In 1975, only 1% of public schools had their own police officers. Today, 44% do. A large reason for the increase is the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which led to the creation of the federal Community Oriented Policing Services to oversee funds for the hiring of police in schools. Another […]
Monic Behnken
I completed a joint J.D./Ph.D. program in Psychology and the Law in 2008. I hold a J.D. from Golden Gate University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. I am currently licensed as an attorney in California and Iowa. I serve as a tenured associate professor in the department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Iowa State University. My research focuses on mentally disordered offenders, alternative adjudication methods - particularly mental health courts, and racial/ethnic disparities within complex systems. My work has been peer reviewed and published in several academic journals and presented to national audiences at academic conferences. I have been selected to serve as a national topic chair twice at my discipline's annual meetings on topics focused on juvenile justice and problem solving courts. I have also worked with a variety of state agencies on complex issues of systematic disparities and designing, implementing, and assessing alternative adjudication methods. I have also received competitive national grants to further my research. Additionally, I was elected by my community to serve on our school board. During that term I worked with other board members and district officials to evaluate the School Resource Officer Program in our community. I also serve as an Associate Dean focused on student success issues for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences where part of my job is being informed about DEI-related issues in education.