Witness

A blog about forensic psychology

by Karen Franklin, Ph.D.

Military Scandal Unearths "Illegal" Psychiatric Diagnoses

Women in the U.S. military face staggering rates of sexual assault. And the abuse doesn't stop there: Many are revictimized by their chains of command, often with bogus psychiatric diagnoses as a key weapon. Read More

Forensic Psychology: A No-Compassion Zone?

Do empathy or compassion have a place in a forensic evaluation? Or should an evaluator turn off all feelings in order to remain neutral and unbiased? Read More

'Digital Lynch Mob' Assaults Expert Witness in Murder Trial

A mob of cyber-bullies is intent on destroying the career of a domestic violence expert. Her crime? Testifying on the wrong side in a murder trial. Read More

God's Jury: Exploring Inquisitions, Then and Now

Modern bureaucracies contain the raw materials of inquisitions potentially far vaster and more destructive than anything wrought by the Catholic Church. Read More

"Narcoanalytics" Order in Aurora Massacre Case Unprecedented

A judge's order that the Aurora Colorado mass shooting suspect undergo a "narcoanalytic interview" has legal observers scratching their heads. Read More

"The best predictor of future behavior is … past behavior"

Accompanied by incendiary metaphors about ticking time bombs and hand grenades, the mantra is creeping into forensic psychology reports and court testimony. But is it really true? Read More

Newtown, CT Massacre Brings More Hand-Wringing

We are a nation that glorifies violence. Where is the outrage over the killings of at least 176 children by unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan over the past seven years? Read More

New documentary targets family court abuses

New documentary claims that thousands of mothers are forced to go on the run to protect their children from abusive fathers granted custody of children. Read More

Psychiatry Rejects Novel Sexual Disorder "Hebephilia"

Hebephilia, or the sexual attraction to young adolescents, was one of three highly controversial new sexual disorders proposed for the upcoming fifth edition of the influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). All three were rejected. Read More

Parody of Justice: Shooting Fish In a Barrel

The U.S. Supreme Court holds defendants to a higher standard when they seek to represent themselves. But no one intervened when one such defendant acted out a death wish. Read More

Freed Iran Hostage Slams US Solitary Confinement

Solitary in Iran nearly broke former hostage Shane Bauer. Then he visited Pelican Bay in California. Read More

Forensic Psychiatrists Reject Hebephilia - Again

It is clear to most observers that hebephilia -- sexual attraction to "early pubescent" minors -- is not accepted by the professional community as a mental disorder. What remains unclear is whether the American Psychiatric Association will get the message in time. Read More

Aurora Massacre: To Speak or Not to Speak?

The blood on the movie theater floor was still tacky when mental health professionals began pontificating on the psychology of the mass murderer. Among the brashest self-promoters was a forensic psychologist who shamelessly asserted his preternatural ability to "look inside the mind" of the Aurora, Colorado massacre suspect. Read More

Supreme Court Ruling on Juvenile Sentencing

Headline-grabbing rulings in Miller and Jackson do not actually ban life-without-parole sentences for juvenile killers. They just add a bit of discretion. Read More

Bow Ties: The Simple Solution to Expert Witness Credibility

If only "greatness" as an expert witness could be achieved through a tie. Read More

Research: Romney's Anti-Gay Assault Fits Typical Pattern

Romney's claims are precisely what most gay-bashers think and say, according to research on the motivations of antigay violence perpetrators. Read More

Homicidal Triad: Predictor of Violence or Urban Myth?

Legend tells of three behaviors common to serial killers: Firesetting, enuresis and cruelty to animals. But is the legend true? Read More

Damning Reconstruction of Notorious False Confession Case

As it turned out, this wasn't just one more rape in the Big Apple. Read More

No Other Country Condemns Children to Life Behind Bars

In locking up children for life, the U.S. is far out of step with the global community Read More

Internet stings: Does the fantasy defense hold water?

The former weapons inspector testified he thought he was chatting with a bored housewife, not a 15-year-old girl. The defense didn't work, but a new study suggests it may hold some truth. Read More

Why Does the United States Lock Up So Many People?

The statistics are shocking: One out of every 99 adults is quarantined behind bars in the United States, with larger and larger swaths of the civilian work force deployed as a captor class. Read More

Civil Commitment Petition Against Butner, NC Prisoner Dismissed

Sex offenses are upsetting, and their perpetrators creepy. Understandably, it's easy for jurors and even judges to brush aside legal technicalities and burdens of proof in the interest of keeping women and children safe. Read More

Appellate Court Upholds Exclusion of SPECT Evidence

On May 22, 2002, the body of Juliette Williamson was found washed up on Yerba Buena Island in the San Francisco Bay. Williamson and her long-time partner Bruce Brooks were well-known street performers known as the Chicago Brother and Sister Blues Band. For years, they had lived together in a purple school bus parked under a freeway. Read More

Good Tidings: Violence at an All-Time Low

Your date asks you out to the theater to watch a live cat slowly lowered into a fire and burned to death, howling with pain as it is singed, roasted, and finally carbonized. Sound like fun? Read More

Psychology Rife with Inaccurate Research Findings

The case of a Dutch psychologist who fabricated experiments out of whole cloth for at least a decade is shining a spotlight on systemic flaws in the reporting of psychological research.

Diederik Stapel, a well-known and widely published psychologist in the Netherlands, routinely falsified data and made up entire experiments, according to an investigative committee. Read More

Predicting Behavior: The Case of the Missing Militant

There is an oft-repeated axiom in our field that the most reliable predictor of future behavior is what a person has done in the past.

But this axiom valid?

Let's take the example of Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, featured on America's Most Wanted. Read More

Psychologists' DSM5 Petition Catching like Wildfire

An online petition by psychologists concerned about the lack of science underlying proposed changes in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is taking off like wildfire, with more than 1,100 signatures as of this morning. Read More