Elizabeth Cauffman
Professor of Psychological Science, Education and Law
- Irvine CA UNITED STATES
Elizabeth Cauffman’s research addresses the intersect between adolescent development and juvenile justice.
Media
Social
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Associated Graduate Students Mentoring Award
2010
University of California, Irvine
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
2011
University of California, Irvine
Chancellor’s Fellow
2012
University of California, Irvine
Social Ecology Professor of the Year
2014
University of California, Irvine
Education
Temple University
PhD
Developmental Psychology
1996
University of California, Davis
BA
Psychology
1992
Minor in Human Development
Affiliations
- President-Elect of the Society for Research on Adolescence
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine : Member
- Society for Research on Adolescence : Executive Council
Links
Media Appearances
A house of second chances
Fullerton Observer online
2025-09-14
The house, operated by Orangewood Foundation in partnership with UC Irvine and Orange County Superior Court, represents eight years of collaborative effort to address a critical gap in services. … “This is more than just a house with walls and windows,” said Elizabeth Cauffman, UC Irvine professor of psychology and co-creator of Young Adult Court. “This is a house of second chances. This is a house of recovery. This is a house of hope.”
Groundbreaking criminal justice starts in Santa Ana courtroom
The Orange County Register online
2025-03-26
Young Adult Court is a pilot program in the Orange County Superior Court that aims to reduce recidivism and promote positive life outcomes for men ages 18 through 25 who have encountered trouble with the law. … “The biggest criticism I get is that nobody wants randomizing people to justice,” said UC Irvine psychologist Beth Cauffman, who helped design and continues to research Young Adult Court. “But, we have so many young men eligible,” she said. “The best way to do it is to create a random process so that we can study what’s the typical system like versus doing this.” … So far, Young Adult Court seems to be effective, Cauffman said. “We’re starting to see, preliminarily, positive results.”
Inside the hours of terror among surviving roommates the night of the Idaho student murders
CNN online
2025-03-22
“When we are faced with trauma or fear, we all have different response systems, and there’s no one right response system,” said Elizabeth Cauffman, a psychological science professor at the University of California, Irvine. … “If you’re in a dangerous situation, and your amygdala is flooding your emotional response system, that’s going to overwhelm your prefrontal cortex. So just from the brain response system, we know 18- to 25-year-olds would respond differently,” according to Cauffman.
Insights on Adolescent Brain Development Can Inform Better Youth Justice Policies
The Pew Charitable Trusts online
2023-11-02
A better understanding of how adolescent brains develop can help policymakers and court officials improve how the legal system deals with young people who get into trouble with the law, according to Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine…. Earlier this year, Cauffman, who has a doctorate in developmental psychology, discussed her research on effective alternatives to formal court involvement for children and teens. Here are five key takeaways from the conversation: ….
Solutions on Eyewitness News: Young Adult Court
KABC online
2023-09-29
Graduation Day will look different in a courtroom, but is no less of an accomplishment – it’s a life-altering event ... Young Adult Court isn’t about punishment. It’s about rescuing young people from a lifetime of repeat offenses after stumbling into the legal system as a young adult. “What we want to do is leave these young men without a felony for the rest of their lives. Because when you have a felony on your record for the rest of your life, you have to always ‘check the box,’ which means you’re closed to opportunities,” says Elizabeth Cauffman, UC Irvine professor of psychological science, education and law.
Research Grants
Young Adult Court: A New Approach to Justice
National Institute of Justice
1/1/2019 – 12/31/21
Crossroads: Formal vs. Informal Processing in the Juvenile Justice System
William T. Grant Foundation
7/1/2018 – 6/30/2020
Building a Young Adult Court in Orange County
UC Consortium on Adolescent Development
1/1/2018 – 6/30/2018
Articles
Age-Graded Differences and Parental Influences on Adolescents’ Obligation to Obey the Law
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course CriminologyAdam Fine, April Thomas, Benjamin van Rooij & Elizabeth Cauffman
2020
Legal socialization is the study of how individuals develop their attitudes towards the law and its authorities. While research on perceptions of legal authorities has increased, studies have not adequately examined developmental trends in youths’ obligation to obey the law in particular.
Does self-report of aggression after first arrest predict future offending and do the forms and functions of aggression matter?
Psychological AssessmentMatlasz, T. M., Frick, P. J., Robertson, E. L., Ray, J. V., Thornton, L. C., Wall Myers, T. D., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E.
2020
The current study tested whether a self-report measure of aggression (i.e., the Peer Conflict Scale; PCS) would predict later delinquency, after controlling for other risk factors, and tested whether the different forms and functions of aggression contributed independently to this prediction. Self-report of aggression was assessed at the time of first arrest, and both self-report of delinquency and official arrests were assessed at 5 different time points over a 30-month follow-up period in a sample of male adolescent offenders (N = 1,216; Mage = 15.12, SD = 1.29 years) arrested in 3 regions (i.e., western, southern, northeast) of the United States.
Lesson learned? Mothers’ legal knowledge and juvenile rearrests.
Law and Human BehaviorCavanagh, C., Paruk, J., & Cauffman, E.
2020
Objective: The present study examined how mothers’ personal characteristics, experience with, and attitudes toward the juvenile justice system are associated with their knowledge of the juvenile justice system over time. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that additional exposure to the system (via sons’ rearrests) would be associated with greater legal knowledge. We predicted that White women, women with higher educational attainment, and women who had been arrested would experience greater gains in legal knowledge over time, relative to non-White women, women with lower educational attainment, and women who had not been arrested.
Youth Perceptions of Law Enforcement and Worry About Crime from 1976 to 2016
Criminal Justice and BehaviorAdam D. Fine, Sachiko Donley, Caitlin Cavanagh, Elizabeth Cauffman
2020
Recent unjust interactions between law enforcement and youth of color may have provoked a “crisis” in American law enforcement. Utilizing Monitoring the Future’s data on distinct, cross-sectional cohorts of 12th graders from each year spanning 1976–2016, we examined whether youth perceptions of law enforcement have changed. We also traced youth worry about crime considering declining perceptions of law enforcement may correspond with increasing worry about crime.
Do callous–unemotional traits moderate the effects of the juvenile justice system on later offending behavior?
Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryEmily L. Robertson, Paul J. Frick, James V. Ray, Laura C. Thornton, Tina D. Wall Myers, Laurence Steinberg, Elizabeth Cauffman
2020
Research suggests that callous–unemotional (CU) traits, a recent addition to psychiatric classification of serious conduct problems, may moderate the influence of a number of contextual factors (e.g., parenting, deviant peer influence) on an adolescent’s adjustment. The current study sought to replicate past research showing that formal processing through the juvenile justice system increases recidivism and tested the novel hypothesis that CU traits would moderate the relationship between processing decision and future antisocial behavior.