Samantha Luna, Ph.D.

Biography

Samantha Luna earned her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law, & Society from George Mason University. Her research seeks to understand how certain legal and extralegal factors impact legal decision-making and perceptions surrounding the criminal legal system. More specifically, her primary program of research revolves around admissions of guilt and examines the mechanisms within the legal system that contribute to miscarriages of justice, whether that be in the form of wrongful convictions or the obstruction of individuals’ rights. Her secondary program of research examines perceptions of vulnerable populations within and/or who are affected by the legal 
system. 

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Areas of Expertise

• Wrongful convictions
• False admissions of guilt 
• Legal decision making 
• Sex trafficking 

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Publications

• Quas, J. A., Luna, S., Wilson, D. B., & Redlich, A. (2024). Human trafficking and the passage of the 2000 TVPA: A comparative analysis of prosecution of sex trafficking, child pornography, and sexual abuse cases. Journal of Human Trafficking.
• Luna, S., Dianiska, R. E., Hardin, K. M., Redlich, A. D., & Quas, J. A. (2023). Examining investigator strategies for questioning suspected minor victims of sex trafficking. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology.
• Dianiska, R. E., Luna, S., Hardin, K. M., Quas, J. A., & Redlich, A. D. (2022). Current investigator practices and beliefs on interviewing trafficked minors. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 
• Kieckhaefer, J. M. & Luna, S. (2022). Can you put a price on 14 years of life? Examining predictors of monetary compensation for exonerees. Psychology, Crime & Law. 
• Luna, S. (2022). Defining coercion: An application in interrogation and plea negotiation contexts. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 
• Dezember, A., Luna, S., Woestehoff, S.A., Stoltz, M., Manley, M., Quas, J.A., & Redlich, A.D. (2021). Plea validity in circuit court: Judicial colloquies in misdemeanor vs. felony charges. Psychology, Crime, & Law. 
• Luna, S. & Redlich, A.D. (2020). Unintelligent decision-making? The impact of discovery on defendant plea decisions. The Wrongful Conviction Law Review.
• Scherr, C. K., Normile, J. C., Luna, S., Redlich, A.D., Lawrence, M., & Catlin, M. (2020). False admissions of guilt associated with wrongful convictions undermine people’s perceptions of exonerees. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 
• Luna, S., & Redlich, A.D. (2020). A national survey of veterans treatment court actors. Criminal Justice Policy Review. 
• Luna, S. & Redlich, A.D. (2020). The decision to provide discovery: An examination of policies and guilty pleas. Journal of Experimental Criminology. 

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Courses (Current Academic Year)

• CRIM 5931, Research Methods
• CRIM 4385, Research Topics in Criminology

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Awards and Accomplishments

National Science Foundation Funded Law and Science Dissertation Grant at Arizona State University, “Defining Coercion During Plea Negotiations” ($19,762) 

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