Mindy Thai

Graduate Lecturer

Corrections, incarceration, interstate prison network, re-entry, alternatives to imprisonment, social and cultural capital

Mindy is a doctoral student in George Mason University's Department of Criminology, Law and Society. She works as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Early Justice Strategies Lab under Dr. Evan Lowder. Mindy graduated with a B.A. in Criminal Justice and B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature at George Washington University, D.C. She received her M.A. in Criminology, Law and Society from George Mason University. Her research interests include corrections, interstate prison network, and re-entry.

Selected Publications

Thai, M.L., & Lowder, E.M. (2026). Spotlighting pretrial reform: Media effects on perceptions of bail reform and pretrial risk assessments. American Journal of Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-025-09882-z

Expanded Publication List

Knes, A., Carlisle, H., Thai, M.L., Jadidi, V., & Lowder, E.M. (2026). From jury to judge: Effects of changing the default sentencing agent on sentence length in Virginia. Journal of Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2026.102652

Bohmert, M.N., Ying, M.H.. Lowder, E.M., & Thai, M.L. (2026). Racial disparities in probation: Examining officers’ filing practices and judicial revocation decisions. Criminal Justice Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168261434586

Lowder, E. M., Foudray, C. M. A., Thai, M.L., Freund, R., & Lane, M. (2026). Multiprogram perspectives on the peer recovery specialist role, opportunities, and challenges. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 49(1), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000660

Knes, A., Lowder, E.M., Thai, M.L., Reuter, S., & Kent, A. (2025). Multi-study examination of criminal-legal professionals’ use of risk assessments in pretrial decision-making. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12305

Khatchatourian, H., MacFarland, G., Thai, M.L., Hickling, D., Smith, B., & Wu, Y. (2022). Public cooperation with police in Detroit: A testing of three perspectives. Policing: An International Journal, 45(6), 1082-1097. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-05-2022-0073

Grants and Fellowships

Outstanding Graduate Service Award (2024; 2025), Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University

Summer Institute Fellow (2024), Revolutionizing Research for Social Change, Center for Social Science Research, George Mason University

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (2024 Honorable Mention; Not Funded)

Summer Scholarship (2023), Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University

Education

M.A. in Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University

B.A. in Criminal Justice, George Washington University

B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, George Washington University