Evan Marie Lowder

Associate Professor

Pretrial reform and interventions, justice-involved behavioral health populations, mental health courts and diversion programs, risk assessment, racial disparities, opioid crisis, quantitative research methods

Dr. Evan M. Lowder is an Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University and directs the Early Justice Strategies lab. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from North Carolina State University. Her research is focused on strategies to reduce offending and improve behavioral health outcomes among justice-involved adults. Specific emphases include adults with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders, racial disparities, pre-booking and court-based diversion programs, and risk and needs assessment. More recently, her work has focused on evaluating the success of pretrial reform efforts, including pretrial risk assessment and pretrial supervision. Dr. Lowder has received funding from local (Fairfax County), state (Indiana Office of Court Services; Indiana Family and Social Services Administration), and federal agencies (National Institute of Justice) to evaluate early intervention strategies that connect justice-involved individuals to community-based treatment, facilitate release from pretrial detention, and improve community outcomes. Currently, Dr. Lowder and her team are leading an 11-county, multi-site randomized controlled trial of a new model called Intentional Pretrial Supervision that integrates rehabilitative strategies into pretrial supervision. Her work has been recognized by the American Public Health Association and the American Psychology-Law Society. She was the 2019 recipient of the Christopher Webster Early Career Award from the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services. In 2023, she received a Faculty Excellence in Research award from George Mason University President Gregory Washington. In 2024, she was recognized with a "Rising Star" Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).

Selected Publications

Lowder, E. M., Lawson, S. G., Ruhland, E., Rodriguez, A., Frye, P., & McPherson, M. (2025). Development and validation of a tool to measure relative disadvantage and disproportionate risk of criminal-legal system involvement. Justice Quarterly, 0, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2025.2466012

Lowder, E. M., Grommon, E., Bailey, K., & Ray, B. (2024). Police-mental health co-response versus police-as-usual response to behavioral health emergencies: A pragmatic randomized effectiveness trial. Social Science & Medicine, 345, 116723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116723

Lowder, E. M., *Zhou, W., Peppard, L., Bates, R., & Carr, T. (2022). Supply-side predictors of fatal drug overdose in the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA region: 2016–2020. International Journal of Drug Policy, 110, 103902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103902

Lowder, E. M., Diaz, C. L, Grommon, E., & Ray, B. R. (2022). Differential prediction and disparate impact of pretrial risk assessments in practice: A multi-site evaluation. Journal of Experimental Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-021-09492-9

Lowder, E. M., & Foudray, C. M. A. (2021). Use of risk assessments in pretrial supervision decision-making and associated outcomes: Crime & Delinquency. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211022642

Lowder, E. M., Diaz, C. L., Grommon, E., & Ray, B. R. (2020). Effects of pretrial risk assessments on release decisions and misconduct outcomes relative to practice as usual. Journal of Criminal Justice, 101754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101754

Lowder, E. M., Lawson, S. G., Grommon, E., & Ray, B. R. (2020). Five-county validation of the Indiana Risk Assessment System – Pretrial Assessment Tool (IRAS-PAT) using a local validation approach. Justice Quarterly, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1829006

Lowder, E. M., Lawson, S. G., O’Donnell, D., Sightes, E., & Ray, B. R. (2020). Two‐year outcomes following naloxone administration by police officers or emergency medical services personnel. Criminology & Public Policy, 1745-9133.12509. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12509

Courses Taught

CRIM 100: Introduction to Criminal Justice

CRIM 315: Research Methods and Analysis in Criminology

CRIM 408: Criminal Courts

CRIM 491-492: Honors Seminar I and II

CRIM 516: Evaluation of Crime and Justice Policies and Practices

CRIM 764: Sentencing

CRIM 795: Applied Methods and Statistics in Secondary Data Analysis

Education

B.A., Psychology and Political Science, College of Saint Benedict
Ph.D., Psychology, North Carolina State University

Dissertations Supervised

Chelsea Foudray, Problematic Substance Use and the Pretrial Period: Risk- and Needs-based Supervision Strategies (2023)