JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The City University of New York
 445 West 59th Street
 New York, NY 10019-1128
  (212) 237-8361

 Diana Falkenbach
 Assistant Professor
 Psychology Department

Diana Falkenbach is currently an Assistant Professor in the psychology department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  In addition to her teaching duties, she is a clinical researcher focusing on various areas of forensic psychology.  Her areas of expertise include violence, aggression, and psychopathy. 

 

Professor Falkenbach is the author of several research articles and has presented at national meetings in various areas of forensic psychology.  She has spent much of her career building a research program that focuses on psychopathy and related correlates (i.e. aggression, malingering, and anxiety), with a more specific foci on exploring the various subtypes of psychopathy and their relationship to violence risk and types of aggression utilized.  She is interested in understanding the etiology of psychopathy and violence in order to better understand why particular people commit violent acts. 

 

She specifically studies the measurement of psychopathic traits and predictors of violence in women, and is involved in several ongoing studies evaluating the personality traits of women who are involved in violent crimes.  The study of psychopathic traits in women is a seminal topic and Professor Falkenbach is one of a few researchers pursuing this area of research.

 

Professor Falkenbach also studies the relationship between hormones and sexual and violent behavior.  She is interested in determining if hormonal changes due to illness, medication, or life changes can affect a person’s behavior and cause them to act violently.  Her other areas of study include the measurement of psychopathic traits among juveniles, “successful” psychopaths, neuropsychological abnormalities and violent behavior, and sexual offenders.

 

Professor Falkenbach also acts as a consultant to the New York Police Department, where she was instrumental in the development of a training program that was designed to educate recruits and detectives on how to best interact with mentally ill persons. As part of the program, participants learn how to recognize mental illness, communicate with the mentally ill, assess for dangerousness, and make appropriate referrals.

 

Prior to joining John Jay, Professor Falkenbach worked at the Bellevue Hospital Center and Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, where she conducted testing, forensic evaluations, and therapy with violent offenders.  She evaluated historical and personality factors to assess level of dangerousness for engaging in future violent offenses.  

 

Professor Falkenbach worked on her doctoral and M.A. studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida. She also holds an M.S. in Counseling from Georgia State University and a B.A. in Psychology and Dance from Emory University. 

 

In addition to her forensic psychology credentials, Professor Falkenbach has experience working for various professional sports teams (i.e., Atlanta Thunder Team Tennis and Tampa Mutiny Soccer), where she was involved in promotional work.  She currently volunteers for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training^®, which is the world's largest endurance sports training program. She completed the NY marathon with this group and now mentors a group of people training for an Olympic distance triathlon