Sandy Xie is a research analyst in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. Her research focuses on prison reform, improving prison conditions, and decreasing recidivism and desistance, and she works on other projects aimed at reducing mass incarceration and addressing its consequences. Before joining the Brennan Center, she was a research scientist at the New Jersey Department of Corrections. As a graduate student, she worked as a research assistant on projects funded by Arnold Ventures and the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.
Xie graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BA in criminology and minors in sociology and neuroscience. She holds an MS in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in criminal justice from Rutgers University–Newark. Her dissertation, “Perceptions of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Courts: Implications of Bias, Stigma, and Other Factors on Defendant Outcomes,” won the American Psychology–Law Society’s first-place dissertation award in 2026.