the United States. Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.

Oramas Mora, D., Bowman, R., Arredondo Cruz, J., & Faison, L. (2025). Information-sharing in plea bargaining under progressive prosecution. American Society of Criminology Conference, Washington D.C.

Eife, E., & Oramas Mora, D. (2025). The front door to solitary confinement? Pretrial detention and impact on likelihood of solitary confinement. American Society of Criminology Conference, Washington D.C.

Spohn, C., Mitchell, O., Oramas Mora, D., & Moreira De Andrade, T. (2025). A systematic Analysis of Research on the Effect of Race/Ethnicity on Outcomes in Capital Cases. Western Society of Criminology, Seattle, WA.