Rebecca
Weiss
BA, Psychology & International Studies, Northwestern University
MA, Clinical Psychology, Fordham University
PhD, Clinical Psychology, Fordham University
Rebecca Weiss is an Associate Professor of Forensic Assessment at John Jay College and a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York. Before joining the faculty at John Jay, she completed her clinical training at Yale University School of Medicine. She received her PhD and MA in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University. She received her BA in Psychology and International Studies from Northwestern University. Her research interests include the effect of group membership (e.g., culture, intellectual disabilities) on validity in psychological assessment, and the impact of trauma on the treatment and development of aggression and substance use disorders.
At the doctoral level she teaches Personality Assessment. At the undergraduate level she teaches a range of classes including Psychology & Law, Learning & Memory and Abnormal Psychology. Dr. Weiss is a mentor in the Ronald E. McNair Program and the John Jay Honors Program. She has received several mentoring awards including John Jay's Outstanding Scholarly Mentoring Award (2019), McNair's Kwando Kinshasa Excellence in Mentoring Award (2016) and McNair's Above and Beyond Mentoring Award (2019, 2023). She includes students of all levels in her lab, allowing for advanced students to provide additional supervision for less advanced students. This provides valuable experience for the advanced students, and broadens their research productivity, while proving valuable assistance for the less advanced students. Her students typically present at 5-8 national or international conferences per year. Her current research projects include an examination of the impact of language interpretation in mental health settings. She is also collaborating with Kirby Psychiatric Center in a broad examination of forensic measures and evaluations.
Dr. Weiss is among the professors considering doctoral students for the Fall 2026 semester. Please take a look at the link below for more information!
Clinical Psychology PhD Program | John Jay College of Criminal Justice
SELECTED PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
*Indicates Student Author
Castillo, L.,* Weiss, R. A., Soble, J. R., Resch, Z. J., Barr, W. B., & Salinas, L. (2025). Cross-validations of an embedded performance validity test in the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised with Spanish-speaking patients residing in the United States. Psychological Injury and Law. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-025-09540-z
Weiss, R. A., & Berenson, J. (2024). The reliability of jointly versus individually conducted competency to stand trial evaluations. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 35(4), 611-621. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2024.2344261
Woodruff, M.,* Polinsky, A.,* & Weiss, R. A. (2024). Equity depends on the definition: Examining the impact of segregation definitions on equity in school-based mental health. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 30(3), 314-325.. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000428
Rosinski, A.,* & Weiss, R. A. (2021). Competency to stand trial in immigration proceedings. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 7, 55-64. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000244
Lin, L.*, & Weiss, R. (2018). Personality assessment with Asian Americans in legal settings. Journal of Forensic Psychology: Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/24732850.2018.1490681
Harris, S.*, Weiss, R. (2018). The impact of defendants’ race in competency to stand trial referrals. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 57, 85-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.01.003
SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS, MAGAZINE ARTICLES & COMMENTARIES
*Indicates Student Author
+Article chosen as cover story
Woodruff, M.* & Weiss, R. (2024). Commentary on translational impact: Applying the bilingual problem size effect to cognitive assessment. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 10(3), 364-365. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000392
+Weiss, R. A., & Tamura, K.* (2023, April 3). The hidden costs of applying for graduate school and suggestions to reduce them. Eye on Psi Chi, 27 (4) 24-27. https://doi.org/10.24839/2164-9812.Eye27.4.24
Weiss, R. A. (2018). Evaluating the validity of feigned psychological symptoms across cultural boundaries. In SAGE Research Methods Cases. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526437518
Weiss, R. A., & Seplowitz, P. (2017). Student-directed research collaborations between higher education and K-12 classrooms. In R. Obeid, A. Schwartz, C. Shane-Simpson, & P. J. Brooks. (Eds.). How we teach now: The GSTA guide to student-centered teaching. New York, NY: Society for Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology web site: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/
Weiss, R. A., Rosinski, A.* (2016). Ethical considerations in cross-cultural forensic assessment. In T. Masson (Ed.). Inside Forensic Psychology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Praeger Publishers.
2023 Above & Beyond Mentoring Award, John Jay McNair Program
2019 Above & Beyond Mentoring Award, John Jay McNair Program
2019 Outstanding Scholarly Mentoring Award, John Jay
2016 Kwando Kinshasa Excellence in Mentoring Award, John Jay
SELECTED NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS (TOTAL = 102)
*Indicates Student Author
+Indicates Award Winning Presentation
+McInerney, D.,* Weiss, R., Perez, Y. .* Betances, S.,* & Martinez-Gomez, A., (2025, August). Ethical standards for interpreters in forensic mental health: A review of professional guidelines. [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Convention, Denver, CO
+Betances, S.,* Weiss, R., Perez, Y. .* & Martinez-Gomez, A., (2025, August). Clinicians and interpreters: Navigating gaps and workarounds in mental health settings (Study Two) [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Convention, Denver, CO
Polinsky, A.,* Woodruff, M.* & Weiss, R. (2023, August). Linguistic impact on the use of Digit Span for performance validity in a sample of bilingual adults [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Convention, Washington, DC.
Castillo, L. *, Weiss, R., Woodruff, M.*, & Polinsky, A.* (2023, March). The original and revised Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms in a sample of bilingual individuals [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Philadelphia, PA.
++Dhillon, A.,* & Weiss, R. (2022, August). Resiliency of mental health clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Minneapolis, MN.
Tazi, K.,* Lin, L.*, & Weiss, R. (2018, August). Measuring psychopathy in Asian American defendants: A literature review. [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Aveson, O. *, Berenson, J., Simeone, S.*, & Weiss, R. (2018, March). Annual competency to stand trial evaluations: Revisiting a commonly cited estimate. [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, TN.
+Harris, S.,* & Weiss, R. (2017, March). Predictors of competency to stand trial referrals in an attorney sample. [Paper presentation] Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Seattle, Washington.