Advised by Mark Fondacaro
Amanda (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in Psychology & Law Ph.D. at John Jay College (PI: Dr. Mark Fondacaro). She holds two master’s degrees in psychology from John Jay and a bachelor’s in psychology and public health from Elon University (2017). With a background in leading large-scale research and serving as Project Coordinator at the Developmental Social Neuroscience Lab at UNC Chapel Hill (PI: Dr. Eva Telzer), Amanda’s early research focused on understanding risk-taking behavior, social contexts, and juvenile justice policy.
Expanding upon her interdisciplinary background, Amanda examines contextual and intersectional factors affecting safety, attitudes, and behavior in the digital age. Amanda recently received a research award from the New York State Office of Mental Health for her upcoming work evaluating the psychological, behavioral, and policy implications of mobile crime and safety alerts and crime-centered social media platforms. Amanda is committed to applied, innovative, and collaborative research, and has completed extensive research fellowships with the Center for Policing Equity and the Vera Institute of Justice. Looking forward, she is dedicated to advancing knowledge and promoting well-being and safety through innovative research endeavors.
Recent Publications
Rogers, C. R., Jimenez, V., Benjamin, A. C., Telzer, E. H., Rudolph, K. (2023). The effect of parents and peers on the neural correlates of risk taking and antisocial behavior during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52, 1674-1684. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01789-4
Ali, Y., Benjamin, A. C., & Fondacaro, M. R. (2021). Treatment of juvenile offenders: Toward multisystemic risk and resource management. In E. L. Jeglic & C. Calkins (Eds), Handbook of issues in criminal justice reform. New York, NY: Springer.
Allison, M., Jung, S., & Benjamin, A. C. (2020). Alibi believability: Corroborative evidence and contextual factors. Behav. Sci. Law, 38, 337-354. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2473
