Director
Allison Redlich is a Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. She is immediate past President of the American Psychology-Law Society, Division 41 of the American Psychological Association. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Davis in 1999. Professor Redlich is an internationally recognized expert on police interrogations and false confessions, particularly with vulnerable populations such as persons with mental illness and juveniles. Professor Redlich also has an active program of research on true and false guilty pleas, and has conducted research on mental health courts and other forms of criminal justice diversion. She publishes extensively and is the author/editor of six books. Professor Redlich currently serves as the Graduate Program Director for Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, and she is active in the American Psychological Association, including serving on the Executive Committees of the American Psychology-Law Society and the Society for Child and Family Practice and Policy, and as a member of the Committee on Legal Issues.
Graduate Students
Mary Catlin, M.S.
Mary Catlin is a Ph.D. candidate in Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. She received her M.S. in Applied Experimental Psychology from Central Michigan University with a focus in psychology and law in 2020, and her B.A. in Psychology and Music from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 2017. Her research interests generally include legal decision-making, wrongful convictions, and false admissions of guilt.
Suraiya Shammi, M.S.
Suraiya Shammi is a Ph.D. student in the department of Criminology, Law & Society at George Mason University. She received her M.S. in Criminal Justice Sciences from Illinois State University in 2020. Her research interests generally include mental health , interrogation, false confession and guilty pleas.
Talley Bettens, M.S.
Talley Bettens is a Ph.D. student in the Criminology, Law & Society program at George Mason University. She received her M.S. in Psychological Science in 2021 from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a focus on research at the intersection of psychology and law. She received her B.S. in 2019 from Central Michigan University where she studied Psychology, Sociology, and Substance Abuse Prevention. Her research interests generally include causes and consequences of wrongful convictions, interrogations, false admissions of guilt, and juvenile justice.
Lakia Faison, M.S.
Lakia Faison received a B.A. in Psychology and a certificate in Crime Analysis from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2019, and then received a M.S in Psychology from Arizona State University in 2021. Currently, she is a PhD student in the Criminology, Law, and Society program at George Mason University. Her primary research interests pertain to the causes of wrongful conviction—particularly those stemming from interactions between juveniles and criminal justice personnel—and the stigma of wrongful conviction.
Jessica Arredondo Cruz, M.S.
Jessica Arredondo Cruz is a Ph.D. student in Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. She received her M.S. in Applied Experimental Psychology from Central Michigan University and her B.S. in Forensic Behavioral Sciences from California State University, Fresno. Her research interests include legal decision-making and wrongful confessions, with a special interest in false guilty pleas.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Abrar Bawezir
Eva Joseph
Keerthana Kalaivanan
AnaLyn Bowman
Grace Vizaniaris
Asriel Kelly
Gavin Buckowski
Keyla Argueta Cartagena
Lana El-Khatib
Emily Mahoney
Idefix Liljequist-Peel
Maria Cristina Madera
Melinda Goodman
Nasly Isidoro-Raymundo
Nicole Abbott
Riley McCarver
