1985 PhD, Clinical Psychology, Indiana University-Bloomington1991 JD, Columbia University School of Law
1979 BA, Stony Brook University
Mark Fondacaro is currently a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Doctoral Training Program in Psychology & Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Before joining the faculty at John Jay, he was an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Florida and an Associate Director of the Levin College of Law’s Center on Children and Families. He received a B.A. in psychology with an outside concentration in the biological sciences from Stony Brook University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University-Bloomington. He pursued post-doctoral training in social ecology at Stanford University before completing his legal training at Columbia Law School.
Professor Fondacaro has co-authored (with Christopher Slobogin) a book entitled “Juveniles at Risk: A Plea for Preventive Justice” that was published by Oxford University Press. He has authored numerous articles in both law reviews and behavioral science journals on issues of procedural justice, due process, family conflict resolution, and juvenile and criminal justice reform. He is currently working with a team of graduate student assistants in his Social Justice Laboratory on a series of empirical studies aimed at identifying defendant and situational factors that may bias judgments of criminal responsibility.
Over the past 10 years, Professor Fondacaro has helped to develop and implement training programs for the NYPD on managing situations involving emotionally disturbed persons including scenario based training with new recruits, newly promoted Sergeants, Lieutenants, and Captains, the Emergency Services Unit, and the elite Hostage Negotiation Team. He also worked with a team of high level administrators from the NYPD and other John Jay faculty to develop a Crisis Intervention Training Program for police officers on patrol aimed at deescalating conflict.
Criminal Law and Behavioral Science; Neuroscience and Law; Evaluation and Treatment of the Juvenile Offender; Juvenile Law; Social Justice Research; Psychology, Law & Public Policy; Abnormal Psychology
PUBLICATIONS
Gordon, N., & Fondacaro, M.R. (in press). Rethinking the voluntary act requirement:
Implications from neuroscience and behavioral science research. Behavioral
Sciences & the Law.
Khogali, M. & Fondacaro, M.R. (in press). Community members’ evaluations of police-
civilian interactions. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice.
Beattey, R., & Fondacaro, M.R. (in press). The misjudgment of criminal responsibility.
Behavioral Sciences & the Law.
Koppel, S., & Fondacaro, M.R. (2016). The retribution heuristic. In J. Jacobs, & J. Jackson
(eds.). The Routledge Handbook of criminal justice ethics. New York, NY: Routledge.
O’Toole, M. J., & Fondacaro, M. R. (2015). When school-shooting media fuels a retributive public: An examination of psychological mediators. Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, doi: 10.1177/1541204015616664.
Fondacaro, M.R., & O’Toole, M.J. (2015). American punitiveness and mass incarceration: Psychological perspectives on retributive and consequentialist responses to crime. New Criminal Law Review, 18, 477-509.
Fondacaro, M.R., Koppel, S., O’Toole, M.J., & Crain, J. (2015). The rebirth of rehabilitation
in juvenile and criminal justice: New wine in new bottles. Ohio Northern University Law Review, 41, 697-730.
Fondacaro, M.R. (2015). Why should we treat juvenile offenders differently than adults?
It’s not because the pie isn’t fully baked! In N. Dowd (ed.). A new juvenile justice: Total reform for a broken system.
New York, NY: New York University Press.
Fondacaro, M.R. (2014). Rethinking the scientific and legal implications of developmental
differences research in juvenile justice. New Criminal Law Review, 17, 407-441.
Taylor, C., Chauhan, P., & Fondacaro, M.R. (2012). Restorative justice in
Jamaica: Current attitudes and the way forward. Applied Psychology in Criminal
Justice, 8, 111-129.
Fondacaro, M.R. (2011). The injustice of retribution: Toward a multi-
systemic risk management model of juvenile justice. Journal of Law and Policy, 20,
145-165.
Slobogin, C. & Fondacaro, M.R. (2011). Juveniles at risk: A plea for preventive justice.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Wylie, L., Gibson, C., Brank, E.M., Fondacaro, M.R., Smith, S., Brown, V.E., & Miller, S.A.
(2010). Assessing school and student predictors of weapons reporting.
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 8, 351-372.
Brubacher, M.R., Fondacaro, M.R., Brank, E.M., Brown, V.E., & Miller, S.A. (2009).
Procedural justice in resolving family disputes: Implications for
childhood bullying. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 15, 149-167.
Slobogin, C., & Fondacaro, M. (2009). Juvenile justice: The fourth option. Iowa Law
Review, 95, 1-62.
Stuart, J., Fondacaro, M., Miller, S., Brown, V., & Brank, E. (2008). Procedural justice in
family conflict resolution and deviant peer group involvement among adolescents: The
mediating influence of peer conflict. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 674-684.
Brank, E., Woolard, J., Brown, V., Fondacaro, M., Luescher, J., Greig, R., & Miller, S.
(2007). Will they tell? Weapons reporting by middle school youth.
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 5, 126-146.
Fondacaro, M.R., Slobogin, C., & Cross, T. (2006). Reconceptualizing due process in
juvenile justice: Contributions from law and social science. Hastings Law Journal,
57, 955-989.
Fondacaro, M., Brank, E., Stuart, J., Villanueva-Abraham, S., Luescher, J., & McNatt, P.
(2006). Identity orientation, voice, and judgments of procedural justice during late adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 987-997.
Fondacaro, M., & Fasig, L. (2006). Judging juvenile responsibility: A social ecological
perspective. In N. Dowd, D. Singer, & R. Wilson (Eds.). Handbook of children, culture, and violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Jackson, S.L., & Fondacaro, M.R. (2005). Procedural justice in resolving family conflict:
Implications for youth violence prevention. In The International Library of Essays in Law and Society (Volume 1, Tom R. Tyler (Ed.)) (Reprinted from Law & Policy, 21, 101-127).
Fondacaro, M., Frogner, B., & Moos, R. (2005). Justice in health care decision making:
Patients’ appraisals of health care providers and health plan representatives.
Social Justice Research, 18, 63-81.
Fondacaro, M.R., Jackson, S.L., & Luescher, J. (2002). Toward the assessment of procedural
and distributive justice in resolving family disputes. Social Justice Research, 15, 341-371.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Weinberg, D. (2002). Concepts of social justice in community psychology:
Toward a social ecological epistemology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 473-492.
Woolard, J., Fondacaro, M.R., & Slobogin, C. (2001). Informing juvenile justice policy:
Directions for behavioral science research. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 13-24.
Fondacaro, M.R. (2000). Toward an ecological jurisprudence rooted in concepts of justice and
empirical research. UMKC Law Review, 69, 179-196.
Slobogin, C. & Fondacaro, M.R. (2000). Rethinking deprivations of liberty: Possible
contributions from therapeutic and ecological jurisprudence. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 18, 499-516.
Murphy-Berman, V., Cross, T., & Fondacaro, M.R. (1999). Fairness and health care decision
making: Testing the group value model of procedural justice. Social Justice Research, 12, 117-129.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Jackson, S.L. (1999). The legal and psychosocial context of family
violence: Toward a social ecological analysis. Law & Policy, 21, 91-100.
Jackson, S.L., & Fondacaro, M.R. (1999). Procedural justice in resolving family conflict:
Implications for youth violence prevention. Law & Policy, 21, 101-127.
Slobogin, C., Fondacaro, M.R., & Woolard, J. (1999). A prevention model of juvenile justice:
The promise of Kansas v. Hendricks for children. Wisconsin Law Review, 1999, 185-226.
Fondacaro, M.R., Dunkle, M., & Pathak, M.K. (1998). Procedural justice in resolving family
disputes: A psychosocial analysis of individual and family functioning in late adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 101-119.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Stolle, D.P. (1996). Revoking motor vehicle and professional licenses for
purposes of child support enforcement: Constitutional challenges and policy implications. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, 5, 355-399.
Fondacaro, M.R. (1995). Toward a synthesis of law and social science: Due process and
procedural justice in the context of national health care reform. Denver University Law
Review, 72, 303-358.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Heller, K. (1990). Attributional style in aggressive adolescent boys.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18, 75-89.
Moos, R.H., Brennan, P.L., Fondacaro, M.R., & Moos, B.S. (1990). Approach and avoidance
coping responses among older problem and nonproblem drinkers. Psychology and Aging, 5, 31-40.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Moos, R.H. (1989). Life stressors and coping: A longitudinal analysis
among depressed and nondepressed adults. Journal of Community Psychology, 17, 330-340.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Moos, R.H. (1987). Social support and coping: A longitudinal analysis.
American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 653-673.
Fondacaro, M.R., Heller, K., & Reilly, M.J. (1984). The development of friendship networks as
a prevention strategy in a university megadorm. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 62, 520-523.
Fondacaro, M.R., & Heller, K. (1983). Social Support factors and drinking among college
student males. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 12, 285-299.
Widom, C.S., Katkin, F., Stewart, A., & Fondacaro, M.R. (1983). Multivariate analysis of
personality and motivation in female delinquents. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 20, 277-289.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2015-Present Director of Psychology & Law Doctoral Training Area
2006-Present Professor of Psychology
John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center, CUNY
Fall 2012 Visiting Professor, Center for Child & Family Policy, Duke University
Fall 2005 Visiting Scholar, Social Psychology Program, New York University
2003-2006 Associate Professor of Psychology
Associate Director, Levin College of Law Center on Children & Families
1997-2003 Assistant Professor of Psychology and Criminology & Law
University of Florida
Summer 2002, 2003 Visiting Researcher, Center for Health Care Evaluation, Stanford University
1994-1997 Research Assistant Professor, Center on Children, Families and the Law
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1991-1993 Associate, Environmental Law, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, San Francisco, CA
1987-1988 Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Medical Center