tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23613583651936305382024-03-13T09:29:28.887-07:00IN THE NEWSA blog about forensic psychology, criminology, and psychology-lawKaren Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comBlogger943125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-72269120131061828952023-12-14T08:41:00.000-08:002023-12-14T08:41:09.561-08:00From the Marshall Project: Why it's almost impossible to fire a prison guard<h1>‘A Crazy System’: How Arbitration Returns Abusive Guards to New York Prisons</h1>
<div class="byline">By <span><a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/staff/alysia-santo" rel="author">Alysia Santo</a></span> and <span><a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/staff/joseph-neff" rel="author">Joseph Neff</a></span></div>
<p><em>This article was first published by <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org">The Marshall Project</a>, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/subscribe">newsletters</a>, and follow them on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/marshallproj/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@marshallproj">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/marshall_project">Reddit</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheMarshallProject.org">Facebook</a>. It is reprrinted with permission.</em></p>
<p>A guard working at a Hudson Valley prison <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216251-arb-report-pummeling#document/p1/a2415022">pummeled</a> a 19-year-old shackled by the legs to a restraint chair. An officer at a facility near the Canadian border denied food to a man in solitary confinement 13 times over a week. Outside Albany, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216266-excerpt-of-arbitrators-report-in-greene-prison-case#document/p1/a2415029">a guard told a prisoner,</a> “That’s how you get dumped on your fucking head,” then smashed his head into a wall.</p>
<p>Each time, New York state officials fired the guards. Each time, they appealed. Each time, private arbitrators gave the officers their jobs back.</p>
<p>Between 2010 and 2022, arbitrators reinstated three out of every four guards fired for abuse or covering it up, <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/12/14/new-york-prison-guard-arbitration-how-we-investigated">according to a review</a> by The Marshall Project of 136 cases. The decisions the outside arbitrators wrote heavily favored prison guards, even in the face of strong evidence against them.</p>
<p>Just two arbitrators handled about half of these cases, the review found. Arbitrators often dismissed prisoners’ testimony as unreliable and criticized the state for putting on weak cases, according to a review of disciplinary records. Among the cases in which arbitrators upheld the firings of officers, a majority came after coworkers contradicted the accused guard.</p>
<p>In effect, arbitrators — typically private lawyers — can overrule personnel decisions made by the corrections department’s senior leadership, including the commissioner appointed by the governor.</p>
<p>Former New York state corrections Commissioner Brian Fischer said arbitration is “a crazy system” that doesn’t benefit the public. “The employee should be terminated, the inmate should not be abused,” he said. “And yet we let it go on and on.”</p>
<p>Current and former arbitrators say the system has a limited role: to protect a worker from a supervisor’s unfair decision, based on the evidence. “Those laws are not written to protect management,” said James Cooper, who decided New York prison guard cases for about 30 years. “Those laws are designed to protect the employees.”</p>
<aside>This article was published in partnership with <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/">Albany Times Union</a>, <a href="https://www.investigativepost.org/">Investigative Post</a> and <a href="https://nysfocus.com/">New York Focus</a>.</aside>
<p>As The Marshall Project and The New York Times previously reported, the state almost <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/05/19/new-york-prison-corrections-officer-abuse-prisoners">never succeeds</a> in firing guards. Experts say this helps <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/05/22/new-york-prison-corrections-officer-abuse-cover-up">sustain a culture of cover-ups</a> among corrections officers who falsify reports and send beating victims to solitary confinement.</p>
<p>Arbitration loosely resembles a trial. The prison agency investigates misconduct and presents evidence at a hearing, which can last days, to defend its decision to fire a staffer. The state and the guards’ union call officers, prisoners and experts as witnesses before the arbitrator, whose role resembles that of a judge. Both sides help select the arbitrator.</p>
<figure><img src="https://d1n0c1ufntxbvh.cloudfront.net/photo/b0804faf/91540/2000x/" alt="A view of the entrance gate of Attica Correctional Facility in New York, at dusk. " width="2000" height="1096"><figcaption>New York’s corrections department tried to fire Frank Nowicki, a guard at Attica prison, pictured here. He was accused of participating in a group beating of a prisoner, but an arbitrator returned him to work.<cite>Heather Ainsworth for The Marshall Project </cite></figcaption></figure>
<p>Arbitrators typically make rulings based on the preponderance of the evidence — meaning the misconduct was more likely than not to have occurred. But in practice, The Marshall Project analysis found, they often didn’t fire guards unless there was overwhelming evidence. Nearly every abuse case in which a guard’s firing was upheld relied on the statements of coworkers, video or DNA evidence, according to the review. There was one exception, and in that case, eight prisoners testified against the officer.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, the department as a whole has been very comfortable with lying on reports for years,” said John Ginnitti, who spent 15 years as an internal investigator after 19 years as a prison guard.</p>
<p>The rarity of firings sends the message to officers that misbehavior imposes little risk or cost.</p>
<p>“Hey, this strategy works for us,” Ginnitti said. “Why would we change it?”</p>
<p>In an email response to written questions, a spokesman for the corrections department wrote that the agency “does not speak for or represent disciplinary arbitrators, as they are independent third parties.”</p>
<p>The prison guards union president said in a statement that while his organization takes reports of abuse seriously, it has a duty to defend members from any allegations.</p>
<p>“Other than successfully defending our members a majority of the time in the cases cited, we have no influence over the decision the arbitrator makes,” said Chris Summers of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. “It is a system that is independent, fair and just.”</p>
<p>The limited but growing number of body and wall cameras in many New York prisons means that video evidence was often unavailable in the cases reviewed. In its statement to The Marshall Project, the department pointed out that it has spent hundreds of millions in recent years installing more cameras in prisons and expanding its body camera program.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, cracks in the blue wall are rare. Officers who report a colleague’s wrongdoing can face harassment and threats on the job.</p>
<p>Cody Mackey was a trainee at Five Points prison in the Finger Lakes region in 2016 when he reported misconduct he said he witnessed, records show. A prisoner had thrown clear liquid at him and two other guards. Mackey went into a staff bathroom to remove his shirt as evidence and found one of the officers urinating on his own and the second guard’s uniforms — they were trying to frame the prisoner. Video captured the guards <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216280-excerpt-of-arbitrators-report-in-five-points-prison-case#document/p1/a2415034">discussing the scheme</a>, according to state records. Prison officials fired them.</p>
<p>The guards appealed. Mackey’s testimony and a DNA analysis of the urine convinced the arbitrator to fire the guard who urinated and a sergeant who covered it up; the other officer was suspended for 9 months. By then, prison managers had removed Mackey from Five Points over concerns for his safety. He was transferred to another prison, where, on his first day, two correctional officers called him a rat to his face. Someone took to the public announcement system to say, “Things are going to be different here than at Five Points,” according to arbitration records. He resigned at the end of his shift.</p>
<p>The prison department spokesman said employees who retaliate against staff for reporting wrongdoing are investigated and held accountable.</p>
<p>Mackey said the FBI opened an investigation into additional threats made against him on Facebook and elsewhere.</p>
<p>“I didn't get union protection,” he said. “They're protecting the bad COs.”</p>
<hr>
<p>Shortly after two guards said they used force to subdue a prisoner who attacked them at Wende prison, near Buffalo, in 2014, investigators received a complaint that the prisoner had been assaulted.</p>
<p>In their reports, guards David Nixon and Richard Mazzola claimed that they punched the prisoner several times in the side and shoulder. But the man had a boot-shaped bruise on his back, and he said that officers had broken three of his teeth, according to arbitration records.</p>
<p>The prison agency fired the guards, who appealed. When the case went before an arbitrator, doctors for both the union and the state testified that the prisoner’s wounds were consistent with a baton strike and a boot-heel stomp.</p>
<p>The two guards testified that they used force to gain control of a prisoner who had attacked Mazzola. They stuck with what they wrote in their use of force reports, which did not account for the prisoner’s serious injuries.</p>
<p>Arbitrator Samuel Butto ruled in 2016 that the officers were guilty of lying in their reports and that they deserved severe penalties. But he still reversed their firings, citing their excellent work histories. He ordered them back on the job after a 12-month suspension without pay.</p>
<p>In an emailed response, Butto declined to discuss individual cases. “I have always approached each case with all its complexities objectively, and reviewed my decisions with great care to preserve or restore the rights of all concerned,” Butto wrote.</p>
<p>Nixon did not respond to a request for comment; Mazzola declined. Acting as his own lawyer, the prisoner sued the guards for excessive use of force; in 2020, the state paid him $9,200 to settle the case.</p>
<p>A good work history was one of the most common reasons arbitrators cited in reinstating fired officers. This held true even in cases where the state presented video or other strong evidence of mistreatment.</p>
<p>In one case, video captured an officer threatening to “dump” a prisoner before slamming his head into a wall, according to arbitration records. The state argued that video evidence proved the guard used excessive force and needed to be fired. But the arbitrator, Timothy Taylor, was not convinced the head slam was intentional — it could have been an “inartful attempt to bring the inmate under control,” <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216300-excerpt-of-arbitrators-report-in-greene-prison-case-2#document/p1/a2415052">he wrote</a>. Taylor found the officer not guilty.</p>
<p>Reached by phone, Taylor declined to comment, and he did not respond to detailed written questions.</p>
<p>Of the more than 100 officers that arbitrators returned to work, just over half were found guilty of at least some of the charges and had their penalties reduced, usually to a suspension. The others were found not guilty of all charges.</p>
<p>In about half of the reinstatements, arbitrators said the state hadn’t provided enough evidence to prove its case. Arbitrators also cited flawed or incomplete investigations by the state, such as failing to interview key witnesses. A spokesman said that the corrections department considers flawed investigations to be a rare occurrence, and that after a case concludes, state officials meet internally “to ensure we address any concerns noted by the arbitrator in future investigations.”</p>
<p>At the same time, prison abuse cases can be difficult to prove, said Cooper, the former arbitrator. The abuse takes place in a closed environment where guards cover for each other and a prisoner’s credibility can be undermined by their criminal records and inconsistencies in their stories. “You’ve got lousy witnesses with the prisoners, you’ve got liars with the officers, and physical evidence is hard to come by,” Cooper said.</p>
<p>Cases often come down to the guards' words versus the prisoners. Arbitrators did not find the accounts of prisoners credible in a third of the reinstatements The Marshall Project reviewed.</p>
<p>Police departments also frequently use arbitration, drawing scrutiny in recent years. Arbitrators have ordered police leaders to rehire officers accused of serious misconduct, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/us/oklahoma-officers-reinstated-quadry-sanders-shooting.html">unjustified fatal shootings</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/police-fired-rehired/">sexual assault</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/fired-rehired-three-shootings-in-three-years/">drug trafficking</a>.</p>
<p>Arbitrators returned police to work in about half of excessive force cases, according to Stephen Rushin, a law professor at Loyola University Chicago who has analyzed hundreds of arbitration decisions nationwide. That’s far less than the three-quarters of fired prison guards who have been reinstated in New York.</p>
<p>In recent years, some states have changed laws governing arbitration for police officers. Oregon now limits the power of arbitrators to reduce the punishment handed down by management. Minnesota has a new law that prevents unions and police departments from selecting arbitrators.</p>
<p>New York correctional officers gained the right to arbitration as the final step in a guard’s firing in 1972. In the decades since, the guards’ union has successfully fought to keep arbitration, despite efforts by the Legislature and governor to change the process. In 2019, officials negotiated a contract change that <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216310-excerpt-from-nyscopbas-contract#document/p2/a2415055">created three-person arbitration panels</a> for the most serious cases, hoping to give the state more power to fire guards. Each panel would have representatives from both the union and the state as well as an independent arbitrator appointed on a rotating basis.</p>
<p>Four years on, the department and the union have never used the new panels. The union contract expired at the end of March but remains in effect while Gov. Kathy Hochul's office negotiates a new agreement.</p>
<p>The reliance on arbitrators to resolve disciplinary disputes exists in most union contracts, said Harry C. Katz, a professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University. Management typically fails to fire employees because it puts on poor cases, he said.</p>
<p>Public agencies like to blame arbitrators, and that may be true in some cases, but officials seldom acknowledge their own agencies’ failings, Katz said.</p>
<p>“If management really doesn’t like how it’s working, negotiate a different contract,” he said. ”Yeah, it’s difficult, but not impossible.”</p>
<hr>
<p>When New York union representatives appeal a guard’s firing, they and prison officials choose the arbitrator by ranking a list of candidates.</p>
<p>The Marshall Project requested these selection records, but the agency that administers state arbitrations insisted they are secret.</p>
<p>Corrections department records show that some arbitrators get picked much more often than others. Butto and Taylor were selected most, handling half of the abuse cases reviewed. The other half of the cases were split among 19 arbitrators.</p>
<p>Dan Nielsen, former president of the National Academy of Arbitrators, said it’s not unusual for certain arbitrators to be selected more than others. It’s a reflection of the confidence both sides have in them, he said. “If there’s someone who is mutually acceptable, that’s the person who gets the case.”</p>
<p>Butto and Taylor took different paths to full-time arbitration work. Butto <a href="https://perb.ny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/821.pdf">spent 10 years</a> at the corrections department and represented the state at arbitration hearings, trying to fire guards for misconduct. Taylor, by contrast, worked for <a href="https://perb.ny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/881.pdf">more than two decades</a> as a lawyer representing New York’s teachers’ union.</p>
<figure><img src="https://d1n0c1ufntxbvh.cloudfront.net/photo/18a3799a/91539/2000x/" alt="A view of the exterior of Great Meadow Correctional Facility during the day. Cars are parked in front of the orange-brown colored building, which has arched windows. " width="2000" height="1133"><figcaption>Arbitrator Timothy Taylor upheld the termination of a lieutenant at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in New York, pictured here, in 2020, but determined that almost half of the officers who appeared before him in other cases were not guilty.<cite>John Carl D’Annibale/Times Union</cite></figcaption></figure>
<p>Each man upheld the firings of guards about 20% of the time, according to The Marshall Project’s analysis. Taylor terminated a lieutenant at Great Meadow prison in the Adirondacks who had 22 years of outstanding job evaluations but a history of using excessive force. Butto fired an officer for a beatdown and cover-up, partly because the guard didn’t testify on his own behalf or express remorse.</p>
<p>But from there, their decisions about abuse cases diverged.</p>
<p>Taylor determined that almost half of the officers who appeared before him were not guilty, reasoning that the state’s cases were too weak to prove the allegations, according to the review. In contrast, Butto found most officers were guilty of at least some of the abuse-related charges. But rather than fire them, he decided the majority should instead be suspended, typically citing an officer’s good work history as a mitigating factor.</p>
<p>Both are experienced arbitrators. <a href="https://perb.ny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/821.pdf">Butto</a> is a member of the Labor and Employment Relations Association and serves on several arbitration panels, according to his resume. <a href="https://perb.ny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/881.pdf">Taylor</a> was the first person of color to chair the labor and employment law section of the New York State Bar Association.</p>
<p>They have both decided cases for a variety of New York agencies. For the state prison department, Taylor not only presides over disciplinary disputes, but also resolves disagreements about the union's contract.</p>
<p>The payment for a prison arbitration case is limited to $1,200 per day, split between the union and the state, but the pay can be substantial. Arbitrators have billed the union and the state tens of thousands of dollars for a single excessive-force case, according to invoice records.</p>
<p>In some cases, arbitrators have returned accused officers to work even when prisoners suffered severe injuries.</p>
<p>The prison agency tried to fire an Attica guard, Frank Nowicki, after accusing him of participating in a group beating of a prisoner who needed 13 staples to close two head wounds. At the arbitration hearing, a neurologist testified that the wounds were consistent with baton strikes. The union’s expert, the warden of Attica, cited his 35 years of prison experience and testified that he did not believe the wounds were caused by a baton.</p>
<p>Taylor found the neurologist’s testimony lacking. “Although a very impressive witness,” <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24216447-excerpt-of-arbitrators-report-in-attica-prison-case#document/p1/a2415066">Taylor wrote</a>, he “is not an expert on baton strikes or what injuries caused by batons look like.”</p>
<p>The arbitrator declared the prisoner not credible for making inconsistent statements in different reports and wrote that the state failed to prove its case. He found Nowicki not guilty, and returned him to work.</p>
<p>Three years later, the state paid $45,000 to settle a lawsuit the prisoner filed against Nowicki and other officers for the physical and emotional wounds he suffered. Nowicki, who did not respond to requests for comment, denied the allegation of abuse during the arbitration and in the lawsuit.</p>
<p>Ginnitti, the retired investigator who was in charge of the Nowicki investigation, said arbitrators have a financial interest that discourages them from firing guards.</p>
<p>An arbitrator “knows darn sure that if he fires too many people, or somebody that the union feels he shouldn't, he's never getting picked for arbitration again,” Ginnitti said.</p>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-15121544853624218532023-06-11T12:23:00.002-07:002023-06-13T09:38:40.573-07:00Forensic psychologists denied absolute immunity<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></h4><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Does working for a government agency give a forensic psychologist license to do or say pretty much anything without legal consequence, even if it violates a subject’s Constitutional rights?</b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></h3><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmc0O44N212-rb3Yx7nvv3J4hD6go7O-OOOralpn2xPPSeuWTILGbwQ8t_IEJRYYuxEUd9lEss7SPQAPHjGP5VqTqdUORLyEhzKKaLaOjHOg3OahJO_x2hws_1Rzc7xpo0Da4jbt3g5ctU17AziCp1uKLZD5WISMkfV0cn0cq8ZV-kEYBGdjuGrfO/s1140/Parole-Board.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="1140" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmc0O44N212-rb3Yx7nvv3J4hD6go7O-OOOralpn2xPPSeuWTILGbwQ8t_IEJRYYuxEUd9lEss7SPQAPHjGP5VqTqdUORLyEhzKKaLaOjHOg3OahJO_x2hws_1Rzc7xpo0Da4jbt3g5ctU17AziCp1uKLZD5WISMkfV0cn0cq8ZV-kEYBGdjuGrfO/w421-h280/Parole-Board.jpeg" width="421" /></a></div>That is the intriguing question addressed by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a recent decision relating to the civil rights of people behind bars. <br /><br />The <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/03/13/21-16906.pdf">ruling in <i>Gay v. Parsons</i></a> stems from a risk assessment by two psychologists working for California’s Board of Parole Hearings. Omar Sharrieff Gay, a California prisoner, filed suit against the psychologists, claiming that their opinion that he was at high risk for violence was influenced by racial and religious animus.<br /><br />Gay was serving an indeterminate sentence of nine years to life for the attempted murder of a police officer. His crime took place in 1989, when he was a 21-year-old member of the Crips gang. A few years after going to prison, he converted to Islam and quit the gang.<br /><br />In his civil rights claim, Gay described the psychologists' 2015 interview of him as feeling like “a military or police style interrogation.” He claimed that psychologists Amy Parsons and Gregory Goldstein asked hostile questions and made prejudicial comments, including:<br /><br /><i>“Why do you hate white people and Jews?” <br /><br />“With everything going on in the world, at home with [Muslims], we don’t know if you are just another radical Islamic terrorist.” </i><br /><br />When Gay took offense and asked if they would be asking those questions if he were a white Christian, Goldstein allegedly replied, “You’re a high risk for violence with that sarcastic attitude.” <br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Absolute immunity?</h3><p>In their defense, the psychologists argued that they were absolutely immune from liability because they performed a function that was integral to the Parole Board, whose officers are immune from liability over their decisions. They contended that objectivity would suffer if psychologists had to worry about being sued over adverse opinions. <br /><br />The Ninth Circuit disagreed.<br /><br />Unlike the Parole Board officers, the psychologists did not have decision-making authority. Rather, their roles were merely advisory. Furthermore, the appellate opinion noted, they had not offered any evidence that their risk-assessment work subjected them to a burdensome volume of legal complaints. “An abstract fear of vexatious litigation” is not enough to merit immunity, the court held. <br /><br />Further, Judge M. Margaret McKeown observed, the psychologists’ argument “ironically puts [them] in a position of hypothetically violating their professional principles and standards [that require them to] ‘exercise reasonable judgment and take precautions to ensure that their potential biases, the boundaries of their competence, and the limitations of their expertise do not lead to or condone unjust practices.’ ”<br /><br />I did locate a contrasting decision in another California case, in which a psychologist was granted quasi-judicial (aka absolute) immunity. The distinction was that in that case, a child custody matter, the court had delegated decision-making authority to the psychologist to make certain orders regarding visitation. Without quasi-judicial immunity, the First Appellate District <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2014/a137802.html">ruled in <i>Bergeron v Boyd</i></a>, custody evaluators would be “reluctant to accept court appointments or provide work product for the courts’ use. Additionally, the threat of civil liability may affect the manner in which they perform their jobs.”<br /><br />The case of Gay v. Parsons isn’t over yet.<br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Qualified immunity?</h3><p>There are two relevant kinds of immunity. There is absolute immunity, aka quasi-judicial immunity. This is the kind that judges get when acting in their judicial capacities. Similarly, legislators and government prosecutors. <br /><br />Then there is <a href="https://eji.org/issues/qualified-immunity/">qualified immunity</a>. That’s the 1967 SCOTUS doctrine that has enabled police to get away with so much corrupt and violent conduct. It bestows immunity to government representatives who unlawfully violate a person’s constitutional rights unless they should have known at that time that they were violating “clearly established law” based on a prior similar case. <br /><br />With the Ninth Circuit ruling that the psychologists are barred from claiming absolute immunity, the case now reverts back to a district court for a determination as to whether the psychologists can claim this qualified immunity.<br /><br />The psychologists may have more luck with this. I found several judicial decisions around the country in which psychologists were granted qualified immunity. These included <a href="https://thepsychologytimes.com/2020/08/10/judge-rules-ms-monic-entitled-to-immunity/">one in Louisiana</a> where the psychologist was assisting the state’s psychology board, as well as cases in both <a href="https://jaapl.org/content/47/3/367">Louisiana</a> and <a href="https://jaapl.org/content/45/4/495">Nebraska</a> involving clinicians working at state hospitals. <br /><br />In contrast, in a previous Ninth Circuit case, <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb01/jn"><i>Jensen v. Lane County</i></a>, the court held that a psychiatrist who was evaluating individuals for the county to determine their eligibility for involuntary hospitalization was <i><u>not</u></i> entitled to qualified immunity.<br /><br />So, it could go either way.<br /><br />Whatever the outcome of his lawsuit, Omar Gay has moved on. <br /><br />After he underwent a new risk assessment by a different psychologist who deemed him at only moderate risk, the Parole Board voted in October 2021 to cut him loose. He was 53 years old at the time, and had spent 32 years behind bars. </p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p><p><span style="color: #990000;">A YouTube video of the 9th Circuit hearing in <i>Gay v. Parsons</i> is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZLBVorubQ8">HERE</a>. A webinar on psychology and qualified immunity, featuring psycholegal scholar Jessica Bregant of Indiana University, is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbdZPPcG74">HERE</a>. </span><br /></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /><br /><p></p>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-11782283352949130892020-02-15T15:00:00.000-08:002020-02-16T10:12:11.147-08:00Flawed science? Two efforts launched to improve scientific validity of psychological test evidence in court<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-i_9kG7p3jDYda5_gCZN34Q711i_sBIFCbLsmPHr0OAKwZIDRciqRp1aGHVvjZZuQWu6NRn10xJGFiGIITpqLqtOJBCMOm1gkGAqJT2x5BJ9rf3LLeLDakz-TFXYeVw5G0cGEuUCiOQ/s1600/Expert+mansplain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="484" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-i_9kG7p3jDYda5_gCZN34Q711i_sBIFCbLsmPHr0OAKwZIDRciqRp1aGHVvjZZuQWu6NRn10xJGFiGIITpqLqtOJBCMOm1gkGAqJT2x5BJ9rf3LLeLDakz-TFXYeVw5G0cGEuUCiOQ/s400/Expert+mansplain2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
There’s this forensic psychologist, we’ll call him Dr. Harms, who is infamous for his unorthodox approach. He scampers around the country deploying a bizarre admixture of obscure, outdated and unpublished tests that no one else has ever heard of.
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Oh, and the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). Dr. Harms never omits that. To him, everyone is a chillingly dangerous psychopath. Even a 30-year-old whose last crime was at age 15.
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What’s most bizarre about Dr. Harms’s esoteric method is that he gets away with it. Attorneys may try to challenge him in court, but their protests usually fall flat. Judges rule that any weaknesses in his method should go to the “weight” that jurors give Dr. Harm’s opinions, rather than the admissibility of his tests.
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Psychological tests hold a magical allure as objective truth. They retain their luster even while forensic science techniques previously regarded as bulletproof are undergoing <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2009/02/clueless-science.html" target="_blank">unprecedented scrutiny</a>. Based in large part on our briefcases full of tests, courts have granted psychologists unprecedented influence over an ever-increasing array of thorny issues, from future dangerousness to parental fitness to refugee trauma. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, a lucrative test-production industry is gleefully rubbing its hands all the way to the bank.
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In other forensic “science” niches such as bite-mark analysis and similar types of pattern matching that have contributed to wrongful convictions, appellate attorneys have had to wage grueling, decades-long efforts to reign in shoddy practice. (See Radley Balko's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cadaver-King-Country-Dentist-Injustice/dp/B0716Z5P24/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=country+dentist+radley+balko&qid=1581463632&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist</a> </i>for more on this.) But leaders in the field of forensic psychology are grabbing the bull by the horns and inviting us to do better, proposing novel ways for us to self-police.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">New report slams "junk science” psychological assessments </span></span></i></h2>
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In one of two significant developments, a group of researchers today released evidence of systematic problems with the state of psychological test admissibility in court. The researchers' <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/psychological-assessment-in-legal-contexts-are-courts-keeping-junk-science-out-of-the-courtroom.html" target="_blank">comprehensive survey</a> found that only about two-thirds of the tools used by clinicians in forensic settings were generally accepted in the field, while even fewer -- only about four in ten -- were favorably reviewed in authoritative sources such as the <a href="https://buros.org/mental-measurements-yearbook" target="_blank"><i>Mental Measurements Yearbook</i></a>. <br />
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Despite this, psychological tests are rarely challenged when they are introduced in court, <a href="https://newcollege.asu.edu/tess-neal" target="_blank">Tess M.S. Neal</a> and her colleagues found. Even when they are, the challenges fail about two-thirds of the time. Worse yet, there is little relationship between a tool’s psychometric quality and the likelihood of it being challenged. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2rdAXSuIzknx_Ale-CgQnQ6WP4pgXiyM5FvNxBx2ba2BIStvSxrVPPD60_VMdZ-r4uPL87DDSut6aD3dggXd8fMqvbhF_HfHUFt3FMOZoDtVuldNYWB-KxWfLzW3A7Lw67GxICtB4zYY/s1600/MACI-II-Ad-Pearson.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1348" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2rdAXSuIzknx_Ale-CgQnQ6WP4pgXiyM5FvNxBx2ba2BIStvSxrVPPD60_VMdZ-r4uPL87DDSut6aD3dggXd8fMqvbhF_HfHUFt3FMOZoDtVuldNYWB-KxWfLzW3A7Lw67GxICtB4zYY/s400/MACI-II-Ad-Pearson.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Slick ad for one of a myriad of new psych tests. </i></td></tr>
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“Some of the weakest tools tend to get a pass from the courts,” write the authors of the newly issued report, "Psychological Assessments in Legal Contexts: Are Courts Keeping 'Junk Science' Out of the Courtroom?”<br />
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<a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/psychological-assessment-in-legal-contexts-are-courts-keeping-junk-science-out-of-the-courtroom.html" target="_blank">The report</a>, currently in press in the journal <i>Psychological Science in the Public Interest</i>, proposes that standard batteries be developed for forensic use, based on the consensus of experts in the field as to which tests are the most reliable and valid for assessing a given psycholegal issue. It further cautions against forensic deployment of newly developed tests that are being marketed by for-profit corporations before adequate research or review by independent professionals.
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Life or death" call to halt prejudicial use of psychopathy test </span></span></i></h2>
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In a parallel development in the field, 13 prominent forensic psychologists have issued a rare public rebuke of improper use of the controversial Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) in court. The group is calling for a halt to the use of the PCL-R in the sentencing phase of death-penalty cases as evidence that a convicted killer will be especially dangerous if sentenced to life in prison rather than death.
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As I’ve reported previously in a series of posts (<a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/03/psychopathy-rorschach-test-for.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/03/remarkable-experiment-proves-pull-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>, for example), scores on the PCL-R swing wildly in forensic settings based on which side hired the expert. In a phenomenon known as <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2015/09/adversarial-allegiance-frontier-of.html" target="_blank"><b>adversarial allegiance</b></a>, prosecution-retained experts produce scores in the high-psychopathy range in about half of cases, as compared with less than one out of ten cases for defense experts.
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Research does not support testimony being given by prosecution experts in capital trials that PCL-R scores can accurately predict serious violence in institutional settings such as prison, according to the newly formed Group of Concerned Forensic Mental Health Professionals. And once such a claim is made in court, its prejudicial impact on jurors is hard to overcome, potentially leading to a vote for execution.
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The <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-05031-001" target="_blank">"Statement of Concerned Experts,"</a> whose authors include prominent professionals who helped to develop and test the PCL-R, is forthcoming from the respected journal <i>Psychology, Public Policy, and Law</i>.
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Beware the all-powerful law of unintended consequences
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This scrutiny of how psychological instruments are being used in forensic practice is much needed and long overdue. Perhaps eventually it may even trickle down to our friend Dr. Harms, although I have a feeling it won't be before his retirement.
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But never underestimate the law of unintended consequences.
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The research group that surveyed psychological test use in the courts developed a complex, seemingly objective method to sort tests according to whether they were generally accepted in the field and/or favorably reviewed by independent researchers and test reviewers.
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Ironically enough, one of the tests that they categorized as meeting both criteria – general acceptance and favorable review – was the PCL-R, the same test being targeted by the other consortium for its improper deployment and prejudicial impact in court. (Perhaps not so coincidentally, that test is a favorite of the aforementioned Dr. Harms, who likes to score it high.)
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The disconnect illustrates the fact that science doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Psychopathy is a value-laden construct that owes its popularity in large part to current cultural values, which favor the individual-pathology model of criminal conduct over notions of rehabilitation and desistance from crime.
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It’s certainly understandable why reformers would suggest the development of “standard batteries … based on the best clinical tools available.” The problem comes in deciding what is “best.”<br />
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Who will be privileged to make those choices (which will inevitably reify the dominant orthodoxy and its implicit assumptions)?<br />
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What alternatives will those choices exclude? And at whose expense?<br />
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And will that truly result in fairer and more scientifically defensible practice in the courtroom?<br />
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It’s exciting that forensic psychology leaders are drawing attention to the dark underbelly of psychological test deployment in forensic practice. But despite our best efforts, I fear that equitable solutions may remain thorny and elusive.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The survey of forensic test use in court, in press in the journal </i>Psychological Science in the Public Interest <i>(the journal of the <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/" target="_blank">Association for Psychological Science</a>) is open-access and available online (<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/10.1177%2F1529100619888860+-+FREE/pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>). A brief review of the new study is available on the APS website (<a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/2020-02-pspi-court-data.html#.XkmCNtu8nIo.twitter" target="_blank">HERE</a>). </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The critique of the PCL-R in capital sentencing can be requested from the first author, <a href="mailto:david.dematteo@drexel.edu" target="_blank">David DeMatteo</a>. The abstract is <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-05031-001" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Supplemental materials can be found <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/law0000223.supp" target="_blank">HERE</a>. DeMatteo is a co-author of the new book, </i><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Becoming-a-Forensic-Psychologist-1st-Edition/DeMatteo-Fairfax-Columbo-Desai/p/book/9781138595408" target="_blank">B</a><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">ecoming a Forensic Psychologist</a>, <i>of potential interest to some of this blog's readers. </i></span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-16794342470823582092020-01-14T10:36:00.004-08:002020-01-16T08:52:05.308-08:00Showdown: DNA evidence vs. cognitive bias<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk8Aox0s_tjbIH8Uf94Fg5KIRlCDqyi92XkGmuSWz5Q8wsvZ5lJBOowHVX0Sidt8O-9Gu9-UcdLlaR_n4fDoBGCzml6tDsC8f3_OytKtkFERbeLFsYzm-pWktZ0PpmVPBjt-ajoVEFik/s1600/DNA+v+Cognitive+Bias.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1218" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk8Aox0s_tjbIH8Uf94Fg5KIRlCDqyi92XkGmuSWz5Q8wsvZ5lJBOowHVX0Sidt8O-9Gu9-UcdLlaR_n4fDoBGCzml6tDsC8f3_OytKtkFERbeLFsYzm-pWktZ0PpmVPBjt-ajoVEFik/s400/DNA+v+Cognitive+Bias.jpg" title="DNA versus Cogntive Bias" width="400" /></a></div>
Back in the 1980s, southern Alameda County in the East Bay was the hellmouth for serial murder. As a newspaper reporter covering the crime beat, I was reporting on at least three separate fiends prowling the suburbs and picking off young teenage girls at whim.
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It was harder to stop them back then. Forensic DNA was still <a href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i37/Thirty-years-DNA-forensics-DNA.html" target="_blank">in its infancy</a>. The <a href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i37/Thirty-years-DNA-forensics-DNA.html" target="_blank">historic evidentiary hearings</a> in Oakland, California on the admissibility of DNA typing, with full-scale scientific battles tying up courtrooms for months on end, were still a few years away.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KwkTEdV1ucVvMoAbGD0s5yz9wsIjNPXEKd3bSNA3p2flQTW-B7s82pFtKW63tLO3DXtXHNG5Hb2Ou2WEiKPUVCjVHXZQtSE1AvefjR7QlaZejefe4QAKeasu0RsVVYGWdQ2fI8nX0wE/s1600/Tina+Faelz%252Bmo+Shirley+Orosco.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="301" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KwkTEdV1ucVvMoAbGD0s5yz9wsIjNPXEKd3bSNA3p2flQTW-B7s82pFtKW63tLO3DXtXHNG5Hb2Ou2WEiKPUVCjVHXZQtSE1AvefjR7QlaZejefe4QAKeasu0RsVVYGWdQ2fI8nX0wE/s320/Tina+Faelz%252Bmo+Shirley+Orosco.png" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tina Faelz and her mother Shirley</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fourteen-year-old Tina Faelz was one of the victims. In 1984, she was found dead with 44 stab wounds. She had taken a shortcut through a drainage culvert while walking home from school.
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(As a side note, Tina had walked home that day because a group of girls was planning to beat her up if she rode the bus. Bullies tyrannized Foothill High School in suburban Pleasanton; on the same day as Tina’s murder, an alpha-male bully threw a football player into a dumpster and locked the lid.)
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Detectives had no shortage of suspects. There was the mother’s violent boyfriend. There was the aforementioned school bully, whom someone had spotted near the crime scene. There was a man who was arrested shortly after Tina’s death for a similar assault in which the girl managed to escape.
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What they lacked was hard evidence.
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The case went cold for decades. It was finally cracked just a few years ago, thanks to the intersection of DNA science and a cop’s pregnancy. Detective Dana Savage couldn’t be on the streets due to her pregnancy, so she decided to take a gander at the vexing cold case.
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Detective Savage was fairly certain that the culprit was one of two serial killers who’d been active in the region at the time; she just didn’t know which one. Based on the vigor of the attack, she figured the killer must have shed some blood, so all she needed was something to test for DNA. She struck gold with the victim’s purse, which had been found lodged in a nearby tree.
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But when Savage got the call from the crime lab, she was in for a surprise. The culprit was not one of the serial killers. Nor was it any of the original suspects.
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It was the 16-year-old classmate who’d been thrown into the school dumpster earlier in the day.
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After killing Tina, Steven Carlson had dropped out of school and spent the next 30 years abusing meth and bouncing in and out of custody. When police came to talk to him, he started retching violently. He was tried and convicted, and is now serving <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/A144048.PDF" target="_blank">a 16–to-life sentence</a>.
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It’s unfortunate that it took so long to catch the killer. But on the bright side, the Pleasanton police did things right: They kept their minds open and never fixated on the wrong person. That would have been far worse.
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Barking up wrong trees</span></b></i><br />
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In other cases during that violent era, police sometimes got it tragically wrong. For example, when 8-year-old girl Cannie Bullock was raped and murdered in her home in nearby San Pablo, Detective Mark Harrison <a href="https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/12/15/jury-selection-begins-in-trial-for-alleged-rape-killing-in-1979/" target="_blank">fixated relentlessly on William Flores</a>, the sexually creepy guy next door, literally driving him to his grave. (If every creepy guy was a murderer there wouldn’t be many women left on the planet, or even many male cops if you believe the dismal statistics in the must-watch Netflix series <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/09/13/unbelievable-review-netflix-series-harrowing-must-watch/2165471001/" target="_blank"><i>Unbelievable</i></a>.) Even after Flores self-immolated, the detective wouldn’t let him rest in peace. Once DNA technology became available, Harrison got a court order to dig up Flores’s body, certain the test results would clear the long-dormant case.
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He was dead wrong. The DNA didn’t match that found on the little girl’s body.
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(That case went cold for many years. Finally, DNA from a man convicted of sexual assault in Colorado was routinely entered into a database, which spit out a match. The killer, Joseph Cordova, was never a suspect in the girl’s killing, although he lived and worked in the area and had used drugs with the girl’s mother. He is now parked on California’s death row.)
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But here’s the really bad news: Even with modern DNA technology’s miraculous crime-solving capabilities, fixations like Detective Harrison’s still lead police astray with some regularity. In particular, forensic science is no match for <i>a priori</i> stereotypes about the bad guys.
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A case in point: The murder of elderly Leola Shreves in Yuba City, California.
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The attack was frenzied. <a href="https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/suspect-next-door/" target="_blank">As detailed</a> by <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/mgafni" target="_blank">Matthias Gafni</a>, the TV set was smashed and a door was ripped from its hinges. The 94-year-old victim had been tortured, strangled and beaten to a pulp. Her teeth were shattered, her jaw and back broken, and 17 of 24 ribs cracked. Her ears and scalp were nearly ripped from her skull.
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Police quickly latched onto the next-door neighbor, a socially awkward video-game devotee. Michael Alexander aroused police suspicion in part due to his troubled past: He had been arrested at age 15 for threatening to kill a high school teacher and burn down the school after fighting with and choking another student.
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Burdened with an intellectual disability, the 20-year-old was no match for the seasoned detectives who brought him in for questioning. When he denied ever being at his neighbor’s house, police lied to him, saying his fingerprints, shoe prints and DNA had all been found there. When he continued to profess his innocence, detectives suggested that maybe he had blacked out, and an alter ego named “Angry Mike” had committed the crime. Alexander’s naïve acceptance of the detectives’ ruses eventually led him to accede to their version of reality despite not having any recollection of it.
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For anyone with expertise on false confessions, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6603507-Interrogation.html" target="_blank">Alexander’s</a> had all the classic hallmarks. It was replete with maybes and probabilities. The details did not match the evidence from the crime scene. And Alexander immediately recanted. <br />
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“Have you been looking for the real killer?” he later asked the detectives.
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His question fell on deaf ears. He was arrested and charged with capital murder.
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Unbeknownst to him at the time, there was indeed an abundance of real physical evidence – DNA, fingerprints and shoe prints. All of it excluded him and pointed to someone else.
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Astonishingly, the identity of Shreve’s killer was in front of the detectives the entire time, but it took them six long years to realize it.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Armando Cuadras</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the night of the murder, a man named Armando Cuadras was found collapsed on the street just 300 yards away, drunk and badly injured. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but police failed to connect the two events. Cuadras, whose DNA was splattered all over the bloody crime scene, is now awaiting trial.
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Mental blinders </span></b></i><br />
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Cognitive scientists have various names for the mental processes that cause people to prematurely focus on one solution to the exclusion of other possibilities. Tunnel vision. Myopia. Confirmation bias. In essence, the Yuba City police identified a suspect, based in part on their preconceived ideas about what a guilty person should look like, and in the process closed their minds to alternate possibilities.
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Then, once all of the physical evidence came back and screamed out Alexander’s innocence, cognitive dissonance kicked in: It can be hard to abandon a firm belief even when confronted with irrefutable evidence that it is wrong. Cognitive dissonance was on florid display in the infamous case of the <a href="ttps://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/03/damning-reconstruction-of-notorious.html" target="_blank">Central Park Five</a>. As documented in the powerful Netflix series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/31/when-they-see-us-review-netflix-ava-duvernay-central-park-five" target="_blank"><i>When They See Us</i></a>, prosecutors still refuse to accept overwhelming evidence of the young men’s innocence. Such is the power of cognitive blinders. (My blog post on that astonishing case is <a href="ttps://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/03/damning-reconstruction-of-notorious.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.) <br />
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Unfortunately, when police focus on the wrong person they not only destroy the suspect’s life, but also allow the real culprit to remain free, thereby endangering others in the community. There are myriad cases of very dangerous men who went on to rape and kill again after police investigators failed to diligently pursue all leads. (Again, let me plug the harrowing series <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/09/13/unbelievable-review-netflix-series-harrowing-must-watch/2165471001/" target="_blank"><i>Unbelievable</i></a>.)
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After almost two years in jail, Alexander was finally set free and the charges against him dismissed. But even with another suspect in custody and awaiting trial, police and prosecutors have stubbornly refused to concede that Alexander is innocent.
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Which just goes to show, even the miracles of DNA typing are no match for minds that are rigidly shut.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>FURTHER RESOURCES:</i></b> The transcript of Michael Alexander's confession is <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6603507-Interrogation.html" target="_blank">available online</a>, and is a good resource for teaching and learning about false confessions. Tina Faelz's killing is the subject of a true-crime book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540202151/ref=rdr_ext_tmb" target="_blank"><i>Murder in Pleasanton</i></a>, which includes back-story information not available elsewhere. If you are interested in diving deeper into the problem of cognitive biases in police investigations and how they can be avoided, a great resource is <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Criminal-Investigative-Failures/Rossmo/p/book/9781420047516" target="_blank"><i>Criminal Investigative Failures</i></a>, edited by D. Kim Rossmo. Two chapters I especially recommend are "Who Killed Stephanie Crowe," focusing on the appalling case that I've <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/search?q=Crowe" target="_blank">blogged about several times</a> in which a 14-year-old boy was wrongfully arrested in his sister's murder, and "On the Horns of a Narrative," by my colleague David Stubbins and his brother, which focuses specifically on cognitive biases in criminal investigations.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>A NOTE TO MY FAITHFUL SUBSCRIBERS:</b> My apologies for the diminishing quantity of posts as of late. I'm working on a couple of larger writing projects. I also Tweet regularly on forensic psychology and criminology topics, so feel free to <a href="https://twitter.com/kfranklinphd" target="_blank">follow me on Twitter</a> for more regular news and commentary. </span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-86323631674828936712019-06-10T11:58:00.002-07:002019-06-10T11:58:55.363-07:00BJS fuels myths about sex offense recidivism, contradicting its own new data <h2 class="subhead">
A new government report reinforces harmful
misconceptions about people convicted of sex offenses. Here's our take
on how to parse the data.</h2>
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<i>Guest post by <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/staff.html#sawyer" rel="external" title="Visit Wendy Sawyer’s website">Wendy Sawyer</a>, <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/" target="_blank">Prison Policy Initiative</a>*</i><br />
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By now, most people who pay any attention to criminal justice reform know better than to label people convicted of drug offenses “drug offenders,” a dehumanizing label that presumes that these individuals will be criminals for life. But we continue to label people “sex offenders” – implying that people convicted of sex offenses are somehow different.<br />
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A new report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics should put an end to this misconception: The report, <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorsp9yfu0514.pdf">Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: A 9-Year Follow-Up (2005-2014)</a>, shows that people convicted of sex offenses are actually much less likely than people convicted of other offenses to be rearrested or to go back to prison.<br />
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<span class="pullquote" title="Unfortunately, this BJS report is a good example of how our perception of sex offenders is distorted by alarmist framing, which in turn contributes to bad policy."></span>But you wouldn’t know this by looking at the report’s <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/rsorsp9yfu14pr.cfm">press release</a> and certain parts of the report itself, which reinforce inaccurate and harmful depictions of people convicted of sex offenses as uniquely dangerous career criminals. The press release and report both emphasize what appears to be the central finding: “Released sex offenders were three times as likely as other released prisoners to be re-arrested for a sex offense.” That was the headline of the press release. The report itself re-states this finding <i>three different ways</i>, using similar mathematical comparisons, in a <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorsp9yfu0514.pdf#page=5">single paragraph</a>.<br />
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What the report doesn’t say is that the same comparisons can be made for the other offense categories: People released from sentences for homicide were more than twice as likely to be rearrested for a homicide; those who served sentences for robbery were more than twice as likely to be rearrested for robbery; and those who served time for assault, property crimes, or drug offenses were also more likely (by 1.3-1.4 times) to be rearrested for similar offenses. And with the exception of homicide, those who served sentences for these other offense types were <i>much more likely</i> to be rearrested at all.<br />
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The new BJS report, unfortunately, is a good example of how our perception of sex offenders is distorted by alarmist framing, which in turn contributes to bad policy. That this publication was a priority for BJS at all is revealing: this is the only offense category out of all of the offenders included in the recidivism study to which BJS has devoted an entire 35-page report, even though this group makes up just 5% of the release cohort. This might make sense if it was published in an effort to dispel some myths about this population, but that’s not what’s happening here. <br />
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</div>
Framing aside, the recidivism data presented in the BJS report can offer helpful perspective on the risks posed by people after release. Whether measured as rearrest, reconviction, or return to prison, BJS found that people whose most serious commitment offense was rape or sexual assault were much less likely to reoffend after release than those who served time for other offense types. The BJS report shows that within 9 years after release:<br />
<ul class="list">
<li> Fewer than 67% of those who served time for rape or sexual assault were rearrested for any offense, making rearrest 20% less likely for this group than all other offense categories combined (84%). Only those who served time for homicide had a lower rate of rearrest (60%). </li>
<li>People who served sentences for sex offenses were much less likely to be rearrested for another sex offense (7.7%) than for a property (24%), drug (18.5%), or public order (59%) offense (a category which includes probation and parole violations). </li>
<li>Only half of those who served sentences for rape or sexual assault had a new arrest that led to a conviction (for any offense), compared to 69% of everyone released in 2005 (in the 29 states with data).</li>
</ul>
While the data were more limited on returns to prison,<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#fn:1">1</a></sup> the study found that within 5 years after release, people who had served sentences for rape or sexual assault also had a lower return-to-prison rate (40%) compared to the overall rate for all offense types combined (55%). BJS notes that some of these returns to prison were likely for parole or probation violations, but because of data limitations, it is impossible to say how many were for new offenses, much less how many were for rape or sexual assault.<br />
<br />
In sum, the BJS data show that people who served time for sex offenses had markedly lower recidivism rates than almost any other group. Yet the data continue to be framed in misleading ways that make it harder to rethink the various harmful and ineffective punishments imposed on people convicted of sex offenses.<br />
<br />
The recidivism data suggest that current legal responses to people convicted of sex offenses are less about managing risk than maximizing punishment. The desire for retribution is understandable; unquestionably, rape and sexual assault inflict serious and lasting trauma. But our criminal justice system does a poor job of providing survivors of rape, sexual assault, and other violent crimes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/opinion/violence-criminal-justice.html">what they really want</a>. In a 2016 <a href="https://allianceforsafetyandjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/Crime%20Survivors%20Speak%20Report.pdf">survey of crime survivors</a>, the Alliance for Safety and Justice found that, “Survivors of violent crime — including victims of the most serious crimes such as rape or murder of a family member — widely support reducing incarceration to invest in prevention and rehabilitation and strongly believe that prison does more harm than good.” But more prison time is the default response: those released after serving sentences for rape and sexual assault <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorsp9yfu0514.pdf#page=2">served longer sentences</a>, with a median sentence of 5 years (compared to 3 years for all others combined) and more than a quarter serving 10 years or more before release.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2umLuAexLBHco-YCZw0gPKd4C7qtlDfiShsIhSx1_zcKfZaefKuz9mrwN4e7ubiEMljlx_uQ5PmgImwvaThRY3i0t74tOJjfzGXYZUrtaq_obf_zIkUcL8j1SeMkidCBRbOD_ldK6wU/s1600/Sawyer-PPI+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2umLuAexLBHco-YCZw0gPKd4C7qtlDfiShsIhSx1_zcKfZaefKuz9mrwN4e7ubiEMljlx_uQ5PmgImwvaThRY3i0t74tOJjfzGXYZUrtaq_obf_zIkUcL8j1SeMkidCBRbOD_ldK6wU/s320/Sawyer-PPI+Logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And for many people convicted of sex offenses, confinement doesn’t end when their prison sentence does. Twenty states continue to impose indefinite periods of involuntary confinement under <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/26/civil-commitment-sex-offenders">civil commitment laws</a> – <i>after</i> individuals have completed a sentence (or, in some cases, before they are even convicted). Proponents justify the practice as “treatment,” but conditions of civil commitment are <a href="https://reason.com/2017/09/25/is-minnesotas-indefinite-detention-of-se">punitive and prison-like</a>, and this confinement is hard to justify with the recidivism data we have. The likelihood of post-release arrest for another rape or sexual assault for this group is <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorsp9yfu0514.pdf#page=7">less than 2%</a> in the first year out of prison, and after 9 years, fewer than 8% have been rearrested for a similar offense. Those who are released at age 40 or older are even less likely to be rearrested for another sex offense, with re-arrest rates about half those of people who are released at age 24 or younger.<br />
<br />
After prison, a number of other special restrictions make reentry especially challenging for those who have served sentences for sex offenses, including registration, public notification, and restrictions to residence and employment. (Even <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/05/24/for-some-prisoners-finishing-their-sentences-doesn-t-mean-they-get-out">before release</a>, some restrictions make it difficult for some people to leave prison when they would otherwise be paroled.) These restrictions tend to cause more problems than they solve. Residence restrictions in particular have contributed to <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/10/03/banished">homelessness</a> and <a href="https://www.criminallegalnews.org/news/2018/may/15/coast-coast-sex-offender-residency-restrictions-waste-money-create-havoc/">other problems</a> in cities where they leave little room for returning citizens. According to a 2015 <a href="https://www.smart.gov/pdfs/AdultSexOffenderManagement.pdf">U.S. Department of Justice brief</a>, “residence restrictions may actually increase offender risk by undermining offender stability and the ability of the offender to obtain housing, work, and family support.”<br />
<br />
In another <a href="https://www.apa.org/images/law-law0000135_tcm7-233345.pdf">recent academic article</a>, Hanson et al. agree that these additional restrictions are “justified on the grounds of public protection,” even though the underlying assumptions may be wrong: “Individuals are targeted because policy-makers believe they are likely to do it again. This is a testable assumption, and, as it turns out, not entirely true.” Their analysis shows that individual recidivism risk varies widely, can be low enough to be indistinguishable from that of people convicted of non-sex offenses, and drops predictably over time. The data published by BJS track with those findings.<br />
<br />
Collectively, the research seems fairly clear: our responses to people convicted of sex offenses do not reflect the actual – generally low – risks they present. Instead of panicking about the small portion who reoffend after release, it’s time we talk more rationally about responses that effectively support desistance from crime – and serve the actual needs of victims of violence.<br />
<br />
<i><b>* </b></i><i><b><i><a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/staff.html#sawyer" target="_blank">Wendy Sawyer</a> is a Senior Policy Analyst at the <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/" target="_blank">Prison Policy Initiative</a>.</i> This essay is reposted with the kind permission of the Prison Policy Initiative. </b></i><br />
<br />
<h2 class="center">
Footnotes</h2>
<div class="footnotes">
<ol class="list">
<li class="footnote" id="fn:1">
Only 23 states could provide the necessary data for the 5-year follow-up period, and only 17 could do so for the entire time frame. The BJS report only includes return-to-prison rates for the first 5 years after release in the 23 states with the necessary data. <br />
</li>
<li class="footnote" id="fn:2">
Conversely, it also only captures those behaviors that are caught by police. People who break laws after release but are never arrested would not be captured in recidivism data at all. Police presence and enforcement are therefore factors that affect recidivism statistics, as are prosecutorial decisions (for reconviction rates) and sentencing policies and practices (for reincarceration rates). <br />
</li>
<li class="footnote" id="fn:3">
While the BJS study compares overall rates of reconviction and returns to prison by most serious commitment offense, only the rearrest data allows us to compare post-release offenses by most serious commitment offense.<br />
</li>
</ol>
</div>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-83379819692904550962019-03-06T16:51:00.000-08:002019-03-06T16:51:03.111-08:00$28 million award for “Beatrice 6” whom police psychologist helped railroad to prison "For years, a group of outcasts in Beatrice, Neb., were convinced they had brutally raped and murdered an elderly woman named Helen Wilson one night in February 1985, even though they couldn’t remember any of it."
<br />
<br />
That’s the lead of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/06/six-people-were-convicted-murder-they-didnt-even-remember-now-county-owes-them-million/?utm_term=.af494b07813c"><i>today’s story</i></a> in the Washington Post, announcing a $28.1 million award to the “Beatrice Six” who spent a collective 70 years in prison before being exonerated a decade ago.<br />
<br />
Of interest to this blog’s audience is the role of the police psychologist. As I <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2008/11/treating-therapist-as-police.html">blogged</a> about back in 2008, <a href="https://www.nebraska.gov/LISSearch/search.cgi?mode=details&lid=138956&stype=I"><b>Wayne R. Price, PhD</b></a> saw no ethics conflict in helping to interrogate the suspects even though he had previously provided therapy to two of the young women. Dr. Price reportedly reassured the suspects that their lack of any recollection of the crime was because they had repressed the traumatic memory. He later assisted them in reconstructing the details of their imagined crime.
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgibjJqkKkcPDS6jwgbmJ_1xCzn1Hl_fkqM_XL3blX-VAd89qwN3y47WJvOA4Yk66o5CIEI85x-nfwCLhxBqa6pb1ne6R5-xnOlkNBTu2mcnrNx9TXxbsC5erlSH9ocF20pSwIFnfbOww/s1600/Beatrice+6+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="760" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgibjJqkKkcPDS6jwgbmJ_1xCzn1Hl_fkqM_XL3blX-VAd89qwN3y47WJvOA4Yk66o5CIEI85x-nfwCLhxBqa6pb1ne6R5-xnOlkNBTu2mcnrNx9TXxbsC5erlSH9ocF20pSwIFnfbOww/s400/Beatrice+6+%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beatrice Six. Credit: <a href="https://www.omaha.com/news/courts/u-s-supreme-court-to-let-stand-million-judgment-against/article_b5e1fb4d-925d-5727-952d-3de3036cd6ee.html"><i>Omaha World-Herald</i></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As experts increasingly recognize, false confessions are not all that rare. What was unusual here was that several of the innocent suspects remained convinced of their guilt for years, leading to deep remorse and shame as chronicled by reporter Rachel Aviv in a fascinating <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/19/remembering-the-murder-you-didnt-commit"><i>New Yorker</i> profile</a>.
<br />
<br />
“You have a group of people who are led to share the same delusion, at the same time, with major consequences,” the psychiatrist who evaluated the Beatrice Six after their exonerations told Aviv. “Their new beliefs superseded their previous life experiences, like paper covering a rock.”
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe6Dh7R4jwLZjuOae78KmzcxPrik4Sxq0cIh0tA2pASaSdBDvElVkgWS9XoG7xtdhJInRjjRIMuyFBiH_ZSPM5YoJhXFaLE3SQgULHxnOrGB99tjTKFkh2z-9wauMUNH8Qso1nD3x_Zs/s1600/Beatrice6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="982" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe6Dh7R4jwLZjuOae78KmzcxPrik4Sxq0cIh0tA2pASaSdBDvElVkgWS9XoG7xtdhJInRjjRIMuyFBiH_ZSPM5YoJhXFaLE3SQgULHxnOrGB99tjTKFkh2z-9wauMUNH8Qso1nD3x_Zs/s320/Beatrice6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph White in 2009, two years before his death (Nati Harnik/AP)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Remarkably, only one of the six suspects proved capable of withstanding the interrogative pressure. Although Joseph White remained fully convinced of his innocence throughout the ordeal, he was convicted anyway based on his friends’ false memories.<br />
<br />
It was Mr. White's persistence that led to the ultimate exonerations. He repeatedly petitioned for DNA testing of the crime-scene evidence. When the testing was finally done, it implicated a different man, who by this time was long dead of AIDS.<br />
<br />
Tragically, Mr. White won't get a penny of the $28.1 million award <a href="https://www.omaha.com/news/courts/u-s-supreme-court-to-let-stand-million-judgment-against/article_b5e1fb4d-925d-5727-952d-3de3036cd6ee.html">upheld this week by the U.S. Supreme Court</a>. He died in a refinery accident in 2011, two years after filing his civil-rights lawsuit.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">My original blog post from 2008 is <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2008/11/treating-therapist-as-police.html">HERE</a>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/06/six-people-were-convicted-murder-they-didnt-even-remember-now-county-owes-them-million/?utm_term=.af494b07813c">Today’s <i>Washington Post</i> story</a> contains additional background, commentary and links. I highly recommended the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/19/remembering-the-murder-you-didnt-commit">2017 <i>New Yorker</i> investigation</a> of the case. </span></span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: lime;"><i><span style="color: black;">Hat tip: Phil T.</span></i> </span></span></span></span></div>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-88578176640763098002018-09-25T20:12:00.004-07:002018-10-02T13:11:52.527-07:00Kavanaugh exposed: Sexual assault as masculine theater<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And the answer to the oft-asked question, "If it was so bad, why didn't she report it?"</i></span></h2>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyItvIp6vcCzfYF-XInE4ifI98gjB3urFi87_X4FwrP0JdbxfqAbkfNx2mp5t4RrgeuZSVbQIm3P8u6kzkomsOAWzOER0FSMQiJOEyjA9QcDPGFvV9a6ZlCS_PK2b0o2pL24u4Wi9s4aM/s1600/calvin-klein-ad-gang-rape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="550" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyItvIp6vcCzfYF-XInE4ifI98gjB3urFi87_X4FwrP0JdbxfqAbkfNx2mp5t4RrgeuZSVbQIm3P8u6kzkomsOAWzOER0FSMQiJOEyjA9QcDPGFvV9a6ZlCS_PK2b0o2pL24u4Wi9s4aM/s400/calvin-klein-ad-gang-rape.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.karenfranklin.com/resources/rape-ads/">Calvin Klein ad glorifying group rape</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He unzipped his pants, whipped out his penis and thrust it in her face. "Kiss it!" cried others in the dorm room, jeering and taunting. She pushed him away, inadvertently touching his dangling member. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez">Word of the escapade spread rapidly</a> through the university grapevine, humorous for some and unsettling for others.</span></b>
</blockquote>
<br />
The mushrooming allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh share a common denominator: Each took place in full view of other men. These were not furtive attempts to gratify lust. They were (if true) proud demonstrations of male entitlement and power.
<br />
<br />
As I have <a href="https://www.karenfranklin.com/resources/mpr/">written about previously</a>, multiple-offender rape is a distinct type of sexual violence. It is a form of cultural theater, in which the victim serves as a dramatic prop through which men publicly demonstrate their heterosexual masculinity to each other. <br />
<br />
In weighing reactions to the Kavanaugh allegations, it is instructive to contrast the two disparate scripts of so-called “gang rape” that I found in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0415500443/ref=rdr_ext_tmb">a study of media coverage</a> of high-profile cases. When the actors are men of color, we see a <i><b>Feral Beasts</b></i> narrative that taps into a deep reservoir of racial fears to cast the offenders as amoral savages viciously ravishing innocent victims. In contrast, with high-status men such as Kavanaugh, a <b><i>Good Guys</i></b> script trivializes the event as merely a youthful and isolated indiscretion. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Uf4F69e4EO5GfXMVQG9xnRFBeNs4VR9IjWoW147ZWmnj2GPfdoXqbtjiZ2nj1mIf5hthld1XQoAXB78hfjlRsQYBAB0D4jlmXr4KRdTgTMCEU8EwBrwC00QrkOpovZK5qna65nv0G3w/s1600/gang+rape+-+dc+comic+amethyst.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="546" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Uf4F69e4EO5GfXMVQG9xnRFBeNs4VR9IjWoW147ZWmnj2GPfdoXqbtjiZ2nj1mIf5hthld1XQoAXB78hfjlRsQYBAB0D4jlmXr4KRdTgTMCEU8EwBrwC00QrkOpovZK5qna65nv0G3w/s400/gang+rape+-+dc+comic+amethyst.png" width="368" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://comicsalliance.com/so-theres-an-attempted-gang-rape-in-the-first-issue-of-amethys/">Group rape prelude, DC Comics</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But group rape is no youthful mistake. It is functional behavior. It serves a purpose. Masculinity is a fragile identity that must be earned and then repeatedly proven. The public humiliation of females (and in some cases <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1525%2Fsrsp.2004.1.2.25">weaker or feminine men</a>) is one dramatic method for publicly demonstrating hegemonic masculinity. Ritualistic conquest of the feminine “other” serves to visibly prove heterosexual masculinity and celebrate gendered power while simultaneously cementing male social bonds through mutual complicity in taboo acts.
<br />
<br />
And what better object of display than the penis itself, the instrument of maleness brandished as a weapon to denigrate a drunken woman and establish her gendered powerlessness.
<br />
<br />
This misogynist performance art is not randomly distributed. As I discussed in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1525%2Fsrsp.2004.1.2.25">my earliest analysis</a> of this phenomenon – an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1525%2Fsrsp.2004.1.2.25">in-depth exploration</a> of an incident in which a group of high school athletes in Long Island, New York sexually assaulted younger male teammates – subcultures that germinate the seeds of group rape share a preoccupation with masculinity, or the extrusion of all things feminine.
<br />
<br />
Historically, masculinist social norms have thrived in all-male settings such as fraternities, military forces, street gangs, police departments, rock groups, and aggressive sports teams. So it is no coincidence that Judge Kavanaugh came of age in just such an all-male, misogynist milieu.
<br />
<br />
There were the lascivious Friday morning <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/in-the-80-boys-prep-schools-like-kavanaughs-could-be-bastions-of-misogyny/2018/09/20/53764bd8-bc75-11e8-be70-52bd11fe18af_story.html?utm_term=.b5cef84f0d6f">announcements</a>, usually delivered by a senior:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUhpG0plX8bVduGY4KV10el2bZ-OG-jPxvh_tl-ZlNxmHlFU31DVwFCuQtTKg5JL8E4FS8xu4qgDo6x8FjxW7Y8x5KHLLiYDpkH3Q4QPBwzltXJdQc-qJL3WdfaHkqrSsEL-M9ID7XWc/s1600/Kavanaugh+-+yearbook+-+renate+alumnus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="677" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUhpG0plX8bVduGY4KV10el2bZ-OG-jPxvh_tl-ZlNxmHlFU31DVwFCuQtTKg5JL8E4FS8xu4qgDo6x8FjxW7Y8x5KHLLiYDpkH3Q4QPBwzltXJdQc-qJL3WdfaHkqrSsEL-M9ID7XWc/s400/Kavanaugh+-+yearbook+-+renate+alumnus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html">Kavanaugh (far left) and teammates brag in yearbook about "Renate,"
<br /> </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html">an unwitting girl </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html">from a nearby Catholic girls' school</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>“After the [football] game, there will be a mixer. Girls from Holy Cross, Holy Child and Visitation ... will ... be ... available.” </i></blockquote>
<br />
To facilitate this sexual availability, Georgetown boys were in the habit of getting girls “blind drunk” on a concoction of “jungle juice”; to them, girls were nothing but “meat,” <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/treated-women-like-meat-mark-judges-college-girlfriend-calls-playing-georgetown-prep-culture/amp/?__twitter_impression=true">one girl recalled</a>. The sexual abuse of girls was so rampant that more than 1,000 alumnae of Holton-Arms, the girls’ school down the road, have signed a letter in support of former alumnae Christine Blasey (Ford), saying her account of Kavanaugh’s attempted rape is entirely consistent with the experiences they too had “heard and lived.” <br />
<br />
Most recently, attorney Michael Avenatti (of Stormy Daniels fame) is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/408151-avenatti-new-client-will-go-public-with-kavanaugh-accusations-in-next-48">claiming</a> to possess “significant evidence” from a reputable source of multiple house parties in which Kavanaugh, his buddy Mark Judge, and others would ply vulnerable girls with alcohol in order to pull “trains,” or gang-rape them. Avenatti is not the most desirable source for a bombshell claim like this; he is "<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23455699/michael-avenatti-brett-kavanaugh-accuser/">a relentless self-promoter</a>" who is obviously thrusting himself into the center of the controversy for his own self-aggrandizement. However, Judge’s ex-girlfriend <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/09/17/what-the-man-accused-of-helping-kavanaugh-assault-a-woman-wrote-about-female-sexuality/?utm_term=.b1fa4dbf2cd2">confirms</a> that Judge told her he participated in at least one such train, lending some support for Avenatti's allegation.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>UPDATE 9/26/18 0900: Avenetti has just released <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/read-sworn-declaration-kavanaugh-accuser-julie-swetnick-n913336">a sworn declaration</a> by his client, Julie Swetnick, claiming she was gang raped at a house party attended by Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge. She says she confided in at least two people at the time. (She subsequently <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/julie-swetnick-speaks-about-alleged-behavior-by-judge-kavanaugh-1334265923929?v=railb&">told MSNBC</a> that she reported the assault to police.) She also claimed she attended other house parties at which the two were among a group of males who may have drugged girls in order to take advantage of them. She says that Kavanaugh was a "mean drunk" who was verbally and physically abusive to girls, engaging in behaviors "designed to demean, humiliate and embarrass them."</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>An
assortment of other people -- both male and female -- have come forward publicly to describe Kavanaugh as a
heavy drinker in high school and college who became belligerent when intoxicated. </b></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>A woman going by the pseudonym "Elizabeth"</b></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b> has <a href="https://mont.thesentinel.com/2018/09/26/bethesda-resident-describes-culture-of-privilege-leading-to-sexual-assault/">described </a></b></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><a href="https://mont.thesentinel.com/2018/09/26/bethesda-resident-describes-culture-of-privilege-leading-to-sexual-assault/">an incident</a> in which an inebriated Kavanaugh became "obnoxious and crude"
with her, to the merriment of his football buddies, causing her to flee a party and avoid him thereafter. Additionally, Kavanaugh</b></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b> got into at
least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-bar-fight.html">one bar fight</a> in which he allegedly threw his drink on a man; his friend was taken into police custody for hitting the man with a glass.</b></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b> </b> </span></span><br />
<br />
<h3>
The reporting penalty
</h3>
<br />
Kavanaugh supporters – including the man who nominated him – have retorted by asking why neither Dr. Blasey nor Deborah Ramirez (the victim of the Yale University penis-dangling incident) reported these offenses when they happened. This is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/shame-fear-survivors-explain-not-reporting-sexual-assaults/2018/09/21/b26c52f6-bdea-11e8-8243-f3ae9c99658a_story.html?utm_term=.02ea69edca8f">a common question</a>. It comes up all the time at sexual assault trials in which I serve as an expert consultant.<br />
<br />
But it is the wrong question.
<br />
<br />
The correct question is: Why in the world do <u><i>any</i></u> (albeit few) young women opt to report sexual assault, when the deck is stacked against them and reporting will most likely compound their suffering?
<br />
<br />
Overall, only about one out of every three or four sexual assaults is reported to police. The reporting rates are thought to be even lower – as low as 10 percent – for acquaintance rapes of teenage girls and young women. Coming forward is extraordinarily courageous. But from my vantage point in the trenches, I often find myself wondering whether it is perhaps foolhardy as well, stemming from a skewed calculus of the relative risks and benefits. Because at every step – from the police station to the courtroom and beyond – reporting has unintended negative effects on privacy, social and family relations, and even on one’s very sense of self.<br />
<br />
As the victim who is brave (or foolhardy) enough to come forward quickly learns, being on the receiving end of gendered power means that you don't control the discourse. <br />
<br />
<h3>
The “lying bitches” unit
</h3>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhmMDOvg2Ie7gWQN7DcntKTKbbWdIffmTDc9v6K1q_u4Axx46B-Ez6hBiKLDz_R9_PirYs5Iw33cHld2-tMe4Fik8dpQL_tTPm8vWQTCm_a4nMTfTC9SB6Yxcu3nhgERY5e9dmYJepGI/s1600/kavanaugh+-+protest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhmMDOvg2Ie7gWQN7DcntKTKbbWdIffmTDc9v6K1q_u4Axx46B-Ez6hBiKLDz_R9_PirYs5Iw33cHld2-tMe4Fik8dpQL_tTPm8vWQTCm_a4nMTfTC9SB6Yxcu3nhgERY5e9dmYJepGI/s400/kavanaugh+-+protest.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
First, there is the police problem. Police departments are precisely the type of hypermasculine milieu in which misogynist attitudes have traditionally flourished, and walking into a police station can be like entering the lion’s den.<br />
<br />
Multiple surveys reveal that police to this day remain highly suspicious of rape claimants, erroneously believing that large numbers – up to 80 percent – are lying. <span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">[After the Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 27, a police officer in Jonesboro, Arkansas took to social media to publicly proclaim Dr. Blasey a liar, <a href="https://neareport.com/2018/09/28/police-officer-says-most-rapes-are-false/">citing the ludicrous 80 percent statistic</a>.]</span></span> As an extreme example of police hostility, a former detective in Philadelphia’s rape unit reportedly called it the “<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwitr93gldfdAhWwFzQIHTO9DrMQFjAAegQICRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrw.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Freports%2FimprovingSAInvest_0.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1-tgUsHAZVSfqwniHahHrH">lying bitches unit</a>.”
Accordingly, he was in the habit of miscoding rape reports as
noncriminal offenses, thereby preventing them from being counted, much
less prosecuted. (Such data machinations have the added advantages of
bolstering police crime-solving rates while artificially lowering a
community’s overall crime rates.) <br />
<br />
Police and prosecutorial recalcitrance remains a major barrier to successful prosecution. In one <a href="https://theappeal.org/in-one-pennsylvania-county-rape-victims-rarely-find-justice/">county in Pennsylvania</a>, for instance, at least 85 people, include 44 teenagers, have reported rapes to police in the past three years, yet charges were filed in just two of those cases, resulting in only one conviction. In <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjTw9CPltfdAhVJGDQIHRDmCPoQFjAAegQIChAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.policeforum.org%2Fassets%2FSexualAssaultResponseExecutiveGuidebook.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1sQQ4-P7GFKjE5kMtsuhel">a new report</a>, the U.S. Police Executive Research Forum warns that high rates of downgrading or “unfounding” of rape allegations is a red flag; journalists have exposed such systematic practices in several large U.S. cities, including St. Louis, New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, and New York City. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPm1c6iO3FCUYiNqKaNhx8XuaV-5-faPMBisaFve6q9tMoRjMkqqWOtCOc7pvkuiDlizu7pdthNX038uEI2sdiT7VlXobOuKzfbhZ4bkkWc50Pbu9lOUJO21Mp4aGgCk_pUlFBn3yUKs/s1600/deer+-+shed+-+Amber+Wyatt+2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="469" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPm1c6iO3FCUYiNqKaNhx8XuaV-5-faPMBisaFve6q9tMoRjMkqqWOtCOc7pvkuiDlizu7pdthNX038uEI2sdiT7VlXobOuKzfbhZ4bkkWc50Pbu9lOUJO21Mp4aGgCk_pUlFBn3yUKs/s400/deer+-+shed+-+Amber+Wyatt+2006.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deer on wall of shed where Amber Wyatt was raped (police evidence photo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was involved in one such case recently, in which a rape allegation mysteriously vanished. The 16-year-old victim, "Jessica," had promptly reported a credible sexual assault by an older classmate. Despite collecting physical evidence – both from Jessica's body and from a used condom left at the scene – police did not even bother to question the perpetrator, dismissing the rape as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/18/why-brett-kavanaugh-accusation-isnt-really-he-said-she-said-anymore/?utm_term=.64f0e3f5baa2">“he-said, she-said”</a> situation. It wasn’t until the assailant went on to commit at least three further sexual assaults that he was finally brought to justice. Naturally, that happened in a different jurisdiction.
<br />
<br />
Reporter Elizabeth Bruenig spent three years investigating the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/opinions/arlington-texas/?utm_term=.220ea14fa8ab">appalling case</a> of another 16-year-old girl, a cheerleader from her hometown who was viciously raped while intoxicated by two athletes at a high school party. Like 16-year-old Jessica, Amber Wyatt had also promptly reported the assault to police. Physical evidence, including vaginal and anal tearing and one of the boys' semen inside her, corroborated her account. Yet no one was ever prosecuted. Her hometown turned against her, and she became a pariah.
<br />
<br />
Outside of the U.S., meanwhile, police in some locales put the onus on victims to prove that their histories are unblemished before a case may proceed. In London, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/25/revealed-uk-police-demanding-access-data-potential-rape-victims?CMP=share_btn_tw">police are demanding</a> unfettered access to vast quantities of highly personal records such as health data, school records and social media accounts, data that are not routinely collected from suspects.
<br />
<br />
This intense scrutiny hints at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/19/worst-is-yet-come-kavanaughs-accuser-take-it-this-sexual-assault-expert/?utm_term=.8874f0254cfe">greater peril</a> a woman faces at the next, more adversarial stage. Even when police investigate diligently and prosecutors determine there is enough credible evidence to file charges, the courtroom remains inescapably dangerous for the rape victim, a site of potential revictimization and compounding of the initial trauma.
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2VjpMlGMQb9skzvAj1lme-k5NtuA5omIhhYl2q_HgFwmadNY5IfdgSVGL9uvwk4fPAK9TMSu7jBijKZ6CHljqBciblLM3FpjhvOkIAH-luuOzHposRhG_-N08iOoviasDAWGjkfl_Gg/s1600/real+rapist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="820" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2VjpMlGMQb9skzvAj1lme-k5NtuA5omIhhYl2q_HgFwmadNY5IfdgSVGL9uvwk4fPAK9TMSu7jBijKZ6CHljqBciblLM3FpjhvOkIAH-luuOzHposRhG_-N08iOoviasDAWGjkfl_Gg/s400/real+rapist.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "real" rapist of the public imagination</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In criminal trials, a claim of rape is measured against the popular stereotype of a “real rape.” Real rapists are strangers to their victims. They wield knives or guns. They use physical force, and inflict physical injury. In reality, the proportion of such rapes is small. An estimated 90 percent of assailants know their victims. Typically, there is no weapon (other than alcohol), and the victim does not suffer visible injuries. The rape may be an impulsive crime of opportunity. Or, a victim may be targeted because she is easy prey due to such vulnerabilities as intoxication, social or physical isolation, naivety, or a desire to fit in with the popular crowd.
<br />
<br />
Acquaintance rape is essentially a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick">confidence trick</a>. The rapist exploits the victim’s psyche to gain her trust. The victim is taken by surprise. Girls are trained from a young age to be polite and compliant. So when caught off guard, fighting back aggressively against someone they know (and trusted up until that very moment) does not come naturally. But any dearth of physical resistance will be deployed against them later, in court.
<br />
<br />
In other words, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the victim in the prototypical acquaintance rape has just about always done things “wrong.” Maybe she drank too much. Maybe she flirted. Most likely, she made a poor choice – such as trusting the wrong guy or getting in the wrong car – that put her in a vulnerable position. Perhaps she did not physically resist to the degree that many men – with their different gender socialization – believe that a "real" victim would. Maybe her character is flawed, as evidenced by her sexual history or her mental health.<br />
<br />
It is especially unreasonable to expect a 15- or 16-year-old girl to have the instincts (which are born out of experience) to anticipate that something bad is going to happen, and the skills necessary to extricate herself in time to avoid the assault. Perhaps it is no coincidence that girls in this age range are at especially heightened risk for victimization.<br />
<br />
<br />
The requirement of a perfect victim is a very high bar. Invariably, case-specific factors can be found to cast aspersions on the
victim's reputation or decision-making, thereby diminishing her
credibility and recasting the incident so that the suspect is recast as victim.
Unless there are multiple victims (and sometimes not even then), it is very difficult for the prosecution to prevail. Often, in the cases I observe, the accused is acquitted, perhaps using the defense of an honest (mis)belief that he had consent.
<br />
<br />
He walks out of the courtroom smiling, his invincibility shield intact. For her, the nightmares continue.
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Shame
</h3>
<br />
It is not just the rest of the world who judges the victim and finds her lacking. The victim is her own worst critic, nagged by a profound sense of shame and self-blame. Why did she trust him? Why did she get drunk? Why didn’t she fight harder? Why? Why? Why?
<br />
<br />
In a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/me-too/570520/">candid account</a> of her own sexual assault victimization and failure to report, <i>Atlantic</i> contributor Caitlin Flanagan writes about the intense self-loathing an attempted “date rape” unleashed in her:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<i>“In my mind, it was not an example of male aggression used against a girl to extract sex from her. In my mind, it was an example of how undesirable I was. It was proof that I was not the kind of girl you took to parties, or the kind of girl you wanted to get to know. I was the kind of girl you took to a deserted parking lot and tried to make give you sex. Telling someone would not be revealing what he had done; it would be revealing how deserving I was of that kind of treatment.” </i></blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwu9H14ub242j0OgrEKOIsj_223XtzouW-AAgXLEmIytky7BWkL002NZhDw_NJkcvgnbmkSTs-EFz6xFdy4MfhmraymW7aRPrQwTnM7i6DvWAH8SWu7FjKwRnSobfO3VJMKw4rHkMpMM/s1600/kavanaugh+-+protest+-+sen+collins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1600" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwu9H14ub242j0OgrEKOIsj_223XtzouW-AAgXLEmIytky7BWkL002NZhDw_NJkcvgnbmkSTs-EFz6xFdy4MfhmraymW7aRPrQwTnM7i6DvWAH8SWu7FjKwRnSobfO3VJMKw4rHkMpMM/s400/kavanaugh+-+protest+-+sen+collins.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Although under normal circumstances it is the powerful who get to shape the dominant narrative and dictate who is to be believed, the Kavanaugh debacle is encouraging silenced voices to speak up – and to be believed by many. Flanagan believes Dr. Blasey. And so do most other women, if we are being honest. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been assaulted or harassed or denigrated. We’ve been made to feel small. We’ve blamed ourselves for male transgressions.
We’ve witnessed these same things happening to other girls and women. <br />
<br />
This is why Dr. Blasey’s story resonates among women, and presents such a potent threat for Kavanaugh and his base of support.
<br />
<br />
<h3>
False allegations
</h3>
<br />
Among his defenders, in contrast, Kavanaugh’s unwavering denial of wrongdoing is posited as evidence of innocence. But denial is only natural for an accused. If it proved innocence, the prisons would be empty. Denial proves lack of acceptance of responsibility, and nothing more.<br />
<br />
In truth, contrary to the beliefs of many police officers and others in the general public, it is quite rare for women to fabricate allegations of sexual assault. <a href="https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Overview_False-Reporting.pdf">Research has consistently found</a> that only a tiny fraction of rape reports – perhaps 5 or 6 percent – are false, and these generally follow predictable and detectable patterns.
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgNcda5zG6KlD0HXd7Hb42vV8wkBatA6Sv25xOAeXR__c0mn9_Tbkr9j5UoS7CLgPlLZtTulKrqquPVkjPtlly3-8SH7GpjlicZvClz1wW3SrSex73-TrP4YHDIjHLWTjPbhHsCYnGQk/s1600/Kavanaugh+protest+-+Yale+Law+School.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="881" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgNcda5zG6KlD0HXd7Hb42vV8wkBatA6Sv25xOAeXR__c0mn9_Tbkr9j5UoS7CLgPlLZtTulKrqquPVkjPtlly3-8SH7GpjlicZvClz1wW3SrSex73-TrP4YHDIjHLWTjPbhHsCYnGQk/s400/Kavanaugh+protest+-+Yale+Law+School.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protesters at Kavanaugh's alma mater, Yale University</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The allegations against Kavanaugh do not fit the <a href="https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/">profiles of false reports</a>. Dr. Blasey and Ms. Ramirez did not engage in “regret sex” with Kavanaugh. They have no personal vendettas. They are not mentally unstable or criminal fraudsters. Both are respected, middle-aged, professional women who have come forward quite reluctantly, imperiling their valued privacy and the safety of their families. If they were lying, we would expect exaggerated claims made with greater certitude. We wouldn’t expect Dr. Blasey to take and pass a polygraph exam. Even the small details point to veracity: Mark Judge jumping onto the bed with Kavanaugh and Blasey; the manner in which Kavanaugh zipped his pants after exposing his penis to Ramirez; both women's admitted gaps in memory for some peripheral details. Real crimes are clumsy and messy and awkward, just like these. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Mercy</h3>
<br />
We are witnessing a wave of ignominious "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/opinion/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-himpathy.html">himpathy</a>" for Kavanaugh. Defenders of this powerful man lament that no man is safe, if a youthful indiscretion or two can come roaring back decades later and “destroy a good man’s career.” <br />
<br />
But let’s tease that apart a bit. First and foremost, the implication that all young men are rapists is horrendously defamatory of the male gender. <br />
<br />
And while forgiving youthful transgressions sounds merciful, why is himpathetic compassion not equal opportunity? Why aren't these same individuals lobbying to end sex offender registries that impose lifelong societal exile on teenage boys and young men, often for one-off mistakes? Why aren’t they advocating on behalf of the forgotten boys (and girls) from disadvantaged backgrounds who languish in prison for decades (as chronicled by attorney Bryan Stevenson in his poignant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/books/review/just-mercy-by-bryan-stevenson.html"><i>Just Mercy</i></a>)?
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKN4SUndOM9JUU6BIaHqOHTfeyUBFRS4-oAzOjMkyC30hJXZM88mdpKbHUSjoZBfQ5Ain9lj_1LTrK5hP7-kp5mRIBLUciaF0QWP-md9GbRBUECMYLwDqCoP4r6A6o15NmAVYdMwepQzg/s1600/Kavanaugh+snubs+Fred+Guttenberg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="615" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKN4SUndOM9JUU6BIaHqOHTfeyUBFRS4-oAzOjMkyC30hJXZM88mdpKbHUSjoZBfQ5Ain9lj_1LTrK5hP7-kp5mRIBLUciaF0QWP-md9GbRBUECMYLwDqCoP4r6A6o15NmAVYdMwepQzg/s400/Kavanaugh+snubs+Fred+Guttenberg.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-fred-guttenberg-parkland-snub_us_5b8ecc9ee4b0162f4727a279">Kavanaugh snubs Fred Guttenberg, </a><br />
<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-fred-guttenberg-parkland-snub_us_5b8ecc9ee4b0162f4727a279">father of a 14-year-old Parkland school shooting victim </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unlike some of his detractors, I am not especially worried about Kavanaugh coaching girls’ basketball. He may inadvertently communicate sexist attitudes. But, as I’ve explained here, his sexual assaults were not the product of sexual deviance. They were the efforts of a privileged male to prove his masculine dominance to his peers.<br />
<br />
So the issue isn’t Kavanaugh's risk for sexual reoffense. It’s whether he is ethically and morally fit to serve on our nation’s highest court.<br />
<br />
Kavanaugh has repeatedly called for "fairness" in the confirmation process. But is he himself someone who will exercise his authority fairly and on behalf of all citizens, including women? Is he someone who demonstrates fairness and empathy for those with less privilege?
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We don’t have to look back into ancient history for clues to the answer. Judge Kavanaugh was a member of a three-judge panel that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/opinion/editorials/guantnamo-kavanaugh.html">twice flouted U.S. Supreme Court recognition</a> of the rights of Guantanamo detainees to seek federal court review of their detentions, suggesting he is no friend to the disenfranchised. And as he hides behind good deeds like volunteering at a soup kitchen, he <a href="https://bostonreview.net/law-justice/sarah-hill-kavanaughs-charity-case">callously turns his back</a> and refuses to shake the proffered hand of a Parkland slaughter victim's father.<br />
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So, the question of fairness becomes, fairness to whom? Only to him, or to society writ large? If Kavanaugh is hurriedly ushered onto our nation's highest court, what message will that transmit – especially to today's youth on the cusp of adulthood – about fairness, and about the true status of girls and women in 21st-century America? Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-51319667980939766972018-02-18T11:21:00.001-08:002018-02-22T15:51:18.243-08:00Four brilliant podcasts <br />As voracious corporations suck the lifeblood out of print newspapers, a golden age of creative online journalism is also blooming. The art of podcasting is one example, with diverse content increasingly accessible via an abundance of free apps. The viral success of <a href="https://serialpodcast.org/season-one"><i>Serial</i></a> in 2014 popularized podcasts on criminal justice topics in particular. Some, like the much-hyped <a href="https://atlantamonster.com/"><i>Atlanta Monster</i></a> about serial killer Wayne Williams, are unabashed <i>Serial</i> imitators, cashing in on an innocence porn fad by casting doubt on the guilt of convicted criminals. But others are venturing beyond that now-hackneyed genre in creative and engaging ways. Here are a few of my favorites; check the comments section for some additional favorites from readers:<br />
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1. <a href="https://www.apmreports.org/in-the-dark/season-one">In the Dark</a></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmweD42I73nSFU-1B-rCP2ApFV1PJcjzPhyClR4C9K4DGCsojaJijQaHgqs78HzM-B_PrvljKq39eoonkyZ7yXuhBSZocxhXWHllNJW81VMCLHo6EvTHM-w6ikfUOvRpJDQCiTCVpRcY/s1600/Wetterling1A-InTheDark.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmweD42I73nSFU-1B-rCP2ApFV1PJcjzPhyClR4C9K4DGCsojaJijQaHgqs78HzM-B_PrvljKq39eoonkyZ7yXuhBSZocxhXWHllNJW81VMCLHo6EvTHM-w6ikfUOvRpJDQCiTCVpRcY/s200/Wetterling1A-InTheDark.png" width="200" /></a>This flat-out brilliant podcast on the 1989 cold-case kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling remains at the head of the pack. Meticulously researched and captivatingly presented, it stands as a monument to investigative reporting, forcing us to rethink everything we thought we knew about the abduction itself, the history and politics of sex offender registries, and the broader landscape of how police investigate serious crimes. Award-winning investigative reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/madeleinebaran">Madeleine Baran</a> and her colleagues use the Wetterling case as a jumping-off point to explore how police investigations go astray. Low rates of crime solving will continue to be the norm nationwide, they prophecy, as long as police lack meaningful oversight or accountability to reign in ineptitude. I was pleased to see that since the time I <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-dark-shines-brilliant-light-on.html">first blogged about the series </a>in 2016, it has been recognized with a prestigious <a href="http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/in-the-dark">Peabody Award</a>.<br />
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2. <a href="https://www.earhustlesq.com/">Ear Hustle</a> </h4>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuhS55uQn91jHCB5WfqmDzv32FHLfMd8MTXjoxTHhrqtal70-7UjMlqQWulCKwv7kvXN8IwQsMDrX0st15ENFIxgsZj6PlDvm8CD1jTzH_zSTTTqUz0PhS-OEKKeV3s0572SIhEGuhhk/s1600/Ear_Hustle1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="776" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuhS55uQn91jHCB5WfqmDzv32FHLfMd8MTXjoxTHhrqtal70-7UjMlqQWulCKwv7kvXN8IwQsMDrX0st15ENFIxgsZj6PlDvm8CD1jTzH_zSTTTqUz0PhS-OEKKeV3s0572SIhEGuhhk/s320/Ear_Hustle1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by Antwan Williams, Ear Hustle</td></tr>
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Ear Hustling is prison slang for eavesdropping, and this remarkable podcast gives us a unique chance to ear hustle on the day-to-day travails of prisoners. A collaboration between two convicts at San Quentin Prison and their volunteer photography teacher, it pulls back the curtains to demystify and humanize the prison experience. Earlonne Woods, doing 31-to-life for attempted robbery, is our warm and humorous host. Visual artist Nigel Poor serves as a stand-in for the free-world audience. The two are simultaneously entertaining and enlightening as they tackle the mundane realities of prison life: the delicate dance of choosing a cellie, furtive sexual encounters with visitors, what it's like to grow old and frail behind bars, race relations, and creative ways to keep pets. In the background is sound designer Antwan Williams, who is serving 15 years for armed robbery. The podcast reminds me of the prison dispatches from bank robber <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Dannie-Martin-dies-bank-robber-wrote-of-prison-5105636.php">Dannie “Red Hog” Martin</a> in the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> back in the 1980s-1990s, which were ultimately published as a book of essays, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-393-03574-2"><i>Committing Journalism</i></a>. Back then, prison administrators tried every trick in the book to muzzle Martin, and that remains the knee-jerk habit of most U.S. prison administrations. So it’s a tribute to administrators at San Quentin, <a href="https://splinternews.com/the-best-prison-journalism-is-straight-out-of-san-quent-1819289988">a standout for prison journalism</a>, that they put their stamp of approval on this podcast. Their endorsement is paying off in good publicity. Season 1 got media buzz from the likes of the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2017-in-review/my-best-podcasts-of-2017"><i>New Yorker,</i></a> the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2017/jun/15/ear-hustle-an-incredible-podcast-from-san-quentin-prisons-inmates"><i>UK Guardian</i></a> and <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2017/07/podcast-review-ear-hustle-radiotopia.html"><i>Vulture</i></a>; like <i>In the Dark</i> it too has scored some notable awards. Binge fast, because Season 2 is about to drop.<br />
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3. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolabmoreperfect/season-one">More Perfect</a></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0DduJiNBuuwrO6KJ9EndlkY9IPt11T2fk14gpYz7NDQJcU0x5uRatUM0qrghT50Fe6w1xQaV5gomJZ8Vi6MSE4g3af-D_7vOJSWvoeRypnqJlnFXukpQFck1-YosyLkYrt-wZfsQ890/s1600/MorePerfect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="328" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0DduJiNBuuwrO6KJ9EndlkY9IPt11T2fk14gpYz7NDQJcU0x5uRatUM0qrghT50Fe6w1xQaV5gomJZ8Vi6MSE4g3af-D_7vOJSWvoeRypnqJlnFXukpQFck1-YosyLkYrt-wZfsQ890/s200/MorePerfect.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Now in its second season, this Radiolab spinoff on the U.S. Supreme Court is amazing. Host Jad Abumrad, winner of a MacArthur genius grant, is pitch-perfect as he takes us behind the scenes of some of the most influential decisions of the high court -- everything from the death penalty and Native American adoption to political gerrymandering and Citizens United. Each episode is phenomenal, and comes with its own dedicated web page of further background resources. If you want to dip your toe in before binge-listening, a few of my favorites (and, believe me, it was hard to choose) included:<br />
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<li><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/object-anyway"><b>Object Anyway</b></a> – about the 1986 case of <i>Batson v. Kentucky </i>barring race-based jury selection </li>
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<li><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/imperfect-plaintiff"><b>The Imperfect Plaintiffs</b></a> – about the behind-the-scenes match-makers who ferret out cases that they think will make good case law; you’ll learn the surprising real dish on the sodomy case of<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-102"><i> Lawrence v. Texas</i></a> (2003), one of the most significant LGBT rights cases in U.S. history, and why and how a young white woman named Abigail Fisher became the face for a 2016 challenge to affirmative action in higher education </li>
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<li><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/american-pendulum-fred/"><b>American Pendulum I</b></a> – about Fred Korematsu and the internment of the Japanese-Americans, with explicit parallels to today’s crackdown on Muslim Americans </li>
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4. <a href="http://revisionisthistory.com/">Revisionist History</a></h4>
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Most readers will know of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell"><b>Malcolm Gladwell</b></a>, the New Yorker staff writer and author of a string of <i>New York Times</i> bestsellers including <i>Outliers </i>and <i>The Tipping Point</i> that have influenced popular thinking about the social world. Gladwell has now dived into podcasting, with a delightful series whose mission is to reexamine esoteric topics that have gone unexamined or misunderstood. While the series is not specifically on the law, it includes an outstanding two-part exploration of civil rights attorneys in the South during the Jim Crow era. Part I, <a href="http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/17-state-v-johnson"><i>State v. Johnson</i></a>, focuses on an obscure rape case that taught young African American attorney and civil rights activist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Jordan"><b>Vernon Jordan </b></a>a hard lesson about Southern-style justice. In Part II, <a href="http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/18-mr-hollowell-didnt-like-that"><i>Mr. Hollowell Didn’t Like That</i></a>, we hear about the case of Willie Nash, who in a span of just 24 hours is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die in the electric chair -- until, that is, a young attorney named <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_L._Hollowell">Donald Hollowell</a></b> shows up and "mounts a defense that rivets Black spectators and gives them hope."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywVp4SZZvcVGfLd_pSJgL_dICYgZC8KzuifjRykGw5m6SOZ0dzf5E2Gl8BeJGokmU9keLrgFU_zmiBzdkOppTldst_Vi9WBf3VCB1Vm2U-YUIq61wDJXUxznkAAPMIofxS7fNuEE41es/s1600/Revisionist+History.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywVp4SZZvcVGfLd_pSJgL_dICYgZC8KzuifjRykGw5m6SOZ0dzf5E2Gl8BeJGokmU9keLrgFU_zmiBzdkOppTldst_Vi9WBf3VCB1Vm2U-YUIq61wDJXUxznkAAPMIofxS7fNuEE41es/s320/Revisionist+History.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Okay, it's not forensic, but I feel compelled to put in a plug for another episode of <i>Revisionist History</i> that I found fascinating -- <a href="http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/11-a-good-walk-spoiled"><i>A Good Walk Spoiled</i></a>. It's a philosophical exploration of rich people and their addiction to golf. Don't miss it.<br />
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Do you have a favorite forensically relevant podcast you would like to recommend? Please feel free to leave a comment.<br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS AND REGULAR READERS: In honor of this blog's 10th anniversary, I have given it a little <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/">design makeover</a>. In addition to stylistic updates, the blog is now more secure and mobile-friendly, and elements such as the sharing icons, search bar and comments buttons should be more intuitive and easier to access.
</span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-50557518698631937492017-08-21T21:41:00.000-07:002017-08-22T09:41:04.224-07:00Psychologist sues California prisons over anti-LGBT harassment<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrchn7R2pcuJuKEOviIbhIifPXZkdLSqpexUgsWW8MO_eEp0D36sbqcXdR0Om-LhrFr2tcGE1GI7lO6sZm0-UIy3QYHsqjIGHVu22l40yvPS7UT9x0FryuC8fpC7iC56IB8CLm1dcorTE/s1600/Vacaville-3-cellblock-Angela_Carone-KPBS-crop--etc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="361" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrchn7R2pcuJuKEOviIbhIifPXZkdLSqpexUgsWW8MO_eEp0D36sbqcXdR0Om-LhrFr2tcGE1GI7lO6sZm0-UIy3QYHsqjIGHVu22l40yvPS7UT9x0FryuC8fpC7iC56IB8CLm1dcorTE/s640/Vacaville-3-cellblock-Angela_Carone-KPBS-crop--etc.jpg" width="369" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Housing unit at Vacaville </td></tr>
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Prisons are not known as bastions of healing energy. One of the challenges faced by prison clinicians in the violent and hypermasculine culture of prison is how to uphold their professional ethics when they witness abuse of prisoners by staff. Psychologists may feel internally conflicted, but they rarely file formal complaints that might jeopardize their careers or even their personal safety.
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So a lawsuit brought by a California psychologist against the Department of Corrections for alleged harassment of sexual minority prisoners is both rare and potentially groundbreaking.
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<b>Lori Jespersen</b>, who identifies as “an openly genderqueer lesbian,” states that she was harassed and ostracized after she began blowing the whistle on rampant mistreatment of transgender and gay prisoners at the <a href="http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Locator/CMF.html">California Medical Facility at Vacaville</a>.
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Examples of prisoner abuse alleged in her lawsuit, filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, included an instance in which three prison employees “outed” one of Dr. Jespersen's transgender patients on Facebook, providing the prisoner's name and location, identifying her as a mental health patient, and referring to her as “he/she” and “that thing.”
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In another alleged incident, a prison employee left a door unlocked while a gay prisoner of color was showering, enabling another prisoner who had been assaulting sexual minority prisoners to enter the shower and assault him. When Dr. Jespersen filed a report under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Rape_Elimination_Act_of_2003">Prison Rape Elimination Act </a>(PREA), she says it was never investigated.
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Dr. Jespersen alleges that due to her efforts to call attention to the abuse of LBGT prisoners, she was subjected to constant name-calling and threats of violence, including being locked alone on a housing unit with dangerous rapists. She stated the harassment caused her anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and weight gain, and that she now “lives in constant fear of violence and harassment at work and at home.”
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfiSfCCXPPVGdGtc1D25k20gykXK_WMmUs4f27AWNV5UI1_JIcOJCx2C8BAZ-ePgRGWM8TvENRhZvxmRTPn1zHtDpcWu2xa6tFnQqEZu_5Hw5H62U-IpWADn3c04Fv0fDmGCftc5u_Ogw/s1600/vacaville-stevens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="290" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfiSfCCXPPVGdGtc1D25k20gykXK_WMmUs4f27AWNV5UI1_JIcOJCx2C8BAZ-ePgRGWM8TvENRhZvxmRTPn1zHtDpcWu2xa6tFnQqEZu_5Hw5H62U-IpWADn3c04Fv0fDmGCftc5u_Ogw/s320/vacaville-stevens.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/09/21/california-appeals-court-nixes-surgery-for-transgender-inmate/">Transgender prisoner at Vacaville</a></td></tr>
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Dr. Jespersen, 41, went to work for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in 2008, the same year she <a href="https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/detailsCADCA.do?selector=false&selectorType=&selectorReturnUrl=&anchor=9c13f1.0.2">became licensed</a>. The following year, she transferred to the Medical Facility at Vacaville, which has specialized programming for transgender prisoners.
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;">No safe haven?
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If true, her allegations are especially disturbing in that Vacaville has long been regarded as a haven for transgender prisoners. In 1999, during the height of the AIDS epidemic, it became one of only two prisons in the country with <a href="https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/aug/10/gender-outlaws-transgender-prisoners-face-discrimination-harassment-and-abuse/">specialized medical services</a> for trans prisoners, the majority of whom were infected with HIV. <br />
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Dr. Jespersen’s attorney, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/felicia-medina-jennifer-orthwein-announce-medina-orthwein-llp-a-civil-rights-and-public-interest-law-firm-in-oakland-300449605.html"><b>Jennifer Orthwein</b></a>, a former forensic psychologist whose practice focuses on gender and sexual orientation discrimination, said that the main goal of the lawsuit is to bring attention to the issue of systemic discrimination, in order to compel a cultural change. <br />
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“This case really has the potential to shine a spotlight on what is the key barrier to making progress to protecting vulnerable inmates in these facilities,” echoed Shannon Minter, the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in <a href="https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/08/17/prison-psychologist-sues-state-for-retaliation-after-reporting-mistreatment-of-lgbtq-prisoners/">an interview</a> with public radio’s The California Report, “and that is this prison culture of silence and retaliation.”
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7U04iNusP-ojdUOpbqB8KZ5zPcxXkcZKwhwJHcPgU7Ti3kfsMy8UjnFgN7-fEzSHj0XP0kIhUkIRAlCL3FMDzlCF9FUWvAsmoUJ587vkPkXw7oC2gx6zT6Zx2YLZ4P3Fzn0V7nG68S_k/s1600/trans+prisoner+cdcr.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="377" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7U04iNusP-ojdUOpbqB8KZ5zPcxXkcZKwhwJHcPgU7Ti3kfsMy8UjnFgN7-fEzSHj0XP0kIhUkIRAlCL3FMDzlCF9FUWvAsmoUJ587vkPkXw7oC2gx6zT6Zx2YLZ4P3Fzn0V7nG68S_k/s400/trans+prisoner+cdcr.png" width="338" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans prisoner at CDCR, <a href="http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/files/2013/06/Transgender-Inmates-in-CAs-Prisons-An-Empirical-Study-of-a-Vulnerable-Population.pdf">UC Irvine study</a></td></tr>
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Transgender prisoners are more than 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general prison population, according to <a href="http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/files/2013/06/Transgender-Inmates-in-CAs-Prisons-An-Empirical-Study-of-a-Vulnerable-Population.pdf">a 2009 study</a> by hate crimes scholar Valerie Jenness at UC Irvine’s Department of Criminology. About 59 percent of transgender prisoners in California reported being sexually assaulted, compared to less than 5 percent of other prisoners.
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Allegations of prisoner mistreatment are not new for California’s massive prison system, which has been under federal oversight for more than a decade due to chronic shortcomings in the treatment of mentally ill and low-functioning prisoners.
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The lawsuit also comes at the same moment as a major power shift in the direction of the California Medical Facility. Under the state’s <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3694/11">2017-2018 budget</a>, the intensive 24-hour inpatient psychiatric program at Vacaville and two other prisons has been shifted from the Department of State Hospitals to the Department of Corrections, which has been awarded an extra $254 million and nearly 2,000 new jobs to run them. The shift has caused <a href="https://www.change.org/p/jerry-brown-stop-the-cdcr-prison-system-takeover-of-3-california-state-hospital-psychiatric-programs">consternation</a> among mental health personnel, who <a href="https://www.change.org/p/jerry-brown-stop-the-cdcr-prison-system-takeover-of-3-california-state-hospital-psychiatric-programs">worry</a> about the quality of psychiatric care and the potential for increased suicides under CDCR management.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><b>Prison psychologist awarded $1 million over racial bias</b></span></h2>
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Although it is rare for prison psychologists to engage in whistle-blowing or file lawsuits, the last time such a case went to trial, the jury awarded the psychologist $945,480 in damages for racial discrimination, a judgment that was <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-discrimination-award-against-prison-system-upheld-2014oct03-story.html">upheld unanimously on appeal</a>.
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That case was especially disturbing, in that by all accounts <b>Terralyn Renfro</b> was a highly dedicated clinician who went above and beyond her formal duties in her desire to rehabilitate the men in the California prisons where she worked as a contract psychologist. Indeed, it was her very zeal that apparently cost her her career.
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According to testimony at her trial, her supervisors did not approve of her attempts to facilitate prisoner self-help groups. They were especially upset that she had set up a self-help library, which became very popular with prisoners at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhCQKle6EBr_A4j58M3_8Tiryvp0q-SPXKmmWQybs1wGD_NlMoh6uMHfo3fcZwMeRDwfMuBcIhYhsUgcAjo_xNFPHNqLZJ5I3NUrNe3aGny9M8aoxayMfRo2yDanSp2mY1VjI_z0O7xw/s1600/DO+NOT+HIRE-thumb-200x200-229178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhCQKle6EBr_A4j58M3_8Tiryvp0q-SPXKmmWQybs1wGD_NlMoh6uMHfo3fcZwMeRDwfMuBcIhYhsUgcAjo_xNFPHNqLZJ5I3NUrNe3aGny9M8aoxayMfRo2yDanSp2mY1VjI_z0O7xw/s200/DO+NOT+HIRE-thumb-200x200-229178.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The manner of Dr. Renfro's firing was humiliating. Without warning, a prison bureaucrat walked up to her one day and handed her a termination notice giving her 75 minutes to leave the prison or be physically ousted by guards. He stayed by her side and escorted her out the gates and to her car. A “DO NOT HIRE” note was placed in her file, so she was repeatedly rejected for jobs at other state prisons. No one ever explained who placed the note, or why.
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The Third District appellate court upheld the jury’s nearly $1 million verdict against the prison system for racial discrimination in the firing. Dr. Renfro was the only African American psychologist at Mule Creek Prison at the time.
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“Discrimination does not always present as in a scene from <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i> or <i>The Birth of a Nation</i>,” the appellate court noted. “Even the most racially intolerant manager will often appreciate the need for circumspection, so smoking guns are rarely found.... [T]he jury drew a reasonable inference of discrimination from a pattern of deception, obfuscation, and mistreatment.”
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But from the information in the record, the larger impetus for Dr. Renfro’s firing was her zealousness in prioritizing the interests of the prisoners in her care over those of the bureaucrats to whom she reported. The same behavior, perhaps, of which Dr. Jespersen may ultimately be deemed guilty.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * * </div>
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The complaint in <i>Jespersen vs. CDCR</i> is online <a href="https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/2017-08-14-jespersen-complaint-1502841184.pdf">HERE</a>.
The appellate opinion in Renfro vs. CDCR is <a href="http://bit.ly/RenfroCDCR">HERE</a>.</span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-46793479430374215022017-05-21T09:00:00.000-07:002018-10-30T11:10:45.979-07:00Why are these men downloading child pornography?<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>… And how much risk do they pose to a fearful public?</i></span></span></span></span></h3>
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Teachers. Businessmen. Military members. Politicians. Every week there’s another headline about a seemingly upstanding citizen caught with child pornography. The natural assumption is that the man is a closet pedophile, hiding his deviant desires behind a façade of normalcy.
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This pedophile assumption is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong. Either way, its circularity stymies deeper reflection. “He’s a pedophile so he seeks out child porn. Duh.” It is only if we step away from its micro-focus on the creep of the hour that we may detect something else going on here. Something bigger and more ominous. Something that should awaken our collective concern.
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Many of us in the forensic trenches have glimpsed it: a seemingly normal guy who’s become so wrapped up in the online smorgasbord of sexual fantasy offerings that he spends every spare minute frenetically downloading massive amounts of ever-more-deviant porn, as if trying to quench an insatiable thirst.
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Medical doctors are seeing another facet: teenage boys and young men with enfeebled sexual desire, who cannot maintain erections or achieve orgasms. More than half of young men ages 16-21 in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24418498">one study</a> reported such sexual dysfunctions. Unlike with the elderly or infirm, nothing is physically amiss: The problem is all in their heads.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ew_noX1vdvvbhSCbZpV3FsLYhZ2m4ev8gxaYD-FhGgzqdnNPqg2tbNUIQ8bbQOvrXpqtGUXl-Q4zzYQz1wgyUM8MB7zWrqwEFMflcdx0et5Oir239sVr5JSHu-294O4LljjCc0j3aMc/s1600/Pornhub-usage1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ew_noX1vdvvbhSCbZpV3FsLYhZ2m4ev8gxaYD-FhGgzqdnNPqg2tbNUIQ8bbQOvrXpqtGUXl-Q4zzYQz1wgyUM8MB7zWrqwEFMflcdx0et5Oir239sVr5JSHu-294O4LljjCc0j3aMc/s400/Pornhub-usage1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot: Visits to PornHub in 2016</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These trends are developing so fast that they've caught us off guard. With the Internet so ubiquitous, it is easy to forget its recency. “Tube” channels streaming digital video content have only been <a href="http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/01/history-of-internet-porn/">around since the mid-2000s</a>. But in the brief decade since their emergence, video porn sites have proliferated like mushrooms in a bog: One <a href="https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2016-year-in-review">popular site boasts 91 billion</a> (yes, that’s billion, with a “b”) videos viewed just last year alone, or 12.5 videos per every person on earth!
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The popularity of internet porn is generally attributed to the “three A’s” – anonymity, availability and affordability. People can learn about sex and engage in experimentation without interpersonal vulnerability or fear of embarrassment. There is no responsibility for another’s satisfaction.
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There is little question that the rapid proliferation of internet porn is ushering in a sea change in sexuality, especially among digital natives – those in their teens and 20s who know of no other world. Porn viewing is near-universal among male youth throughout the Western world, with average first use steadily dropping to a current average of under 13 years of age. A connection between internet porn and the sudden, unprecedented surge in sexual dysfunction is also abundantly clear: Men seeking medical help for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27527226">copulatory impotence</a> report obsessive porn use and, just as telling, they quickly recover normal functioning if they can manage to curtail their porn viewing.
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With the online porn explosion so new, medical researchers are just starting to catch up to its effects. But an emergent body of neurological research paints a disturbing picture of an oversatiated evolutionary system gone haywire.
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The brain is a remarkably elastic organ that readily transmutes in response to environmental and behavioral input. Take the famous <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/london-taxi-memory/">taxi driver study</a>, which demonstrated that successfully navigating London’s byzantine streets causes the memory-processing hippocampus to bulk up like a pro wrestler’s biceps. In contrast to this example of plasticity’s utility, the evidence suggests that brain plasticity is maladaptive in the case of heavy porn use.
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Wearing out the reward circuitry</span></i></span></h2>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiaM_1HVot7uZEZK3K8rli0YnLNt-rxsaZfqc0uCVAlRutQW4TLWKtbKArmMPVzjn7Iony2hetCe9aXuGYn1Wlrht1FYr_Z1F9Va8mlZfF5oyPDa2x67b2ZzriDYO4G1uoRGR6qj0TXHg/s1600/reward-pathway1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiaM_1HVot7uZEZK3K8rli0YnLNt-rxsaZfqc0uCVAlRutQW4TLWKtbKArmMPVzjn7Iony2hetCe9aXuGYn1Wlrht1FYr_Z1F9Va8mlZfF5oyPDa2x67b2ZzriDYO4G1uoRGR6qj0TXHg/s400/reward-pathway1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Discover Magazine</td></tr>
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Evolution has hard-wired humans to feel pleasure from activities like eating and sex that increase our chances of species survival. But because the brain is not evolutionarily prepared for incessant, artificial sex, constant masturbation to video porn overstimulates the pleasure-seeking circuitry and causes both <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24871202">structural and functional damage</a>. Preliminary neuroimaging research indicates that the ventral striatum (the brain’s so-called “reward center”) shrinks in size. The neurotransmitter dopamine – the “feel-good” chemical that helps animals remember experiences both good and bad – reduces its signaling. Perhaps most alarmingly, the frontal cortex -- responsible for higher-order thinking and planning -- loses grey matter. It’s as if, says researcher <a href="https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en/staff/simone-kuehn"><b>Simone Kuhn</b></a> of the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, the heavy porn user is actually <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/pea-brain-watching-porn-online-will-wear-out-your-brain-and-make-it-shrivel/a-17681654">wearing out his brain’s reward circuitry</a>.
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Psychologically, heavy porn use may foster a vicious cycle of avoidance and poor skills for coping with stress, much like that found in heavy drug users. People may use porn to escape their real-world stressors and anxieties, zoning out in a fantasy realm millions of miles away. Over time, this becomes a preferred strategy that is relied upon for handling stress. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26305628">Experimental research suggests</a> that such habitual pursuit of immediate sexual pleasure reduces one’s capacity to delay gratification for long-term benefit. The user becomes increasingly impulsive, spending more and more time sitting in front of his computer in a disinhibited state of chronic sexual arousal. As plans and goals are sidetracked, he feels worse about himself, leading to depression that – you guessed it – creates an even stronger urge to escape reality.
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Meanwhile, habituation makes it harder and harder to achieve gratification. What was once new and exciting becomes stale and boring. To achieve the sexual release that was once so easy, the consumer must frenetically search for ever-more-exotic and novel stimuli. Today’s porn users, report the ever-helpful statisticians at the popular porn site PornHub, are no longer satisfied with “vanilla” erotica or the old “in-out, in-out”; they are searching for wilder and wilder fantasy.
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With an endless menu of novel sexual stimuli available via the mere click of a mouse, this process of habituation sends heavy consumers spiraling down a rabbit hole, sampling ever-more-hardcore themes, from bestiality and bondage to myriad fetishes and – heedless of the legal risk – child pornography. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215302612">About half of male porn users report</a> that they have found themselves searching for content that they formerly considered disgusting or unappealing. Given what we know about habituation, it is not surprising that this <a href="http://www.igi-global.com/article/deviant-pornography-use/160696">progression to more deviant themes</a> is predicted by the amount of time spent online, the quantity of videos viewed and the age of first porn use.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ74o2w2pQsKQ3kXV7Mf9pZwxBfUIwIONT8E-O3N5LaWh6hrgZdIMtFReIHG2Sx836ZDjwpgVm9sxV5VBVABIUitjk8gWhO49174ERJeNjLMXCPB9txzeE-dklGVM11kdSjXJDPyyxW2Y/s1600/girl+-6-sexualized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ74o2w2pQsKQ3kXV7Mf9pZwxBfUIwIONT8E-O3N5LaWh6hrgZdIMtFReIHG2Sx836ZDjwpgVm9sxV5VBVABIUitjk8gWhO49174ERJeNjLMXCPB9txzeE-dklGVM11kdSjXJDPyyxW2Y/s400/girl+-6-sexualized.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6-year-old model in fashion ad</td></tr>
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But the progression to culturally taboo fetishes is also promoted by the industry itself, which uses the allure of the forbidden to increase its profits. Indeed, it is rather ironic – even perverse – that the very culture that condemns child pornography as the twisted fantasies of the deviant pedophile engages in the widespread <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/01/08/adultification-and-sexualization-of-girls-in-french-vogue/">eroticization of children</a> to sell products. As British criminologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yvonne-jewkes-109422"><b>Yvonne Jewkes</b></a> <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1363460712459314">points out</a>, the titillation of mass audiences via sexualized images of children can be seen as “the soft end” of a culturally pervasive continuum that at its extreme features hard-core child pornography.
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Jewkes and her colleague Maggie Wykes go so far as to call the current moral panic over child pornography a "smokescreen" that serves to divert attention from the real sexual harm to children in patriarchal societies. After all, the overwhelming majority of child sexual abuse occurs within the home and is committed by a male family member, not a teacher, doctor or even a priest.<br />
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In fact, the very term “child pornography” distracts from the incestuous nature of much of the sexual violence depicted, in which fathers callously videotape the abuse of their young daughters for profit and status within their deviant subculture.<br />
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“The images found on computers [have] led to calls for an international database of missing children, thus ignoring the evidence that most children are abused at home and so are not ‘missing,’ ” they point out.
“The power of moral panic lies not in what it does address but in what it doesn’t.” <br />
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The irony doesn’t end there. In our current climate of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Paranoid-Parenting-Frank-Furedi/dp/0713994886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494902456&sr=8-1&keywords=Furedi+Paranoid+Parenting">paranoid parenting</a>,” in which parents are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/free-range-parents-cleared-in-second-neglect-case-after-children-walked-alone/2015/06/22/82283c24-188c-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html?utm_term=.2ba4ba1ea093">charged with neglect </a>for letting their kids walk home from a suburban park without adult supervision, the fear of digital child images is making everyone see the world through the lens of the pedophile, thereby colluding with commercial sexual exploitation by fetishizing youthful bodies.
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>So, what about risk?
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Broader cultural discourses aside, on an immediate practical level the questions for forensic psychologists revolve around risk: If a man is caught with illegal child pornography, what is his risk for molesting an actual child? And what is his risk of reoffending by downloading more child pornography?
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The fact that reported child sexual abuse has continued to plummet in
recent years despite the meteoric rise in child pornography argues against any direct causal link between child porn and hands-on
offending. But direct research on child porn consumers is tricky, because such people are less than keen to step forward and reveal themselves. This has forced researchers to focus on those who have been apprehended, likely skewing data toward the more deviant and criminally oriented. <br />
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Despite this limitation, the cumulative data bring good tidings: Overall, men who have been arrested and/or convicted for child pornography offending pose a very low risk to the public. <br />
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<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21173158">Aggregating nine extant studies on reoffense risk</a> using meta-analytic statistical methods, prominent pedophilia researcher <a href="http://individual.utoronto.ca/michaelseto/"><b>Michael Seto</b></a> and colleagues found that, on average, a man who has been caught with child porn has about a 3.4% chance of committing another non-contact offense. The risk he will actually molest a child is even lower, around 2%.<br />
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These extremely low risk levels -- especially for child pornography offenders with no known history of hands-on offending -- is further evidence that much of their misconduct is driven by curiosity and
internet-enhanced impulsivity. Once caught, all but the most deviant
learn their lesson and apparently refrain from further misconduct. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFifKKvV7uiWMV7kbN5ZlWvxwk7mL38lYWYnCxTn5psFd5ByATrfz2t8wkO8JP9w7DWC1-h7OioB5R6E6a6eNgHUjjIWKnFTzIOSlrzlVUurMgHlqPBGvfm4t2wjusYeNPNaCB0e7GfY/s1600/Butner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFifKKvV7uiWMV7kbN5ZlWvxwk7mL38lYWYnCxTn5psFd5ByATrfz2t8wkO8JP9w7DWC1-h7OioB5R6E6a6eNgHUjjIWKnFTzIOSlrzlVUurMgHlqPBGvfm4t2wjusYeNPNaCB0e7GfY/s320/Butner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In any body of scientific research, of course, there is always that pesky outlier. In this case, there is one loner study that reached very different conclusions from the pack (and got a substantial amount of attention in the process). That article, based on convicted offenders at a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21173158">regarded as an unreliable anomaly</a>. Prisoners at the facility have alleged that they were coerced into falsely claiming that they had molested children under
threat of being expelled from the treatment program and shipped off to
more dangerous penitentiaries. Further, they were never informed that they were part of a research project, and did not give their consent (which if true would be a violation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Code">Nuremberg Code</a>). Federal judges have been harshly critical of the study. Based on its multiple <a href="http://richardwollert.com/pubs/Wollert_Skelton_Dubin_book_chapter.pdf">identified problems</a>, there is even an <a href="http://richardwollert.com/pubs/Wollert_Skelton_Dubin_book_chapter.pdf">effort underway</a> to get the <i>Journal of Family Violence</i> to issue a retraction.
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The first big wave of child pornography prosecutions caught forensic psychologists off guard. With little extant research and no established tools to assess risk in this emergent criminal class, some practitioners turned to instruments like the <a href="https://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2015/04/static-99-yet-more-bumps-on-rocky.html">Static-99</a> that were designed to assess
reoffense risk among hands-on sex offenders. Not surprisingly, given the obvious differences between
sexual assault and online pornography viewing, these instruments turned out to greatly overestimate the risk to the public
posed by pornography-only offenders.
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Michael Seto has been on the forefront of trying to rectify this situation. He and his colleagues have developed a new instrument to try to distinguish between garden-variety child pornography offenders and the tiny fraction who pose a greater risk to the public. The risk factors on his <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/project/Child-Pornography-Offender-Risk-Tool-CPORT">Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool</a>, or CPORT (publicly available <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/project/Child-Pornography-Offender-Risk-Tool-CPORT">HERE</a>), are largely common-sensical: Men at greater risk are those with more entrenched pedophilic and/or criminal propensities, as indicated by such factors as criminal history or prior contact sex offending against minors.
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Additionally, it is sometimes possible to distinguish men with primary pedophilic attractions from those who fell down the rabbit hole by analyzing the totality of their downloaded images. The pedophiles will tend to have a preponderance of child images, often quite well organized, whereas those without fixed sexual interests in children will have a wider variety of images, including those of adults and other themes such as bestiality, bondage and the like, with child photos in the minority.
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Criminologist Jewkes is correct that the current obsession with prosecuting child porn cases distracts from the bigger picture. It not only encourages a warped and ineffective approach to child sexual abuse prevention, but it also sidelines critical analysis of legal adult porn. Because it is legal and its harm is more subtle (albeit far more
pervasive), adult porn doesn't generate the moral outrage of child pornography. But just as child porn promotes distorted beliefs about children and child sexuality, much mainstream adult porn promotes destructive messages about women – what they like, and how they should be treated. It fosters objectification, and legitimates violence and abuse.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Whither this social experiment?</span></i></span></h2>
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Zooming out even further, online porn -- whether legal or illegal -- can be viewed as just one facet of a massive social experiment into completely uncharted waters.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iwEmtZv1pgYAjJmUDyM-lg_PbML8sN0JeQRoGsrIVCFYW7HXSeb3Q3jjIf303KlhpZRiYxKXBNeDHrD_Q_NSgLHGZZVWbdljwrp6KFA0La92uC6alXKKqsmBGb9tG916Usdpj6nHAkk/s1600/realdoll-sexbot-due2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iwEmtZv1pgYAjJmUDyM-lg_PbML8sN0JeQRoGsrIVCFYW7HXSeb3Q3jjIf303KlhpZRiYxKXBNeDHrD_Q_NSgLHGZZVWbdljwrp6KFA0La92uC6alXKKqsmBGb9tG916Usdpj6nHAkk/s400/realdoll-sexbot-due2017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Realdoll sex dolls rolling out this year</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Echoing the sci-fi movie <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/15/ex-machina-sexy-female-robots-scifi-film-obsession"><i>Ex Machina</i></a> (kind of an isolationist <i>Stepford Wives</i> for the 21st century), the market in sex dolls and robots is booming, as “fembots” and “<a href="https://hcri.brown.edu/2013/06/18/raunchy-robotics-the-ethics-of-sexbots/">sexbots</a>” become ever more realistic in appearance and feel; they're now even being <a href="http://www.access-ai.com/news/583/realdoll-gets-ai-so-users-can-choose-sexbots-personality/">programmed with "personalities"</a> (sexual, shy, naive, brainy, etc.). As <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2017/02/28/sex-dolls-brothel-opens-in-spain-and-many-predict-sex-robots-tourism-soon-to-follow/#7e0a97e44ece">Europe’s first android brothel opens its doors in Barcelona</a>, some predict we are on the brink of a sex-robot tourist industry. Others go so far as to predict that “sex with humans could soon be a thing of the past.”
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Although one is tempted to scoff at such alarmist predictions, in trend-setting Japan, there is much <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/16/national/social-issues/sexless-japan-almost-half-young-men-women-virgins-survey/#.WRVDBsZlA2w">government hand-wringing</a> over the steadily growing proportion of 18- to 34-year-olds who remain single and virgins. Whether porn’s ubiquity is a cause versus a symptom of these larger, global sea changes in sexuality and family life remains an open question. But it is certainly safe to say that online pornography will do nothing to make it easier for people to reach out and connect, either sexually or socially.<br />
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After all, there is mounting evidence that porn contributes to young people’s
insecurity about their physical adequacy and attractiveness. Heavy porn consumption also weakens men’s commitment to
romantic relationships. Real-life partners are mundane and flawed in comparison,
incapable of living up to the idealized fantasy model. And, unlike sex-bots, they do not always obey.
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Maybe I’ve been watching too much <i>Black Mirror</i> (my episode rankings are <a href="http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/black-mirror-episodes-rank-binge-guide-netflix-1201894706/#respond">HERE</a>), but in this era of <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2017/01/dylann-roof-how-to-make-rampage-murderer.html">increasing social isolation and alienation</a> it doesn't take too much imagination to envision a dystopic future in which people wall themselves off in lonely cubicles, growing old alone as they desperately scour digital media for satisfaction and companionship that remains tantalizingly out of reach.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><i>-----</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>A NOTE ON COMMENTS: To view or
post comments, you must first scroll up to the top of the post you are
interested in and click on its title.</i></span> Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-35511453910574053272017-01-02T09:50:00.001-08:002018-07-18T09:22:58.636-07:00Dylann Roof: How to make a rampage murderer <i>As the penalty-phase trial of young white supremacist Dylann Roof gets underway this week, reporters have asked me to explain the psychological dynamics that trigger deadly rampages like Roof’s at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. My answer: Although the specifics such as locale and target shift, the broad contours of such spree killings remain remarkably constant. Here is my recipe of key ingredients:
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">1. Alienation
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We humans are tribal animals. For millennia, we lived in tightly knit, cooperative societies where individuals were rarely alone. As author Sebastian Junger explores in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tribe-Homecoming-Belonging-Sebastian-Junger/dp/1455566381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483322281&sr=8-1&keywords=Tribe+Sebastian+Junger"><i>Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging</i></a>, tribal identity motivates individuals to sacrifice for the collective good. In stark contrast, modern society deprives people of that essential sense of connection or belonging. Our current technological atomization is “deeply brutalizing to the human spirit,” writes Junger. Cast adrift, people feel meaningless and superfluous. Social alienation is producing epidemic rates of depression and suicide. But it is in spree killings that we see the ultimate expression of malignant alienation: Embracing nihilism, the killer finds meaning via symbolically destroying not just himself, but also the social order that rebuffed and humiliated him.
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Mark Ames, author of the meticulously researched <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/R1QLO5A5V9QZXI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm">Going Postal</a></i>, goes so far as to argue that mass shootings are a form of doomed rebellion against a toxic culture: Otherwise-normal people snap when pushed to the breaking point within decollectivized, militarized and ruthless settings. Workplace sprees occur in oppressive institutional settings rife with surveillance, mandatory unpaid overtime, and humiliating and degrading layoff rituals. Sites of school shootings, meanwhile, are often brutal places where students undergo chronic torment. The more endemic alienation becomes, the more people will snap.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Failure
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This is perhaps obvious, but setting the stage for a spree killing is cataclysmic failure. Except in warfare, satisfied people don’t suddenly morph into killing machines. The killer has failed a life-stage transition, and his life has gone off track. Dylann Roof had a troubled childhood, marked by abuse, neglect, severe anxiety and academic failure, according to published accounts. He dropped out of high school. As a young adult, he couldn’t get a job or even a driver’s license. He coped by drinking heavily. The lives of other recent mass killers were similarly catastrophic, marked by failures on academic, vocational and/or relationship fronts. <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/12/newtown-ct-latest-massacre-brings-more.html">Adam Lanza</a> (Sandy Hook) and <a href="http://documents.latimes.com/isla-vista-investigative-summary/">Elliot Rodger</a> (Isla Vista) had autism-spectrum conditions that left them incapable of forming intimate relationships. Omar Mateen (The Pulse nightclub) was a socially awkward loser: he flunked out of police training, got fired as a prison guard, and ended up doing lowly security work; his wife fled after he beat her.
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Entitlement
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyn6RILWNbr02zUCKYdN-OJhhXIgx5NGrOYrNZ82N4rZ-7-wFdrMoL8cJznrtzXazB-fDJQLH9gKnMRR4FQhTQpJQ4JVP7l47QoNQWNrlQphJdv-7O27mCua7C5aM7Y1YpUVml1zXMoBo/s1600/Rampage-Roof-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyn6RILWNbr02zUCKYdN-OJhhXIgx5NGrOYrNZ82N4rZ-7-wFdrMoL8cJznrtzXazB-fDJQLH9gKnMRR4FQhTQpJQ4JVP7l47QoNQWNrlQphJdv-7O27mCua7C5aM7Y1YpUVml1zXMoBo/s400/Rampage-Roof-1.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dylann Roof posing in his bedroom.</td></tr>
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Failure alone is insufficient. The failure must be perceived as unfair. Like Roof, whose grandfather was a prominent attorney, the killer often has middle-class roots, inculcating the American mythology of success. Mass shooters often have higher aspirations than are realistic for their station in life. In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/R18OB6ES5UQ07H/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm"><i>Hunting Humans</i></a>, pioneering anthropologist Elliott Leyton argues that the modern mass murderer tends to be especially socially conservative, class-conscious, and obsessed with power and status. Yet in our increasingly fragmented, alienating and high-stress world, a high-quality life is difficult for many a young American to achieve. Recognizing that he is on a dead-end trajectory and that his class aspirations will not be realized produces profound disappointment, personal shame and – ultimately - despair. To reduce cognitive dissonance, he needs someone to blame.
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Projection
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By the time he explodes, the spree killer has amassed an enormous reservoir of bitterness. He feels unfairly victimized. Through a scarcity lens, he perceives less deserving people as stealing away his opportunities and robbing him of his right to happiness. Those perceived as undeserving typically include lower-status or socially stigmatized groups such as people of color, women, sexual minorities or immigrants. This is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-white-working-class-votes-against-itself/2016/12/22/3aa65c04-c88b-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.feafd4248099&wpisrc=nl_wemost&wpmm=1">politics of resentment</a> that Trump has milked so effectively.
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Also feeding into the potent fury of many mass murderers are childhood histories of being bullied and socially rejected. In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/R2ALWJHS4JK4BY/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm"><i>Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings</i></a>, Katherine Newman and colleagues chronicle the tormented lives of infamous school shooters. Many were incessantly harassed, with antigay epithets a common refrain. In high school, Seung-Hui Cho (<a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2007/04/could-virginia-tech-rampage-been.html">Virginia Tech</a>) was relentlessly bullied over his social awkwardness, speech impediment and immigrant background. Dylann Roof was described as a “bug-eyed boy” with a bowl haircut who struggled academically; we can only guess at his social travails.
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Masculinity</span></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuk7sjV0Tpk3GXRSil6OKTRlpMOsE2iseQqcsXv4qs1ZkyZetEvt5VivUiw8KI0m4rMLNeTdX4wVJJJM0PYqzGBBCCsOtdcizOK9-qAL7DzNAORFgvrDmlM7eoQ73DiIXrzBrgmfVHEE/s1600/Rampage-Roof-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuk7sjV0Tpk3GXRSil6OKTRlpMOsE2iseQqcsXv4qs1ZkyZetEvt5VivUiw8KI0m4rMLNeTdX4wVJJJM0PYqzGBBCCsOtdcizOK9-qAL7DzNAORFgvrDmlM7eoQ73DiIXrzBrgmfVHEE/s640/Rampage-Roof-2.jpg" width="323" /></a></div>
Spree killings are exceedingly rare (making them impossible to predict). Not every alienated, bitter loner picks up an assault rifle. But those who do are invariably male. Women are more likely to blame themselves for their misery. As journalist Jamie Bartlett reveals in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2R60MUXUWRZKT/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1612195210"><i>The Dark Net</i></a>, hundreds of thousands of young women ages 13-25 flock to the myriad “pro-cutting” and “pro-ana” (anorexia) Internet sites that have sprung up in response to demand from alienated young women.
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In contrast to this turning inward, many young men regard violence against others as a way to gain status and respect. Our cultural glorification of male violence is evidenced by the enormous popularity of first-person shooter and warfare games. It is evidenced by the lack of meaningful protest over our government’s modeling of killing as a solution to problems: U.S. military <a href="http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2016/07/01/questioning-obamas-drone-deaths-data/">drone strikes</a> in the Middle East have ended the lives of many hundreds of civilians, with little fanfare. After all, we are the good guys, protecting the world against evil. As boys grow up, writes masculinity scholar <a href="http://www.michaelkimmel.com/biography/">Michael Kimmel</a>, “they learn that they are entitled to feel like a real man, and that they have the right to annihilate anyone who challenges that sense of entitlement.”
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Mass shootings are a quintessentially American theatrical production, the ultimate display of alienated hypermasculinity inside the world's leading imperial power. The production is carefully planned and staged, often accompanied by websites, online manifestos and photos that will help it propagate and endure in the cultural imagination. Embittered young men seize upon the restorative potential of violence, which enables them to extract vengeance for a litany of wrongs both real and imagined. Even more powerfully, violence offers the lure of immortality: Rack up enough dead bodies, and you become infamous. You are no longer a nobody; you are a warrior.
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. Ideology
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To become a warrior, one needs a cause. There is no shortage of alienated young men like Roof, reared on a diet of masculine entitlement and believing that they have been treated unfairly. In another time, they might be like dying trees in a parched forest, standing alone and unnoticed until their eventual collapse. But in the age of the enchanted Internet, such men can simultaneously retreat from humanity yet plug into like-minded online communities where their diffuse rage can find a focus.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJvJc7gQhohB8T59JLd2u246khpOkOAEh7JT8oDoHUUuHc_TXYggWT6WN1LqumhMl6jjHhkZzirZP25NGlOl-fH4lKCD82Uzy75V6jARBzvdR53EUZsZk7_ULO48a34Q6fijqAuVAXzw/s1600/Rampage-Rodger-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJvJc7gQhohB8T59JLd2u246khpOkOAEh7JT8oDoHUUuHc_TXYggWT6WN1LqumhMl6jjHhkZzirZP25NGlOl-fH4lKCD82Uzy75V6jARBzvdR53EUZsZk7_ULO48a34Q6fijqAuVAXzw/s400/Rampage-Rodger-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elliot Rodger (Isla Vista) in pre-production selfie: "I am gorgeous"</td></tr>
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Take <a href="http://documents.latimes.com/isla-vista-investigative-summary/">Elliot Rodger</a>, the Isla Vista killer. A flop with women despite his self-proclaimed “gorgeous” looks, he immersed himself in the misogynist realm of the “<a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/how-fight-club-became-the-ultimate-handbook-for-mens-rights-activists?utm_source=broadlytwitterus">manosphere</a>,” where “men’s rights” proponents and “pickup artists” rail against power-mad feminists who are denying men their natural-born right to supremacy (and sex). Such insular communities are like echo chambers, validating and amplifying warped ideologies. Within the manosphere, Rodger transformed himself from an invisible nobody -- a "beta male," in <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/how-fight-club-became-the-ultimate-handbook-for-mens-rights-activists?utm_source=broadlytwitterus">man-speak</a> -- into a “true alpha male,” in his words, a heroic warrior standing up for oppressed “incels,” or involuntary celibates.
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“Women are like a plague,” he repeats several times in an <a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/rodger_manifesto.pdf">online manifesto</a>. “The mere sight of them enjoying their happy lives was an insult to me, because I deserve it more than them…. They don’t deserve to have any rights. Their wickedness must be contained in order to prevent future generations from falling to degeneracy. Women are vicious, evil, barbaric animals, and they need to be treated as such.”
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Like Rodger, Dylann Roof retreated into the Web. But instead of the manosphere, his search for meaning led him to the white supremacist channel. Specifically, the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/council-of-conservative-citizens-dylann-roof/396467/">Council of Conservative Citizens</a>, aka the “uptown Klan,” which devotes a lot of energy to disseminating propaganda about the menace of black-on-white crime. The atomization of culture into discreet identities has left many white men feeling abandoned and scapegoated, and racist ideology is quick to fill this vacuum. Roof eagerly soaked up the ideology of a white race under siege; like Rodger, he also grew frustrated with the preponderance of rhetoric over action. “[S]omeone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me,” <a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/Roof-manifesto.pdf">he wrote</a>. “I have no choice.”
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Reducing the world to a stark black and white furthers the killer's self-image as a heroic warrior battling the forces of evil. In <i>Terrorist’s Creed: Fanatical Violence and the Human Need for Meaning</i>, fascism scholar Roger Griffin calls this “<a href="http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/10/29/interview-professor-roger-griffin">heroic doubling</a>”: fanatics deploy violence as a call to arms to defend an idealized in-group against perceived threat by a demonized Other. Ideologically motivated killers like Roof, Rodger or the Norwegian mass murderer <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/22/anders-breivik-inside-the-warped-mind-of-a-mass-killer/">Anders Breivik</a> may act alone in the moment, but they see themselves as soldiers in a larger movement. The growing popularity of online manifestos – Roof had one, too, although at <a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/Roof-manifesto.pdf">four pages</a> it paled in comparison to Rodger’s 141-page tome – attests to the narcissistic fervor with which spree killers cling to their adopted ideologies as rationale for bloodshed.
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What makes the ascendancy of extremist rhetoric so dangerous is this capacity to activate the alienated loner. A direct cause-and-effect relationship is readily observable: Donald Trump spews anti-Muslim vitriol, and in short order <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/fbi-hate-crimes-muslims.html">attacks on U.S. Muslims spike</a>. Public figures can produce random lone-wolf violence via repeatedly demonizing an out-group, while maintaining plausible disavowal of responsibility. This practice -- most well-known for its contribution to abortion clinic bombings -- has a scholarly term, "<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-assassination-dog-whistle-was-scarier-than-you-think-w433615">stochastic terrorism</a>.” In Roof's case, the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/council-of-conservative-citizens-dylann-roof/396467/">Council of Conservative Citizens</a> whose ideology Roof parroted in his manifesto was quick to issue a statement deploring the massacre, even while defending Roof's racist belief system as correct.
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">7. Contagion
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In late-18th century Germany, groups of young men could be seen strolling about in identical outfits of blue tailcoats, yellow trousers and high boots. They were imitating Werther, the romantic hero of the sensational novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther"><i>The Sorrows of Young Werther</i></a>, in which the idealistic protagonist kills himself over unrequited love. <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/frank-furedi/media%E2%80%99s-first-moral-panic">Blamed for a rash of copycat suicides</a> among the impressionable and mentally ill, the novel was banned in Italy and Denmark.
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This so-called Werther Fever is an early example of what we now refer to as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/meme">cultural meme</a> – an idea, fashion or behavior transmitted like a virus from person to person, often via mass media, that takes on a life of its own as it propagates.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDu0KQlRUmf3XfRvqPVefLVlcieSYOBqxm71lyuA0xVcgzqFuhz982QKlljyXizVyfHFg1nJG8EhnlyVt5Jhe_-P1sl860i4zyqKVJYkqPDHUj_q0kQguR5RL2eDVmc3t5T6BVX89A6s/s1600/Rampage-Cho-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDu0KQlRUmf3XfRvqPVefLVlcieSYOBqxm71lyuA0xVcgzqFuhz982QKlljyXizVyfHFg1nJG8EhnlyVt5Jhe_-P1sl860i4zyqKVJYkqPDHUj_q0kQguR5RL2eDVmc3t5T6BVX89A6s/s400/Rampage-Cho-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech) poses in pre-production selfie</td></tr>
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Spree killings seem to have morphed into just such a cultural meme. Especially with the spread of social media, they often go viral, tempting the next angry and alienated man with the tantalizing promise of infamy and immortality – especially if the body count is high enough.
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In truth, however, this immortality is illusory, as the very ubiquity of the mass shooter meme is numbing the public; one killer’s fame lasts only for the brief interval until another pushes him aside. Dylann Roof will have his moment in the spotlight this week, and then it will be on to the next case.
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Instead of just dissecting each individual act in this never-ending drama (and emphasizing singular elements such as untreated mental illness, gun accessibility, social media, violent video games, bad parenting, law enforcement failures of prediction, and the like), we might do well to regard young men like Roof as canaries in the coal mine. It is only when the air in the mine is poisonous that the canary will die.
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In the award-winning TV show <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/07/mr-robot-fact-check/"><i>Mr. Robot</i></a>, there are these ninja assassins who, when cornered, put a bullet in their own brain. A computer-crimes detective refers to this as “erasing their histories.” In orchestrating a dramatic last stand, mass shooters like Roof are doing precisely this, erasing their heretofore empty and meaningless lives and replacing them with a meme.
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<span style="color: #660000;"><i><b>Related blog posts:
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/12/newtown-ct-latest-massacre-brings-more.html">Newtown, CT: Latest massacre brings more hand-wringing</a> (Dec. 18, 2012) </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/07/aurora-massacre-to-speak-or-not-to-speak.html">Aurora massacre: To speak or not to speak?</a> (July 22, 2012) </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/01/arizona-rampage-analyzing-analyses.html">Arizona rampage: Analyzing the analyzers</a> (Jan. 23, 2011) </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/10/systems-failure-or-black-swan.html">Systems failure or black swan? New frame needed to stop memorial crime control frenzy</a> (Oct. 19, 2010) </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2007/04/could-virginia-tech-rampage-been.html">Virginia Tech: Can school shootings be prevented?</a> (April 19, 2007) </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #660000;">Dylann Roof's full manifesto is <a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/Roof-manifesto.pdf">HERE</a>; Elliot Rodger's is <a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/rodger_manifesto.pdf">HERE</a>.
</span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-45962571474629885502016-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:002018-02-11T11:52:30.985-08:00“In the Dark” shines brilliant light on bungled Jacob Wetterling case<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzm7za-eZ4rPDUNiNwdZrTE8FhEL4Ws0W1NMdhMwjpXiiYBwlOJVxvmHTpRfZuIg9KbW-ZrwT9V-EcBDVigaPQwQFPotISsix8-Z2q3xY-vMt0gol8XFbF6RSgZm9-jprIQ0U4coW_KHU/s1600/Wetterling1A-InTheDark.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzm7za-eZ4rPDUNiNwdZrTE8FhEL4Ws0W1NMdhMwjpXiiYBwlOJVxvmHTpRfZuIg9KbW-ZrwT9V-EcBDVigaPQwQFPotISsix8-Z2q3xY-vMt0gol8XFbF6RSgZm9-jprIQ0U4coW_KHU/s320/Wetterling1A-InTheDark.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">L</span>ong-<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dormant</span> case spawned <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">today's</span> sex offender registries. B<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ut w</span>ould these laws have made a difference? </span></span></span></i></span> </span></h3>
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Twenty-seven years ago, a perfect storm struck a small town
in central Minnesota, when a stranger jumped out of the shadows and snatched an
11-year-old boy out bicycle-riding with friends. </div>
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It was the rarest of crimes. But the Oct. 22, 1989 abduction
of Jacob Wetterling struck at a pivotal moment in U.S. history, igniting a
conflagration that still burns today. Stranger-danger hysteria was sweeping the
nation. Day care providers were being rounded up and accused of Satanic ritual
abuse of children. And in that potent milieu, an unprecedented national manhunt came up empty.</div>
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Embarrassed by their failure, law enforcement spokesmen claimed they were hamstrung by lax tracking of known
sex offenders. Jacob’s distraught mother, Patty Wetterling, led a successful crusade
that culminated in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Wetterling_Crimes_Against_Children_and_Sexually_Violent_Offender_Registration_Act">Wetterling Act of 1994</a>, requiring all U.S. states to
collect and publicly disseminate information on convicted sex offenders. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXi0cJYpsSCXhqfjJmgt5PwFa4BD0-y8dMbZk1UXhSU6WvyuWbTliXbaB8GQUSldP1D-_yoykB7fF7f5qXT2ZrhV2uLtQ6uY1EhhZIuPgDxlrLi-NJxasi9sKEns7OlbLCEhuvpl7MvY/s1600/Wetterling1-Jacob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXi0cJYpsSCXhqfjJmgt5PwFa4BD0-y8dMbZk1UXhSU6WvyuWbTliXbaB8GQUSldP1D-_yoykB7fF7f5qXT2ZrhV2uLtQ6uY1EhhZIuPgDxlrLi-NJxasi9sKEns7OlbLCEhuvpl7MvY/s320/Wetterling1-Jacob.jpg" width="320" /></a>But 27 years later, with an estimated 850,000 Americans on
public sex offender databases, Patty Wetterling is no longer enamored of the opportunistic
missing-child movement and its crass media stars, who used her to
promote their own agendas. In an interview with award-winning investigative
reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/madeleinebaran">Madeleine Baran</a>, she said she regrets her role in creating a public
registry that is counterproductive, in shaming and ostracizing individuals
rather than helping them reintegrate into society.</div>
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That interview is just one of many remarkable segments in the
serial <a href="http://www.apmreports.org/in-the-dark"><i>In the Dark</i></a>, a nine-part podcast from American Public Media
that forces us to rethink everything we thought we knew about both the
Wetterling abduction and the broader landscape of how police investigate serious crimes. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeZBlWGgY0qg1uK_rI8YKDvM1Ji5L24ChSn95lNM-1ZHHUGzh8hB8V_fi3GpZGo1dDBPjW96oVV6Zzw197vKRwa5q9DxUK8IuuXw65C3c0zU7CarYJHiSOnkk5VzpSYcDUss0EU89Djw/s1600/Wetterling2-Heinrich%252Bsketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeZBlWGgY0qg1uK_rI8YKDvM1Ji5L24ChSn95lNM-1ZHHUGzh8hB8V_fi3GpZGo1dDBPjW96oVV6Zzw197vKRwa5q9DxUK8IuuXw65C3c0zU7CarYJHiSOnkk5VzpSYcDUss0EU89Djw/s320/Wetterling2-Heinrich%252Bsketch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Danny Heinrich today and sketch of abductor in 1989 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Coincidentally, Episode One of the meticulously researched series
was just set to premiere when police announced last month that they had finally
cracked the case. <a href="http://patch.com/minnesota/southwestminneapolis/danny-heinrich-confesses-killing-jacob-wetterling">Daniel Heinrich</a>, who lived about half an hour down the road
from his victim, had <a href="http://patch.com/minnesota/southwestminneapolis/danny-heinrich-confesses-killing-jacob-wetterling">confessed</a> and led police to Jacob’s remains, in exchange
for a plea deal in an unrelated child pornography case and an admission that he
abducted and assaulted another boy nine months before killing Jacob.</div>
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Baran set out to answer the question of why it took the
local police more than a quarter of a century to catch a small-town pervert who
was right under their noses the whole time. But in the process, she learned
something far more troubling: that police across the country lack any meaningful
oversight, and inept agencies with crime-solving rates as low as zero percent face no accountability.</div>
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Baran reached this shocking conclusion after more than nine months of
painstaking digging. In a monument to investigative reporting, she and her
colleagues delved deep into archival records, conducted contemporary interviews
with dozens of witnesses and experts, and reconstructed events to determine
what went wrong. </div>
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What Baran found was missteps at every turn.
Police didn’t thoroughly canvass the neighborhood immediately after the crime.
They glossed over a rash of stranger molests of preteen boys in the nearby
hamlet of <a href="http://www.paynesvillemn.com/">Paynesville</a> where killer Danny Heinrich – already known to police –
resided. Ultimately, in the type of tunnel vision that we see all too often in
cases of wrongful conviction, they set their sights on the wrong guy
altogether, a quirky local music teacher, and hunkered down to build a case
against him – destroying his life in the process. </div>
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Diving deeper, Baran found more systemic problems.</div>
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At the time of Jacob’s abduction, the media portrayed
Stearns County, Minnesota, as an idyllic place where crimes like this didn’t
happen: indeed, went the narrative, that’s why the local sheriff’s department was caught off guard.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-S2F5UIQMnymKK6cO1xwr6Y0fSR_ncwGJvAgOOx2TKFwQEn63Kr0smVOGY81-OmYmjI7RnqQ1PZwrtd-nKLDFhdJS1PQmnmc3eNnZM-HgdhzjACS53Z7_Ezx-UWCBFAu7eud48WmrIk/s1600/Wetterling6-StearnsSheriff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-S2F5UIQMnymKK6cO1xwr6Y0fSR_ncwGJvAgOOx2TKFwQEn63Kr0smVOGY81-OmYmjI7RnqQ1PZwrtd-nKLDFhdJS1PQmnmc3eNnZM-HgdhzjACS53Z7_Ezx-UWCBFAu7eud48WmrIk/s400/Wetterling6-StearnsSheriff.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
But that wasn’t true. The Stearns County Sheriff’s
Department had investigated crimes even more heinous, and had botched it every time.
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There was the case of <a href="http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/08/31/42-years-later-murder-of-2-sisters-in-st-cloud-still-unsolved/">the Reker sisters</a>, ages 12 and 15, who
disappeared one day in 1974. Police shrugged it off as girls on a lark, until the bodies were found in a quarry a month later with multiple stab wounds. The case was never
solved. And there was the mass murder of a woman and three children, shotgunned to death
in their beds in 1978. Police questioned the killer, Joseph Ture, but released
him to wreak carnage across Minnesota; he ended up raping numerous women and killing at
least two before he was <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-20-year-nightmare-ends/">finally apprehended</a> by Minneapolis police. </div>
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Baran’s delivery is masterful. In a pleasant and measured
cadence, she methodically weaves together the micro strands of the flawed Wetterling investigation
with the macro threads of an entire police system gone wrong, to create an
eye-opening tapestry with profound implications for all Americans. </div>
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* * * * *</div>
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It’s hard not to be dubious about the prospects for any
expose, even the most brilliant, to produce genuine systemic change.
On the other hand, there is no question that podcasts can change the fates of those
lucky few whom they spotlight. </div>
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Take Adnan Syed. Many will remember the viral popularity of <a href="https://serialpodcast.org/about"><i>Serial</i></a>'s debut season in 2014, with host Sarah Koenig recounting Syed's prosecution in the killing of his former high school girlfriend. Syed’s
conviction was subsequently overturned and he was granted a new trial, much to
the dismay of <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-syed-prosecutors-oppose-20161007-story.html">Maryland state attorneys, who are protesting</a> that the appeal is
"meritless" and a product of "sensationalized attention" that
gave a legitimately convicted murderer the status of international superstar.</div>
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That was certainly the case for convicted killer Steven
Avery after Netflix’s <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2016/01/whats-wrong-with-making-murderer.html"><i>Making a Murderer</i></a>, which spawned a large and vocal fan
base insisting that he is innocent despite substantial evidence to the contrary.
As I noted in <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2016/01/whats-wrong-with-making-murderer.html">my critical review</a> of that spectacle, by cherry-picking which facts to air, a producer can energize an ignorant populism fueled by illusory knowledge. </div>
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So, podcasters walk a fine line between educating the public
about the realities of the criminal justice system -- as <i>In the Dark</i> does so well -- and pandering to the
prurient, devolving into true-crime entertainment spectacles like “48 Hours Mystery." Or worse. The dangers of true-crime populism were perhaps best illustrated by the 2013 <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/04/digital-lynch-mob-assaults-expert.html">murder trial of Jodi Arias</a>, where media corporations intent on audience titillation fomented a digital <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/04/digital-lynch-mob-assaults-expert.html">lynch mob</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUsa5nb5VFR_YA55HAdSyZ24plMJ_s2586FSpbr1twyanhwjl_81U9ACktVTO5CPlCZmdEO2jdHu3Sr1fjD_8EH6Tydt_5M92U-MeCBvxWjAaL-i8Fv2bcAiYZs-T5DeLYgCVZP2tP2k/s1600/Wetterling3-Breakdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUsa5nb5VFR_YA55HAdSyZ24plMJ_s2586FSpbr1twyanhwjl_81U9ACktVTO5CPlCZmdEO2jdHu3Sr1fjD_8EH6Tydt_5M92U-MeCBvxWjAaL-i8Fv2bcAiYZs-T5DeLYgCVZP2tP2k/s400/Wetterling3-Breakdown.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Hewing to the educational function is <a href="http://breakdown.myajc.com/about-the-podcast/"><i>Breakdown</i></a>,
an <i>Atlanta Journal Constitution</i> podcast that unabashedly acknowledges
itself as a <i>Serial</i> knockoff. In Season One, “Railroad Justice in a Railroad
Town,” reporter Bill Rankin plays on his experience as a senior legal affairs
reporter, using the case of a small-town meth-head convicted of arson to illustrate
how an underfunded public defense system is set up to fail poor Americans. </div>
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Season Two of Breakdown, <a href="http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/breakdown-begins-death-hot-car-mistake-or-murder/nqtRF/"><i>Death in a Hot Car -- Mistake or Murder?</i></a>, swings more toward the sensationalist side, presenting the case of a man who was so
distracted by his sexting obsession that he left his toddler son strapped into
a car seat on a hot June day in Georgia. The boy died. Justin Harris's case is generating major media interest, with the <i>Atlanta Journal-Constitution</i> hosting a dedicated web page with "<a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/minute-minute-updates-the-justin-ross-harris-trial-oct/VIgTMAzvLgWN8frEpIaV0K/">minute-by-minute updates</a>," and another site <a href="http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/watch-live-justin-ross-harris-hot-car-death-trial-day-11/">live-streaming the trial</a>. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8Xo1cbflzAXC3qL7z9YVypiTsW2hNSmG0qtHKSFsQh908KDM3D_qd5Q6vv64_9zmbQy_8YSBmiugKSWt8a0zaN1_lg6SXTsnTJaENEoqIasvAIOAaFtfhbnXEwbt8qH6OPgiqr8DOy0/s1600/Wetterling4-Framed-Kelli+Peters+PTA+mom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8Xo1cbflzAXC3qL7z9YVypiTsW2hNSmG0qtHKSFsQh908KDM3D_qd5Q6vv64_9zmbQy_8YSBmiugKSWt8a0zaN1_lg6SXTsnTJaENEoqIasvAIOAaFtfhbnXEwbt8qH6OPgiqr8DOy0/s320/Wetterling4-Framed-Kelli+Peters+PTA+mom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The PTA mom who was framed<i></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Again going for the high road, some reporters are also adapting the popular serial format
to the quaint, endangered medium of print journalism. A nice example is
the recent <i>L.A. Times</i> series <a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-framed/"><i>Framed: A Mystery in Six Parts</i></a>, in which award-winning
reporter and author <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-bio-christopher-goffard-staff.html">Christopher Goffard</a> tells the fascinating story of a PTA
mother who was framed by a high-powered professional couple. Whereas most such series aim to expose justice gone wrong, <i>Framed</i>
does the opposite, showcasing a refreshing example of a police investigation
that went above and beyond the call of duty to get it right.</div>
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As you can see, there’s a lot out there to sample. But if you’ve only got
time to check out one podcast series, I recommend <a href="http://www.apmreports.org/in-the-dark"><i>In the Dark</i></a>. It’s the
cream of the crop, an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a compelling cautionary tale that
deserves the ear of every American.</div>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-80276669265026350642016-08-14T11:26:00.002-07:002018-12-04T11:08:01.167-08:00Hebephilia flunks Frye test<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSJJuNEz8sDJ-2LhayiYGDdCKCMY4txQt4NaNXBXrTTbhwdmbmpUyNuBfpBUteqlbuj7-82LlAlL7bI40fJdEJPNLCLaPV_mF6_CmC7AKdaTTRiOk3__PzVweGWDiyM5oDokQ4VFF02c/s1600/conviser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSJJuNEz8sDJ-2LhayiYGDdCKCMY4txQt4NaNXBXrTTbhwdmbmpUyNuBfpBUteqlbuj7-82LlAlL7bI40fJdEJPNLCLaPV_mF6_CmC7AKdaTTRiOk3__PzVweGWDiyM5oDokQ4VFF02c/s320/conviser.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Photo credit: NY Law Journal</td></tr>
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In a strongly worded rejection of hebephilia, a New York judge has <a href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/innyco20160811266" target="_blank">ruled</a> that the controversial diagnosis cannot be used in legal proceedings because of “overwhelming opposition” to its validity among the psychiatric community.
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Judge Daniel Conviser heard testimony from six experts (including this blogger) and reviewed more than 100 scholarly articles before issuing a <a href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/innyco20160811266" target="_blank">long-awaited opinion</a> this week in the case of “Ralph P.,” a 72-year-old man convicted in 2001 of a sex offense against a 14-year-old boy. The state of New York is seeking to civilly detain Ralph P. on the basis of alleged future dangerousness.
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State psychologist Joel Lord had initially labeled Ralph P. with the unique diagnosis of sexual attraction to “sexually inexperienced young teenage males,” but later changed his diagnosis to hebephilia, a condition proposed but rejected for the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
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Under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frye_standard">Frye evidentiary standard</a>, designed to bar novel scientific methods that are not sufficiently validated, a construct must be “generally accepted” by the relevant scientific community before it can be relied upon in legal proceedings.
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Judge Conviser found that hebephilia (generally defined as sexual attraction to children in the early stages of puberty, or around the ages of 11 or 12 to 14) is being promoted by a tiny fringe of researchers and in practice is used almost exclusively as a tool to civilly commit convicted sex offenders. Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, such offenders must have a mental disorder in order to qualify for prolonged detention after they have served their prison terms.
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“It is not an accident, as Dr. Franklin outlined, that hebephilia became a prominent diagnosis only with the advent of SVP laws,” the judge wrote in his 75-page opinion. “It is also not a coincidence that each of the three expert witnesses who testified for the State at the instant hearing either work or formerly worked for state [Sexually Violent Predator] programs.”
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Conviser’s ruling analyzed both the practical problems in reliably identifying hebephilia and the political controversies swirling around it: Without any standardized criteria, “clinicians are free to assign hebephilia diagnoses in widely disparate ways, many of which are just plainly wrong.” Using age as a proxy for pubertal stage is no guarantee of reliability because pubertal onset is highly variable. Ultimately, he concluded, whether erotic interest in pubescent minors is deemed "pathological" is more about moral values than science.
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<span style="color: blue;">APA secrecy faulted
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The judge was harshly critical of the American Psychiatric Association for its refusal to publicly explain why it rejected hebephilia from the DSM-5 in 2013. The diagnosis was aggressively promoted by a Canadian psychologist, Ray Blanchard, and fellow researchers from Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), who dominated the DSM-5 subcommittee on paraphilias.
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Blanchard rewrote the DSM section on paraphilias (sexual deviances) in a broad way such that virtually all sexual interests other than a narrowly defined “normophilic” pattern became pathological. However, the APA rejected Blanchard’s proposal to expand pedophilia to pathologize adult sexual attractions to pubescent-aged (rather than just prepubescent) minors.
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“The proposal was apparently rejected because it was greeted with a firestorm of criticism by the sex offender psychiatric community, which was communicated to the APA board…. As best as this Court can surmise, the APA rejected the pedohebephilia proposal because it was opposed by most of the psychiatrists and psychologists who worked in the field.”
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“[S]trikingly,” wrote Judge Conviser, “the process through which proposed new diagnoses are approved or rejected is shrouded in a degree of secrecy which would be the envy of many totalitarian regimes…. With respect to hebephilia, the APA board’s actions will have a direct impact on both public safety and the fundamental liberty interests of hundreds or thousands of people.”
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The APA forces those involved in the DSM revision process to sign nondisclosure contracts. That policy came in the wake of a series of published exposes – including Christopher Lane’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/R1O49HVQBGQD3S/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_1"><i>Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness</i></a>, Jonathan Metzl's <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-black-man-became-schizophrenic.html"><i>The Protest Psychosis</i></a>, and Ethan Watters’s <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/crazy-like-us-globalization-of-american.html"><i>Crazy Like Us</i></a> (to name just a few of my favorites) -- that embarrassed the world’s largest psychiatric organization by shining a light inside the often subjective and political process of diagnosis creation and expansion.
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<span style="color: blue;">“Overwhelming” opposition
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Blanchard and his CAMH colleagues’ 2009 proposal to expand pedophilia into a new “pedohebephilia” diagnosis in the DSM-5 spawned a massive outcry, which mushroomed into at least five dozen published critiques.
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In preparation for my testimony at this and similar Frye hearings in New York, I expanded on my <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bsl.934/abstract">2010 article in <i>Behavioral Sciences and the Law</i></a> tracing hebephilia’s rise from obscurity, to produce an updated chart containing all 116 articles addressing the construct. If one tallies only those articles that take a position (pro or con) on hebephilia and are not written by members of the CAMH team, fully 83% are critical as compared to only 17% that are favorable. This, Judge Conviser noted, is strong evidence against the government’s position that hebephilia is “generally accepted” by the relevant scientific communities.
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“The thrust of the evidence at the hearing was … clear: there was overwhelming opposition to the pedohebephilia proposal in the sex offender psychiatric community,” he wrote. “There is overwhelming opposition to the hebephilia diagnosis today.”
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<span style="color: blue;">Courts scrutinizing nouveau diagnoses
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kMGrVj9BtZMOfsCdMqWjM7Bfae5TFFiQ31Sl7YBSSkTLOQdnMkelAM3bLuCmB1OQric69fJrzWkHV-jRIyt_gkQC48zrVo6l7oqt-XRpdEvRltDLWRftsIvp5LKYqjf7WUcdaY6XmzM/s1600/magnifying-OSPD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kMGrVj9BtZMOfsCdMqWjM7Bfae5TFFiQ31Sl7YBSSkTLOQdnMkelAM3bLuCmB1OQric69fJrzWkHV-jRIyt_gkQC48zrVo6l7oqt-XRpdEvRltDLWRftsIvp5LKYqjf7WUcdaY6XmzM/s320/magnifying-OSPD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
With the APA’s rejection of hebephilia as well as two other proposed sexual disorders (one for preferential rape and another for hypersexuality), government evaluators continue to shoehorn novel, case-specific diagnostic labels into the catchall DSM-5 category of “other specified paraphilic disorder” (OSPD) as a basis for civil commitment.
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Under a 2012 New York appellate court ruling in the case of <i>State v. Shannon S.</i>, upon a defense request, a Frye evidentiary hearing must be held on any such attempt to introduce an OSPD diagnosis into a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) case. That has triggered a spate of Frye hearings in the Empire State, affording greater scrutiny and judicial gatekeeping of scientifically questionable diagnoses.
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Ironically, although the Shannon S. court upheld hebephilia by a narrow 4-3 margin, Shannon S. would not have met diagnostic criteria under the narrower definitions presented by the government experts at Ralph P.’s Frye hearing four years later, because his victims were older than 14.
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“Assuming hebephilia is a legitimate diagnosis, Shannon S., like many SVP respondents, was apparently diagnosed with the condition not based on evidence he was preferentially attracted to underdeveloped pubescent body types but because he offended against underage victims,” Judge Conviser observed in his detailed summary of prior New York cases.
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The three dissenting judges in Shannon S. were adamant that hebephilia was “absurd,” and an example of “junk science,” deployed with the pretextual goal of “locking up dangerous criminals” who had committed statutory rapes.
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The opening of the Frye floodgates has led to a flurry of sometimes-competing opinions.
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In 2015, in <i>State v. Mercado</i>, Judge Dineen Riviezzo ruled against “OSPD--sexually attracted to teenage females” as a legitimate diagnosis. However, she declined to rule on the general acceptance of hebephilia because it was not specifically diagnosed in that case.
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A year later, relying on similar evidence, a judge in upstate New York ruled in <i>State v. Paul V</i>. that hebephilia was generally accepted, in large part because it was backed by the APA’s paraphilias sub-workgroup. Judge Conviser found that reasoning unpersuasive, pointing out that the subworkgroup was dominated by the very same CAMH researchers who were hebephilia’s primary advocates; it was therefore “not a valid proxy" for the scientific community.
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In July, another court rejected both hebephilia and “OSPD--underage males” as valid diagnoses, in the cases of <i>Hugh H.</i> and <i>Martello A</i>. The court noted that hebephilia is inconsistently defined, was rejected for the DSM-5, and is primarily advanced by one research group; further, attraction to pubescent minors is not intrinsically abnormal.
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<b><a href="http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/cynthia-calkins">Cynthia Calkins</a></b>, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, echoed those points in her testimony at Ralph P.'s hearing. She noted that in the United States, the main psychologists advocating for hebephilia are government-retained evaluators in SVP cases, who make up only perhaps one-fourth of one percent of psychologists and psychiatrists in the U.S. and so cannot be a proxy for “general acceptance” in the scientific community.
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The government’s choice of experts illustrated Calkins’ point: Testifying for the government were <b>Christopher Kunkle</b>, director of New York’s civil management program for sex offenders, <b>David Thornton</b> of Wisconsin’s civil commitment center, and <b>Robin Wilson</b>, formerly of Florida’s civil commitment center and a protégé of Ray Blanchard’s.
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The third expert called by Ralph P.’s attorneys was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Patrick_Ewing"><b>Charles Ewing</b></a>, a distinguished professor at the University at Buffalo Law School who is both an attorney and a forensic psychologist and has authored several books on forensic psychology.
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Defense attorneys Maura Klugman and Jessica Botticelli of Mental Hygiene Legal Service represented Ralph P. Assistant New York Attorney General Elaine Yacyshyn represented the state.
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Ultimately, New York State’s highest court may have to weigh in to resolve once and for all the question of whether novel psychiatric diagnoses like hebephilia are admissible for civil commitment purposes. But that could be years down the road.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: #990000;">The ruling in <i>State v. Ralph P.</i> is <a href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/innyco20160811266" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">. The subsequent order of Sept. 28, 2016 granting Ralph P.'s motion for summary judgment and dismissal of the civil commitment petition is <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/other-courts/2016/2016-ny-slip-op-26308.html">HERE</a>. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A New York Law Journal report on the case, "judge Rejects Diag<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">nosis for Civil Confinement," is <a href="http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202765271507/Judge-Rejects-Diagnosis-for-Civil-Confinement?slreturn=20160719112247">HERE</a><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/search?q=hebephilia">search of this blog site using the term </a></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/search?q=hebephilia"><span style="color: black;">hebephilia</span></a><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> will produce my reports on this construct dating all the way back to my original post from 2007, "<a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2007/10/invasion-of-hebephile-hunters.html">Invasion of the Hebephil<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">e Hunters</span></a></span></span></span></span></span></span>."</span></span></b> Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-84000486035807301922016-07-05T17:37:00.000-07:002018-02-11T11:56:42.870-08:00The Trauma Myth, Revisited<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">The Trauma Myth<i> may be one of the most misunderstood books of the past decade. Based on its regrettable title, pedophiles erroneously believe it minimizes the harm of child sexual abuse; in the opposite c<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">orner</span>, some misguided anti-abuse crusaders have demonized the Harvard-trained author as a pedophile apolog<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ist. </span>As guest blogger Jon Brandt explains in this review -- first published in the Summer 2016 issue of </i><a href="http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/atsa/issues/2016-06-15/8.html">The Forum</a>, <i>the newsletter of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA)<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> --</span> both fans and detractors of <a href="http://www.incae.edu/en/directory/susan-clancy.html">Susan Clancy</a> have gotten <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">courageous</span> research</span>er all wrong. <br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
The Trauma Myth</h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by Susan Clancy</div>
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<b><i>Book review by Jon Brandt, MSW, LICSW* </i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowgHj_8VkvBGFr280lS0xp-IgFukIEiJyAeLUurjlYoIi5anwLkr29p5s3jrg71b2X00uGyPKQRMVXBWCfvg-nnDiOZJhENK0IWiBAIrPferWLffVhLpltGiirMubloofIIEcZICFV1w/s1600/ClancyBookCover-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowgHj_8VkvBGFr280lS0xp-IgFukIEiJyAeLUurjlYoIi5anwLkr29p5s3jrg71b2X00uGyPKQRMVXBWCfvg-nnDiOZJhENK0IWiBAIrPferWLffVhLpltGiirMubloofIIEcZICFV1w/s200/ClancyBookCover-small.jpg" width="127" /></a>As a former child protection social worker, and now working with both victims and offenders, I was drawn to <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/146941/the_trauma_myth%3A_understanding_the_true_dynamics_of_sexual_abuse"><i>The Trauma Myth</i></a> because of both the title, and subtitle: “The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children – and its aftermath.” When I first read Susan Clancy’s book, in 2010, nearly every page confirmed my professional experience with victims. I’m offering this review some six years after the book's publication because I believe most experienced professionals will agree that Clancy’s thesis is not just well-researched, but articulate and luminously persuasive.
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Dr. Clancy is a Harvard-trained experimental psychologist. Her expertise is not in the field of sexual abuse; it is in the field of memory. This information is important in understanding how Clancy endeavored to interview adults who had been victims of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) – in part, to further understand the role of memory in how adults recalled traumatic experiences. Clancy acknowledges that her career had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hQNBXqjaI">a rocky star</a>t – not only investigating adult memories of childhood sexual abuse, but to understand why some people seemed to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Abducted-People-Believe-Kidnapped-Aliens/dp/067402401X?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0">believe in alien abductions</a>. Clancy writes about the challenge of having to reconcile her research with two deep concerns: first, she had to abandon some of what she had been taught about the ‘trauma’ of sexual abuse, and second, she had to try to save her reputation and career.
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After Clancy interviewed more than 200 Boston-area adult victims of CSA, she came to recognize that most victims’ memories were consistent with previous research – the vast majority of victims knew, liked, and/or trusted their abusers. And she confirmed another finding – that most CSA was tricked and manipulated, not the product of threats, force, pain, or injury. Even young children intuitively understand that when an older person inflicts pain, injury, or fear (elements of trauma), something is very wrong. But when <a href="http://sajrt.blogspot.com/2014/11/sexual-violations-and-sexual-violence.html">sexual violations</a> occur in the absence of violence and in the presence of trust, most victims reported being confused by the encounter, rather than traumatized. Less than one in ten adults that Clancy interviewed described being sexually abused as “traumatic.” Clancy considered that perhaps CSA is so traumatic that adults had repressed their memories, but that hypothesis ran <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hQNBXqjaI">counter to research</a> that: (1) discredits repressed memories and (2) indicates that the more powerful life experiences are to an individual, the more the events are both strongly embedded and vividly recalled. Clancy goes on to articulately detail how children are indeed harmed by sexual abuse – in the aftermath.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzMJGnlj1oxwsod96x7E4aMzrnEWkLemsLcR0J1G4b6M9Qc411nz4KtqgjMlXp5luxygCibTdm2BAV5ljOxBemlcPknDdMzAYnVAKmWeVvJj34LqiVb30QbI0niwMC7M90osQk9uwfsU/s1600/Clancy+Susan-small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzMJGnlj1oxwsod96x7E4aMzrnEWkLemsLcR0J1G4b6M9Qc411nz4KtqgjMlXp5luxygCibTdm2BAV5ljOxBemlcPknDdMzAYnVAKmWeVvJj34LqiVb30QbI0niwMC7M90osQk9uwfsU/s200/Clancy+Susan-small.png" width="151" /></a></div>
Dr. Clancy has expressed some <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hQNBXqjaI">regret about the title</a> of her book, but <a href="http://www.salon.com/2010/01/19/trauma_myth_interview/">does not back-peddle</a> from her findings – that CSA is not universally traumatic. She asserts that many professionals don’t really understand how, why, and when CSA is harmful, and imputing trauma when it’s not present might actually introduce secondary harm. Clancy expresses that children clearly do not have the developmental capabilities to understand interpersonal sex, that acceding to sexual touching is not the same as sexual consent, and that naïve cooperation is not complicity. In the absence of veritable trauma, the harm of CSA comes not from sexual touching, per se, but from relationship violations – a sense of betrayal, shame, and misplaced blame. Clancy explains that as a CSA victim begins to sexually and socially mature, and comes to understand what motivated their abuser, they feel duped and exploited. As victims try to reconcile how and why someone of trust would use them for sexual purposes, the ‘harm’ evolves. Clancy’s message is clear: if we don’t talk to kids about sex, we leave them vulnerable; if we don’t listen to kids who have been sexually abused, we re-victimize them; when we truly listen to child victims, we empower them to guide their own recovery – that helps to turn victims into survivors.
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Dr. Clancy uses the controversies around her book to illustrate how difficult it is for professionals to navigate the nuances of CSA, and that it is incumbent on adults to protect children until they are mature enough to navigate the world of interpersonal sex. Clancy acknowledges that she was perhaps naïve in believing that rigorous science would protect the integrity of her research. What she was not prepared for was that CSA is virtually unspeakable – so abhorrent that, even among the educated, it was difficult to <a href="http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume16/j16_2.htm">separate legitimate research</a> from prevailing public opinion, or simply <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sexual-intelligence/201603/politics-i-m-interested-in-sex-not-politics">the politics of sex</a>.
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In 1998, psychologist, Bruce Rind and colleagues published <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1998-04232-002">an article on CSA</a> in the American Psychological Association journal <i>Psychological Bulletin</i>. It was peer-reviewed, sound research, but so <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/13/us/study-on-child-sex-abuse-provokes-a-political-furor.html">contrary to conventional belief</a>s of CSA that it resulted in an Act of Congress <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rind_et_al._controversy">condemning his work</a>. In 1981, Professor Alfred Kadushin (one of my graduate school advisors at the University of Wisconsin) published a book titled <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220612.1982.10671628#.V3xMRqLJ6dc">Child Abuse, an Interactional Event</a>. He spent the rest of his career explaining that he was not blaming children for being abused.
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The truth is, there has never been any time in history that sex could be <a href="http://sajrt.blogspot.com/2016/04/sex-politics-laws-courts-and-atsa.html">separated from politics</a>, or that science hasn’t waged an uphill battle against public opinion. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method">Socratic Method</a>, or the applications of logic and scrutiny to understanding complex problems, is a predecessor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_scientific_method">the Scientific Method</a>, and one of the most important legacies of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates">Socrate</a>s. It is ironic that Socrates could not survive the politics of his own time – he was condemned to death as a heretic. Nearly two millennia later, perhaps <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei">Galileo</a> had taken note of the fate of Socrates. When Galileo found himself charged with heresy, to avoid being executed, he recanted his theory of the heliocentric solar system, and lived out his life under house arrest. It took another 350 years for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html">Catholic Church to acknowledg</a>e that Galileo had been right all along.
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Susan Clancy wasn’t charged with heresy, at least not formally, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hQNBXqjaI">by her own admission</a>, after a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/health/26zuger.html?_r=1">firestorm of controversy</a> over <i>The Trauma Myth</i>, she fled the US to <a href="http://www.incae.edu/en/directory/susan-clancy.html">work in Nicaragua</a> for several years. If Clancy was flattered by a favorable book <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/health/26zuger.html">review in the <i>NY Times</i></a>, she must have been horrified by a book <a href="https://www.nambla.org/trauma_myth.html">review by NAMBLA</a> [the North American Man/Boy Love Association]. Clancy’s book, and her story, are a testimony to professional courage in the face of deeply held, widespread, long-standing beliefs about the sexual abuse of children. Apparently, Clancy no longer writes or teaches about sexual abuse, based on a Google search, but she is still professionally active in research and education about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9i0rsSzsQM">functions of memory</a>.
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There is so much right about <i>The Trauma Myth</i> that I am hesitant to be critical, but I think Clancy missed the mark on a few points. In my experience, some victims of CSA have the internal constitution to avoid both the trauma and the harm of sexual abuse. Other victims seem to have the resiliency and tenacity, with or without professional help, to truly earn the moniker of ‘survivor.’ Clancy views CSA as dichotomous – if there is a victim, there is an offender, who must be punished. If Clancy understood offending with the same verve, complexity, and nuances with which she understands victims, I think she would forgo the black and white, victim-offender paradigm in favor of the complex dynamics of offending, and the range of uniquely tailored interventions that serve victims, offenders, and their families. With a focus on the etiology and aftermath of CSA, it might not be obvious that Clancy was also advocating for both more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYxRkhB8Uk">prevention and better public policie</a>s.
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<i>The Trauma Myth</i> is well researched, with endnotes in APA format. With just over 200 pages, and still professionally sound, it is easy reading. Most individuals are likely to approach the book with the same skepticism with which Clancy pursued her research. In the end, I think most professionals are likely to agree with many conclusions that Dr. Clancy found unassailable: that the popular, one-dimensional understanding of ‘trauma’ caused by child sexual abuse is largely a myth – a vestige of the 20th century.
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">*Jon Brandt is a clinical social worker who specializes in the evaluation, treatment and supervision to sexual offenders. His previous guest posts have reported </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">on the link between <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/01/pornography-and-contact-sex-offending.html">pornography and contact sex offending</a> and </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">on an ongoing <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/search?q=Brandt+MSOP">legal challenge to Minnesota's civil commitment of sex offenders</a>. Many thanks to the editors of <i>The Foru</i>m for granting me permission to post Mr. Brandt's review. The original review can be found <a href="http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/atsa/issues/2016-06-15/8.html">HERE</a>. </span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-72941330331305472952016-06-01T11:52:00.000-07:002016-07-06T07:57:46.236-07:00Non-testifying consultants: Does attorney-client privilege apply?Is the work product of an expert who is retained only as a consultant -- not as a testifying witness -- confidential under the doctrine of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney%E2%80%93client_privilege">attorney-client privilege</a>?
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With <a href="http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3067&context=flr">courts around the United States divided</a>, that was the question before the Georgia Supreme Court in the case of <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/news/5-things-know-about-hemy-neuman-case/nmc49/">Henry Neuman</a> of Georgia, which I <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/05/jail-confidentiality-part-ii-open.html">reported on back in 2012</a>.
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During Neuman’s high-profile murder trial, the trial judge had allowed prosecutors to introduce the notes of two confidential defense consultants, whom they had identified by snooping through jail visiting logs. The notes contradicted the testimony of the defense’s testifying experts, and Neuman was convicted.
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In <a href="http://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2015/s15a0011.html">a 6-1 decision</a>, the Georgia Supreme Court came down solidly on the side of protecting confidentiality. The trial judge's error was harmful enough for the state high court to reverse Neuman’s conviction, paving the way for a retrial.
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Non-testifying experts serve as “agent[s] of the defense team,” the court held, so all communication between them and attorneys falls under the privacy umbrella of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney%E2%80%93client_privilege">attorney-client privilege</a>. Even when an insanity defense is raised, “the cloak of privilege” only falls away at the point that defense counsel elects to call an expert as a witness, <a href="http://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2015/s15a0011.html">ruled the court</a>.
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Such protection is essential so that attorneys can vigorously defend the accused, by obtaining expert advice on evidentiary strategy or by consulting with multiple experts who may hold conflicting views, without worrying that they are creating adverse witnesses against their client, the court explained:
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“The attorney-client privilege is vital in cases such as this one where the defendant’s sanity is at issue because the privilege allows the attorneys to consult with the non-testifying expert in order to familiarize themselves with central medical concepts, assess the soundness and advantages of an insanity defense, evaluate potential specialists, and probe adverse testimony…. [W]ithout the protection of privilege, the defendant’s attorneys run the risk that the psychiatric expert they have hired to evaluate the defendant will render an opinion inconsistent with the defense’s insanity theory and the expert will then be made an involuntary witness for the State.”
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This is precisely what happened at Neuman’s trial. Psychologist Peter Thomas and forensic psychiatrist Rand Dorney had conducted initial screenings to assist Neuman’s attorneys in assessing the viability of a criminal responsibility defense. After the trial judge permitted prosecutors to subpoena their records, the defense was forced to call the two as witnesses in order to keep the prosecution from calling them as rebuttal witnesses.
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b>The Georgia Supreme Court ruling is <a href="http://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2015/s15a0011.html">HERE</a>. My prior blog post on the case is <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/05/jail-confidentiality-part-ii-open.html">HERE</a>. A <i>Fordham Law Review</i> article on this topic is <a href="http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3067&context=flr">HERE</a>.</b></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5xVhZPjJNyt6NIl1BZzaDYeiDU66gc7FN3ZhRmvofE2-vr1GSiiZb2Z_Ws15kuT7iFoiobzyG8zupL7LazgTZwehYWV_P5qU89kvFVYnMHf3oopCffYhVWhdJElOuhFezbmA-E29lRc/s400/Hat+Tip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5xVhZPjJNyt6NIl1BZzaDYeiDU66gc7FN3ZhRmvofE2-vr1GSiiZb2Z_Ws15kuT7iFoiobzyG8zupL7LazgTZwehYWV_P5qU89kvFVYnMHf3oopCffYhVWhdJElOuhFezbmA-E29lRc/s200/Hat+Tip.jpg" width="40" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b>Hat tip: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Denis_Zavodny">Denis Zavodny</a> </b></span> </div>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-80343841796599937252016-04-17T19:50:00.001-07:002018-02-22T12:51:52.341-08:00The Psychology of Arson<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwpZWp2ycyTkPfse5UhcTFVrKu4EO8oVp2hYztZQi3y66EWL8aMAOKjV2xIvbwK7sT3AsjrCBjYGEu3Mz2gKUJswoU-VKJcH2kyVW_mMrdbfH3OtrmUE2z5F2tDWd-2G6pSv45T6chHc/s1600/Arson-290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="arson1" border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="290" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwpZWp2ycyTkPfse5UhcTFVrKu4EO8oVp2hYztZQi3y66EWL8aMAOKjV2xIvbwK7sT3AsjrCBjYGEu3Mz2gKUJswoU-VKJcH2kyVW_mMrdbfH3OtrmUE2z5F2tDWd-2G6pSv45T6chHc/s320/Arson-290.jpg" title="arson" width="320" />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwpZWp2ycyTkPfse5UhcTFVrKu4EO8oVp2hYztZQi3y66EWL8aMAOKjV2xIvbwK7sT3AsjrCBjYGEu3Mz2gKUJswoU-VKJcH2kyVW_mMrdbfH3OtrmUE2z5F2tDWd-2G6pSv45T6chHc/s320/Arson-290.jpg" />
</a>Each year, about 60,000 <a href="http://theconversation.com/bushfire-arson-prevention-is-the-cure-11506" target="_blank">bushfires</a> rage across Australia, wreaking environmental devastation and costing lives and economic losses. An estimated half or more are deliberately set.
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Considering arson's devastating toll, surprisingly little is known about who sets fires, and why. Intensive efforts to catch and prosecute firesetters have also <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-02/four-year-anti-arson-campaign-fails-to-reduce-rate/6368810" target="_blank">done little</a> to douse the flames.
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It is no surprise that Australia is the epicenter of efforts to fill that gap, with several ongoing research and intervention programs. Now, two forensic psychologists and a mental health nurse have published a book that brings together cutting-edge theory and practical advice grounded in empirical research.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMjgn9uQ0VPSbIOyrFamhHwFzE41SnDLBq-z_A7ifw1iqUJE4pQ4FEanRkq9nezhTF2qaLm8yxJ92Pxm0nvvRHpu96Ratp8mDzB742Tgcn5sMGMANt0rzp6cnDO34bL43BhvJYHmk-jM/s1600/Arson-Doley-Book_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMjgn9uQ0VPSbIOyrFamhHwFzE41SnDLBq-z_A7ifw1iqUJE4pQ4FEanRkq9nezhTF2qaLm8yxJ92Pxm0nvvRHpu96Ratp8mDzB742Tgcn5sMGMANt0rzp6cnDO34bL43BhvJYHmk-jM/s320/Arson-Doley-Book_Cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychology-Arson-Understanding-Firesetters/dp/0415810698" target="_blank"><b><i>The Psychology of Arson</i></b></a> represents the collected knowledge of 30 experts from around the world. Chapter by chapter, it explores the psychosocial factors underlying arson by children and adolescents (who make up a large share of firesetters), by suicidal and homicidal people, by women, by the mentally disordered and cognitively impaired, and by men who set fires for purposes of sexual gratification.<br />
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Forensic practitioners will find especially useful the sections on risk assessment, treatment, and management of firesetters, while researchers will benefit from the concluding chapter identifying research gaps and needs in this understudied area. The organization facilitates digestion: Each chapter starts with a clearly written summary of key points, followed by logically organized subheadings and text.
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Particularly innovative is the authors’ attempt to go beyond the simplistic theorizing of early research to offer up an evidence-based theoretical model that can inform clinical interventions and even prevention efforts. Their nuanced multi-trajectory theory classifies arson based on four key factors: fire-related scripts, offense-supportive thoughts, emotional regulation issues, and communication problems.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQqnfD1KzOdWtHc-67hfe0xtDUDMRgm9QC3eDtEmpOSR_Oe9DsvWSjoEHIchsrUv2bIm2WrQA-x-v0_CBqxPygOBtcx-EoQrVQRMwNbiGLUfJLhCn7n-Uz99fihyphenhyphene-eqjz0H5DdAx4Qk/s1600/Arson-Doley-Gannon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQqnfD1KzOdWtHc-67hfe0xtDUDMRgm9QC3eDtEmpOSR_Oe9DsvWSjoEHIchsrUv2bIm2WrQA-x-v0_CBqxPygOBtcx-EoQrVQRMwNbiGLUfJLhCn7n-Uz99fihyphenhyphene-eqjz0H5DdAx4Qk/s200/Arson-Doley-Gannon.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
Forensic psychologists Rebekah Doley</div>
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and Theresa Gannon</div>
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</tbody></table>
The editors and lead authors are highly qualified for this project. <a href="http://apps.bond.edu.au/staff/profile.asp?s_id=1806" target="_blank"><b>Rebekah Doley</b></a> of Bond University in Australia is an internationally recognized authority on firesetting who co-directs the Centre for Forensic and International Risk Management; <a href="https://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/gannont/" target="_blank"><b>Theresa Gannon</b></a> of Kent University in the UK, Director of the Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, is similarly renowned, with numerous scholarly publications on firesetting. Rounding out the team is a widely published mental health nursing professor, Geoffrey Dickens of Abertay University in Dundee. Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-25485096900560894802016-01-31T13:40:00.000-08:002018-08-08T11:19:08.862-07:00What’s Wrong With “Making A Murderer”? <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>Making A Murderer</i> is generating <a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/2016/01/12/just-how-popular-making-murderer/78507664/" target="_blank">huge buzz</a> on social media; dual petitions calling for Steven Avery’s exoneration have garnered more than 600,000 signatures to date. But after slogging through the 10-hour Netflix “documentary,” I was left feeling disturbed by the drama’s narrative and premises. Here's why:
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">1. The narrative is grossly misleading.</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZR9FMDwWDGO16JmNmn95rcoJ0EdHr2_r-RnA4HtWHw4R2wQOs4guVz52kycmIg42C0xekD4wpIy0He9nNWGL_iy2N7DX5Hs4XDQ6JDxPSFmF0atNuEhVcaieUkk1sSj8G69GwcYJsWDU/s1600/Murderer_Netflix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZR9FMDwWDGO16JmNmn95rcoJ0EdHr2_r-RnA4HtWHw4R2wQOs4guVz52kycmIg42C0xekD4wpIy0He9nNWGL_iy2N7DX5Hs4XDQ6JDxPSFmF0atNuEhVcaieUkk1sSj8G69GwcYJsWDU/s320/Murderer_Netflix.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The hook to this story is protagonist Steven Avery’s prior exoneration: He served 18 years in prison for a rape of which he was ultimately exonerated by DNA evidence; just three years after his release, he was arrested for the unrelated murder and mutilation of another young woman in rural Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
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It’s an intriguing hook. But others – including the superb podcasters at <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/278180-reasonable-doubt/" target="_blank">Radiolab</a> in 2013 – had already mined it. So filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi went for a different twist: Avery was innocent, framed by corrupt police whose reputations were tarnished by the wrongful conviction scandal.
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Viewers are treated to interminable audio clips of the convicted killer proclaiming his innocence and whining about the injustice of it all. With its sympathetic focus on Avery and his socially marginal family, the documentary <a href="http://www.pajiba.com/netflix_movies_and_tv/is-steven-avery-guilty-evidence-making-a-murderer-didnt-present.php" target="_blank">excludes much of the hard evidence pointing to Avery</a>.
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Perhaps the most blatant example of misinformation is the portrayal of Avery and his victim as strangers. In fact, the evidence presented at trial suggested that Avery not only knew Teresa Halbach, a photographer for <i>Auto Trader </i>magazine, but was targeting her. After a photo assignment at his family's auto salvage yard in which he greeted her wearing only a towel, she complained to her bosses that she was “creeped out” by him. Yet he continued to call and ask for her to be sent back out. Phone records revealed that on the day of her murder, he repeatedly called her cell phone, using *67 to block his ID. Not only was her cremated body found in his burn pit just a few steps from his trailer, but two separate witnesses testified they had seen Avery putting items into a barrel of his from which police later recovered her incinerated cell phone and camera. Avery's nephew also told police he had helped Avery hide the victim's vehicle in the salvage yard, and DNA evidence of Avery's sweat under the hood corroborated his account.<br />
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This brief list is not exhaustive; there's lots more inculpatory evidence that the series omits or glosses over. <br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. It lionizes a sexual predator.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9MW2SHDo4loCcxPf4sDCC6Kq62Jx6J4uujAGIEQ-hGnHqZsIFwMpTzLv1SrLFaprQG-FMflLwhvKaeyD6uYpD8SJRx1Jae9HpzsiK80miAbJ4-o1nV6Oc6fZR_L-_bFEIV13HheFugI/s1600/Murderer_Avery.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9MW2SHDo4loCcxPf4sDCC6Kq62Jx6J4uujAGIEQ-hGnHqZsIFwMpTzLv1SrLFaprQG-FMflLwhvKaeyD6uYpD8SJRx1Jae9HpzsiK80miAbJ4-o1nV6Oc6fZR_L-_bFEIV13HheFugI/s320/Murderer_Avery.png" width="320" /></a></div>
There are plenty of sympathetic characters in prison. A great many of them are unquestionably guilty. Steven Avery – innocent or guilty – is not one of them. He comes across as shallow, callous and self-absorbed, fitting the part of a cold and calculating predator.
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Prisoners who served time with him during his first bid confirmed that he was not a nice guy. They told investigators that he showed them diagrams of a torture chamber he planned to build when he was released, so that he could <a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2016/01/07/da-says-avery-planned-torture/78437876/" target="_blank">"torture and rape and murder young women</a>.”
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There is further evidence of tremendous rage toward women. While in prison, he threatened to mutilate and kill his former wife. And despite his exoneration in the original rape for which he was convicted, prosecutors <a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2016/01/07/da-says-avery-planned-torture/78437876/" target="_blank">presented evidence in a pretrial affidavit of two other rapes of girls and women</a> for which he was never prosecuted. There are also allegations that he sexually molested child relatives, including his codefendant and nephew, Brendan Dassey.
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Perhaps most ominously, just three weeks before Halbach’s murder, he bought a set of leg irons and handcuffs, suggesting that the crime was premeditated and elaborately planned.
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It is only if we know this background information -- excluded from the Netflix series -- that we can make proper sense of the trial judge’s admonition to Avery at his sentencing hearing:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“You are probably the most dangerous individual ever to set foot in this courtroom.”
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3. Journalistic bias of this magnitude is unethical.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBdCm3OyNRQwqmB3Nvi-yn23TCXwBnUXiUdrXGxNDZ9mydyfiI7OdHR-0D3jEi0IwejcUeiTefJi7GgOvs0ClzfQqXPZFCBRKuWbWvlj3VpL97onX-zRGr7IzWI3LnPC3IGbtonwz6lU/s1600/Murderer_Filmmakers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBdCm3OyNRQwqmB3Nvi-yn23TCXwBnUXiUdrXGxNDZ9mydyfiI7OdHR-0D3jEi0IwejcUeiTefJi7GgOvs0ClzfQqXPZFCBRKuWbWvlj3VpL97onX-zRGr7IzWI3LnPC3IGbtonwz6lU/s320/Murderer_Filmmakers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos </td></tr>
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In several drawn-out scenes, the filmmakers depict the TV news crews covering the trial as bottom-feeding hyenas, lacking any compassion or mercy as they circle and nip at the heels of the beleaguered Avery clan.<br />
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This is a clever cinematic device. It imparts the illusion that the documentarians are above the fray, more neutral and trustworthy than the media rabble. <br />
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In reality, they are no less superficial. We get no greater clarity, and certainly no deeper analysis. The difference is merely one of perspective. Lengthy scenes in the Avery kitchen, watching Steven's mother Dolores prepare and eat her lunch, emphasize the one-sidedness of the series: Demos and Ricciardi are essentially mouthpieces for Steven Avery.<br />
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It’s not that police do not lie, or <a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/leaked-documents-show-alabama-police-department-planted-drugs-on-black-men-for-years/211745/" target="_blank">plant evidence</a>. They do it all the time. So it's certainly possible that police planted the victim's car key in Avery’s bedroom, as the Averys claim. But framing Avery would have required much more. Police would have had to know the location of Halbach's body in order to move it to Avery's burn pit. They would have had to plant Avery's sweat under the hood of Halbach's car, where his nephew's account predicted it would be. All told, this convoluted conspiracy theory stretches credulity.
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Ironically, while the filmmakers castigate police for going after Avery’s nephew (instead, they cast unsupported aspersions on the victim's male friends and relatives), Avery and his defense team had no such compunctions. Their <a href="http://www.annrbrocklehurst.com/2015/12/who-killed-teresa-halbach-if-it-wasnt-steven-avery.html" target="_blank">alternate suspect list</a> included the boy, along with other male members of the Avery clan.
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Some observers, such as journalist and private investigator <a href="http://www.annrbrocklehurst.com/2015/12/who-killed-teresa-halbach-if-it-wasnt-steven-avery.html" target="_blank">Ann Brocklehurst</a>, imply that business interests may have contributed to this over-solicitude toward the Averys:
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>“Ma and Pa Avery are portrayed lovingly as salt-of-the-earth types. They’re never asked how they managed to raise three sons with such a long and documented history of violence.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">...</span> [I]f the filmmakers had decided one of the brothers, nephews or brother-in-law likely did it, Ma and Pa might have pulled right out of the multi-year film project and left the directors empty-handed. A Shakespearian or Faulkneresque tale of a dysfunctional and dangerous family is of no use to anyone if you don’t have the legal rights to tell it.”</b></span></span>
</blockquote>
Journalists’ <a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp" target="_blank">code of ethics</a>
warns reporters not to distort either facts or context, and to take
special care to avoid misrepresentation or oversimplification. Intentionally or not, Demos and Ricciardi clearly violated this standard.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4. “Innocence porn” exceptionalizes criminal justice <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">problems</span>.
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The trope of the wrongfully convicted is a time-honored sub-genre of true crime. <i>New Yorker</i> writer <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/kathryn-schulz" target="_blank">Kathryn Shultz</a> <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/dead-certainty" target="_blank">traces it back to the late 1880s</a>, with a popular magazine column called “The Court of Last Resort” by criminal defense lawyer turned author Erle Stanley Gardner, better known for his Perry Mason detective series. As Shultz notes, recent films and TV series in this genre have been quite successful in getting criminal cases reopened and convictions overturned: <br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>“Although it subsequently faded from memory, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span>The Court of Last Resort<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span> stands as the progenitor of one of today’s most popular true-crime subgenres, in which reporters, dissatisfied with the outcome of a criminal case, conduct their own extrajudicial investigations. Until recently, the standout representatives of this form were <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096257/" target="_blank">The Thin Blue Line</a>,' a 1988 Errol Morris documentary about Randall Dale Adams, who was sentenced to death for the 1976 murder of a police officer; <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117293/" target="_blank">Paradise Lost</a>,' a series of documentaries by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about three teen-agers found guilty of murdering three second-grade boys in West Memphis in 1993; and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388644/" target="_blank">The Staircase</a>,' a television miniseries by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade about the novelist Michael Peterson, found guilty of murdering his wife in 2001. Peterson has been granted a new trial. Randall Dale Adams was exonerated a year after 'The Thin Blue Line' was released. Shortly before the final 'Paradise Lost' documentary was completed, in 2011, all three of its subjects were freed from prison on the basis of DNA evidence.”</b></span></span>
</blockquote>
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Last year’s NPR podcast series, <i><a href="https://serialpodcast.org/season-one" target="_blank"><b>Serial</b></a></i>, probing the case of a young man named Adnan Syed who had been convicted of killing his former high school girlfriend, became an overnight sensation. (And, guess what: A judge has just granted a motion for <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/07/us/serial-adnan-syed-new-hearing/" target="_blank">a new post-conviction review</a> of the evidence in that case.) What with the popular success of <i>Making A Murderer</i>, more such cultural events can be anticipated.
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But while documentaries like <i>Serial</i> or <i>Making A Murderer</i> may seem progressive in shining a spotlight on the legal system and exposing flaws therein, they may actually further a narrative of exceptionalism. In other words, miscarriages of justice are rare events caused not by systemic problems, but by ___ (fill in the blank: <i>corrupt police, shyster attorneys, bungled evidence handling or analysis, etc</i>.).<br />
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And only the innocents -- the exceptions to the rule -- are worthy of attention. <br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. The nephew got second billing. </span></span></b></span></h2>
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Instead of hanging their tale on the threadbare hook of Avery’s prior exoneration, the filmmakers could have delved more deeply into the routine misfiring of the legal system by centralizing Avery’s nephew and codefendant, 16-year-old Brendan Dassey.
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGTRbsfnvEN6FRzQVMT-1cRuQDFLWuhWpO5mF14ltMh5LGnFSnsZy1aGzaD0ktBiZMZaifD2huLeA4goZNdh_nrZp_wJvoBbXLTy0F1OcV9EliUfHuuWGFTKzB5eDTOoozdhQrLlVA4E/s1600/Murderer_Massey.png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGTRbsfnvEN6FRzQVMT-1cRuQDFLWuhWpO5mF14ltMh5LGnFSnsZy1aGzaD0ktBiZMZaifD2huLeA4goZNdh_nrZp_wJvoBbXLTy0F1OcV9EliUfHuuWGFTKzB5eDTOoozdhQrLlVA4E/s320/Murderer_Massey.png.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brendan Dassey, the 16-year-old nephew</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like his uncle, Dassey may very well be guilty. But in his case, neither innocence nor deliberate corruption is essential to the narrative. Guilty or innocent, framed or not, the manner of his prosecution was rotten to the core, illustrating more common and systemic flaws in the criminal justice system.
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“Innocent people don’t confess,” prosecutor Ken Kratz told the jury.
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That false gospel went unchallenged because – for
reasons never explained in the series – the juvenile’s defense team
chose not to call a confession expert, who could have dissected Massey’s
statements and explained to the jury how the detectives’ skillful
manipulations produced a potentially unreliable confession.
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This was a boy with a low IQ and limited education, who was interviewed by detectives on multiple occasions, for hours and hours on end, without either his mother or his attorney present. He was easily confused and misled into believing that if he confessed, all would be forgiven and he would go home.
His statements were contaminated when police fed him facts, which he then regurgitated. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Private investigator Michael O'Kelly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dassey also had the misfortune to be initially represented by an unethical attorney who decided early on that Dassey was guilty, ignoring the boy’s protestations to the contrary. The attorney, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jan/20/making-a-murderer-lawyer-len-kachinsky-i-dont-get-netflix-at-home" target="_blank">Len Kachinsky</a>,
in turn hired<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MakingaMurderer/comments/3ybnr5/michael_okelly_shady_as_hell/" target="_blank"> a private investigator</a> with highly confused loyalties. Indeed, the PI wrote a eugenics-laced email to the defense attorney revealing his unabashed antipathy toward his client's family:
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“This [family] is truly where the devil resides in comfort. I can find no good in any member. These people are pure evil.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span>. We need to end the gene pool here.” </span></b></span>
</blockquote>
<br />
Together, the loyalty-challenged attorney and investigator brow-beat a
detailed confession from their client, which they promptly turned over to police. Although both the
attorney and his investigator were removed from the case before trial, neither suffered any official
sanction for their betrayal of their duties, or the damage caused to Dassey's case. <br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6. The entertainment spectacle has produced a destructive backlash.</span></span></span>
</h2>
<br />
In perhaps the most poignant moment in the series, defense attorney Dean Strang -- the show’s moral compass -- critiques the “unwarranted certitude” rampant within the criminal justice system, with everyone from police and prosecutors to defense lawyers, judges and jurors far too convinced that they are privy to <b>The Truth</b>.
<br />
<br />
Across the board, he mourned, the system suffers from “a tragic lack of humility.”
<br />
<br />
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Steven Avery with rape victim Penny
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Unfortunately, the filmmakers fell into that very same trap. It was apparent to many that they had naively embarked on their 10-year project wearing blinders. <a href="http://theforgivenessproject.com/stories/penny-beernsten-usa/" target="_blank"><b>Penny Beerntsen</b></a>, the original rape victim (whose misidentification sent Avery to prison), was one such observer. A remarkable woman who is active in the innocence movement, Beerntsen <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/dead-certainty" target="_blank">told the <i>New Yorker</i></a> that the filmmakers’ certitude troubled her:
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“It was very clear from the outset that they believed Steve was innocent,” she told me. “I didn’t feel they were journalists seeking the truth. I felt like they had a foregone conclusion and were looking for a forum in which to express it.”
</span></b></span></blockquote>
<br />
It is no surprise that Avery and his family have staunchly denied his guilt: He was framed once, so why not twice? After all, they point out, the $36 million judgment he was seeking for his false imprisonment could have bankrupted Manitowoc County. But for the filmmakers to fall so under the Averys’ spell that they would radically distort the facts is disconcerting. Their bias was transparent, and the excluded evidence easily available. It seems arrogant to regard the public as too gullible to do any basic fact-checking.
<br />
<br />
Predictably, a furious backlash has ensued, with social media pundits and entertainment outlets competing to debunk the series. Rather than systemic flaws in the system, the discourse has devolved into a pointless, dichotomous debate over guilt or innocence.
<br />
<br />
Worst of all from the interests of the innocence movement, some are asking the question: If Steven Avery had never been exonerated, would Teresa Halbach be alive today?
<br />
<br />
The innocence movement can counter with the fact that Avery is an extreme outlier: Of all the many hundreds of people who have been exonerated and freed from prison, only a tiny handful have reoffended with a serious offense.
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<br />
But Avery is an outlier for another reason as well: He may not have raped Penny Beerntsen, but he was far from innocent even back then. Police in his rural community already had him on their radar screen, as a dangerous young man, someone who thought nothing of assaulting a female relative with a gun or dousing a cat with oil and throwing it on a bonfire to watch it burn.
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<br />
The filmmakers insist that it was never their intent to manipulate
their audience, nor to propel such a mass rush to judgment – in either
direction. In hindsight, however, perhaps the grisly murder of Teresa Halbach was not the best choice for a documentary about innocence?<br />
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<b><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">POSTSCRIPTS</span></span></b></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On Aug. 12, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge William Duffin granted Brendan Dassey's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, based on the false promises that were made to him (in conjunction with other relevant factors, including his age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult), and ordered that he either be released or granted a new trial. The 91-page ruling is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1nzus-fCQcocjN3WVpYbTN4TGM/view">HERE</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On June 22 2017, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's decision. Its 128-page ruling is <a href="http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2017/D06-22/C:16-3397:J:Rovner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1983985:S:0">HERE</a>. As of that date, Dassey remained in custody while prosecutors decided whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. <i>New York Times</i> reporting on that appellate ruling is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/arts/another-victory-for-the-making-a-murderer-subject-brendan-dassey.html">HERE</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On Dec. 8, 2017, by a narrow vote of 4-3, the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of its three-judge panel. Citing the need for appellate courts to be deferential of trial courts, it held that the original trial court decision upholding Dassey's conviction was not patently erroneous or unreasonable. In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Ilana Rovner called the decision "a profound miscarriage of justice" that condoned the use of psychologically coercive techniques and condemned "an impaired teenager" to spend his life in prison. The majority decision and two dissenting opinions are <a href="http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2017/D12-08/C:16-3397:J:Hamilton:aut:T:fnOp:N:2074184:S:0">HERE</a>. They are highly recommended reading as they illuminate the current state of tension surrounding psychologically coerced confessions and especially the controversial Reid interrogation method. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In June of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-wont-hear-the-case-of-brendan-dassey-a-teen-sentenced-to-life-and-featured-in-making-a-murderer/2018/06/25/6f97336e-787c-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?utm_term=.cb885d0d9277">declined to hear</a> Dassey's appeal, meaning Dassey will continue to serve his life sentence.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And in July of 2018, Dassey's ethically challenged attorney Len Kachinsky, who later became a judge, was <a href="http://rockrivertimes.com/2018/07/12/former-dassey-lawyer-kachinsky-charged-in-stalking-case/">charged with stalking</a> his former court clerk. He has been suspended from practice, and faces up to five years in prison if convicted. The <a href="https://heavy.com/news/2018/07/len-kachinsky/">allegations against him are creepy</a> enough that they might make for a good true-crime show in their own right. </span></span>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-12091136871486232052016-01-01T15:59:00.000-08:002016-11-16T07:55:23.801-08:00“Help! I am being held hostage in a reality show!”<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Suspicion System: How the social world shapes delusions
</b></span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykv8fjaYjd0kkALiDn4uuj_WrcU5BZfVNEsmbGkYogejEhIX_QyVtHOlzOYfTWUQBmUPMlUXoeg5MpIIZ-zmH5Y9XuRvJEgZgtWQzF_Z8Yg2p2QGazVonU621rd7ccmvrSLAvbGhsOj4/s1600/Spying_Blinds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykv8fjaYjd0kkALiDn4uuj_WrcU5BZfVNEsmbGkYogejEhIX_QyVtHOlzOYfTWUQBmUPMlUXoeg5MpIIZ-zmH5Y9XuRvJEgZgtWQzF_Z8Yg2p2QGazVonU621rd7ccmvrSLAvbGhsOj4/s200/Spying_Blinds.jpg" width="175" /></a>Not so long ago, any decent-sized psychiatric hospital had at least two or three Jesus Christs in residence, and plenty of other patients serving as conduits for the CIA or the KGB.
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Nowadays, Jesus Christ is harder to find. You are far more likely to encounter reality TV stars: patients whose every move is choreographed by hidden directors, videotaped by hidden camera crews, and broadcast without consent to an audience of millions. “We see many, many young people who have had the sensation of being filmed,” a psychiatrist at a public clinic in London <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/16/unreality-star" target="_blank">told the <i>New Yorker</i></a>. His estimate: One or two out of every 10 patients he sees.
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<br />
This so-called Truman Show Delusion is not so irrational in our modern surveillance state, where we (and our cars) are photographed and videotaped whenever we venture into the public space, microphones capable of recording our conversations and instantly beaming them to authorities are<a href="http://www.infowars.com/spy-grid-can-now-record-your-conversations-in-real-time/" target="_blank"> hidden in street lighting</a>, and – as exposed by <a href="https://edwardsnowden.com/" target="_blank">Edward Snowden</a> – the NSA is intercepting vast swaths of our communications and storing them in a massive, t<a href="http://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/" target="_blank">op-secret vault</a> in the Utah desert. Soon, our homes will afford no privacy; the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2012/03/petraeus-tv-remote/" target="_blank">CIA is cheering the advent of the “smart home”</a> as a bonanza for clandestine eavesdropping. If you scoff at the notion that They are watching you, revisit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUd5RPVDjPY" target="_blank">the chilling scene in the <i>Bourne Ultimatum</i></a> (2007) in which Matt Damon tries to avoid the cameras in London’s Waterloo Station.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ_OkdBlTKgQnNRmpPL3gfu_9wL1vMEHLhASa6x5_YbmlxP-80V53Z9km8dto0rHciuY8tTc8vd2YZZWF5Nbygn-MZkfFqazywqSeQoJRI1ZFYA5KtQ42Mln3RRi1VARPBJ1ZyI-ToM0/s1600/Truman_Show.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ_OkdBlTKgQnNRmpPL3gfu_9wL1vMEHLhASa6x5_YbmlxP-80V53Z9km8dto0rHciuY8tTc8vd2YZZWF5Nbygn-MZkfFqazywqSeQoJRI1ZFYA5KtQ42Mln3RRi1VARPBJ1ZyI-ToM0/s320/Truman_Show.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
The solipsist premise of Peter Weir’s 1998 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/" target="_blank"><b><i>Truman Show</i></b></a>, starring Jim Carrey as an insurance adjuster who realizes that his entire life is actually a TV show, was not original. The psychiatric patient in Robert Heinlein’s 1941 short story, “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_%28Heinlein%29" target="_blank">They—</a>,” was convinced that he was an actor on a stage; the troubled protagonist of Philip K. Dick’s 1959 novel, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/698034.Time_Out_of_Joint" target="_blank"><i>Time Out of Joint</i></a>, also starred in his own self-constructed reality. But in an innocent era before the entrenchment of the panoptical gaze or reality TV – in which any random person, it seems, can wake up to find him- or herself an instant social media celebrity – these stories were fantastical, and thus incapable of producing mass contagion. <br />
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But the cultural environment influences more than just the superficial content of persecutory or grandiose delusions. Far more profoundly, it impacts who will catch psychosis, and why. This blog’s readers may know that early use of cannabis significantly increases the risk of psychosis, as does experiencing childhood adversity such as severe abuse or parental loss. You may also be aware that merely growing up in a city puts one at heightened risk of mental breakdown; there is a near-linear correlation between population density and psychosis. But consider these further research findings:
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The greater a nation’s income inequality, the higher its per capita rate of psychosis. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Immigration is a major risk factor for psychosis – and not just for the immigrants themselves, but for their first-generation offspring. Nor is this risk equally distributed: It is highest for darker-skinned people relocating to whiter countries, especially if they settle outside of ethnic enclaves.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">The burden of social defeat
</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9yVZ-211zV1mI0WIwULz7ttkJdNBn22CMbP22DywMkPURHBaqcDVGF05_ii5K2QoyoC1b0xVPYH53q5qjSDLesk-fFSz17_DZPl_Npi1e5IS-Bat-L8_CMxEn40TyXS6FKmhgt0ZwPU/s1600/Suspicious_Minds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9yVZ-211zV1mI0WIwULz7ttkJdNBn22CMbP22DywMkPURHBaqcDVGF05_ii5K2QoyoC1b0xVPYH53q5qjSDLesk-fFSz17_DZPl_Npi1e5IS-Bat-L8_CMxEn40TyXS6FKmhgt0ZwPU/s320/Suspicious_Minds.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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In <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Suspicious-Minds/Joel-Gold/9781439181560" target="_blank"><b><i>Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness</i></b></a>, psychiatrist <a href="https://joel-gold-kwg1.squarespace.com/" target="_blank"><b>Joel Gold</b></a> and his philosopher brother <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/philosophy/people/faculty/gold" target="_blank"><b>Ian</b></a> identify <i><b>social fragmentation</b></i> as the construct tying these seemingly disparate strands together. More precisely, the experience of <b><i>social defeat</i></b>, in which a person who is persistently demeaned, humiliated, or subordinated ultimately comes to see himself as a second-class citizen.
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I have long found delusional beliefs fascinating. In particular, I enjoy talking with delusional people, and trying to understand the meaning of their beliefs. In this, I’ve gained a lot from the theories of luminaries in the field such as Brendan Maher, Richard Bentall and John Read. But <i>Suspicious Minds</i> is brilliant in pulling together all of the extant research to create a single unified theory, one that foregrounds and humanizes the delusional person’s experience.
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The theory developed out of Joel Gold’s experiences as attending psychiatrist at New York City’s notorious Bellevue Hospital. After treating several patients with Truman Show delusions, he – in partnership with his brother Ian, a philosophy professor at McGill University in Canada – published <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546805.2012.666113#.Vob6dk-f-cY" target="_blank">a 2012 article</a> on the phenomenon in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546805.2012.666113#.Vob6dk-f-cY" target="_blank"><i>Cognitive Neuropsychiatry</i></a>. That, in turn, generated a deluge of emails from people all around the world who were relieved to realize they were not the only one who thought their lives were being secretly filmed and broadcast to the masses. <br />
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The Gold brothers’ theory of delusions as a social phenomenon goes against the grain in this era of pharmaceutical industry domination and biological reductionism, especially here in the United States, where the social context of mental illness has been systematically suppressed in favor of simplistic theories of genetic or chemical imbalances.
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But things have a way of circling back around. Almost 50 years ago, against the backdrop of the assassination of Martin Luther King and the ensuing inner-city rebellions, African American psychiatrists <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-william-grier-20150911-story.html" target="_blank"><b>William Grier</b></a> and <b>Price Cobbs</b> dissected the psychic burden of prejudice. To survive, they wrote in their influential 1968 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rage-Psychiatrists-Dimensions-Desperation/dp/0465007015" target="_blank"><i>Black Rage</i></a>, oppressed people must maintain a delicate balancing act of being ever-vigilant and suspicious, yet without succumbing to frank paranoia: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><b>“[S]urvival in America depends in large measure on the development of a ‘healthy’ cultural paranoia. [The black man] must maintain a high degree of suspicion toward the motives of every white man and at the same time never allow this suspicion to impair his grasp of reality. It is a demanding requirement and not everyone can manage it with grace…. Of all the varieties of functional psychosis, those that include paranoid symptoms are by far the most prevalent among black people.” </b>
</span></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuqpyLZbjhd_IThfg1TEzjCrQW9GTPMvRTq8C4lz9yU1-IjrwPtPE7Ou-B_joRsPPGX9CYS6CGUWmBw9Q7KfVmxQmnATadgrBMhrMh9TN5X1DLvQ2RMTzjfvgC9b5J2_OoKIA6T2pCpyQ/s1600/Bourne_Waterloo_Station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuqpyLZbjhd_IThfg1TEzjCrQW9GTPMvRTq8C4lz9yU1-IjrwPtPE7Ou-B_joRsPPGX9CYS6CGUWmBw9Q7KfVmxQmnATadgrBMhrMh9TN5X1DLvQ2RMTzjfvgC9b5J2_OoKIA6T2pCpyQ/s320/Bourne_Waterloo_Station.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The panoptical gaze in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUd5RPVDjPY" target="_blank"><i>The Bourne Ultimatum</i></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Suspicion, then, is necessary and adaptive, especially for those most vulnerable to exploitation. But when chronic stressors overwhelm the brain’s capacity to cope, delusions are kindled. This is the essence of the Golds’ theory of delusions as the product of an overtaxed “Suspicion System.”
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<br />
Drawing on recent research in neuroscience and evolutionary psychiatry, the Golds locate the Suspicion System in the amygdala – evolved to anticipate threat by interpreting ambiguous signs of potential social danger – and connected brain regions. Delusions take hold, they posit, with a breakdown in communication between this early-warning Suspicion System and the more rational, slower-thinking (<a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/kahnemans-mind-clarifying-biases" target="_blank">“System 2” in <b>Daniel Kahneman</b>’s formulation</a>) cognitive network that should be dampening the amygdala’s over-enthusiasm.<br />
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A solid theory should not only be logical, elegant, and empirically
supportable, but should also explain diverse manifestations of a phenomenon. The Golds’ theory explains not just persecutory delusions, but each of the other 11 major delusional themes (e.g., grandiose, religious, erotomanic) as well. For example, grandiosity – which we see in the Truman Delusion – can be interpreted as a way of deflecting threat, much like a puffer fish blows itself up or a cat arches it back when faced with danger:
</div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: blue;">“Flexing your social muscles makes you less vulnerable to exploitation by others, and putting your high status front and center in a potential exploiter’s mind might make them think twice about victimizing you…. Grandiosity is thus a symptom of a Suspicion System on overdrive, a caricature of the normal adaptive strategies we employ every day…. Paranoia and grandiosity … are functionally connected: paranoia is a broken form of threat detection, and grandiosity is a broken threat response.”
</span></b></blockquote>
With ever-growing income disparity and economic stress, social network disintegration, loss of privacy, and social media's increasingly panoptical reach, we may expect more and more alienated people with trouble psyches to succumb to Truman Show delusions. Let us hope that, in treating them, we do not lose sight of their humanity, for they really are not so different from us. As the Golds put it, “mental illness is just a frayed, weakened version of mental health.”<br />
<br />
Indeed, if we listen, these frantic souls may even have something to teach. Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-25347014033331422612015-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:002016-11-16T07:43:30.505-08:00Sex addiction: Science or pop fad? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMWUETKsg-a-Fos6hLMw-uVJ8GDt8lbXo0o8pZ-kzTqQnE5hB0udZAHHJFhBZNl-JZYdt_1QerDDODkkgRVapEQuzIT6k_HYwpCPOh02fqZSkNpKzqBet7kVeoRhMxe7HKRhcFctj-R0/s1600/Love_Addict-Curt_Aldrich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMWUETKsg-a-Fos6hLMw-uVJ8GDt8lbXo0o8pZ-kzTqQnE5hB0udZAHHJFhBZNl-JZYdt_1QerDDODkkgRVapEQuzIT6k_HYwpCPOh02fqZSkNpKzqBet7kVeoRhMxe7HKRhcFctj-R0/s320/Love_Addict-Curt_Aldrich.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwP32CIC0y3MkxHwCIC_eOmayEf0uL_XfRg4NiRWFQIl6eHltLp1x-iiQh4fWKzDdonKFj1v6f0deGaeY31GsA_TKMgi6IsT19pRHyedor-gjyIzZi2-NmnThs6s1rs2SCeZpp5nlsZ0Y/s1600/SexAddiction3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EO0M0fbPDT4C&pg=PT9&lpg=PT9&dq=%22Patrick+Carnes%22+%22Phil+Donahue%22&source=bl&ots=qSB7aW8F58&sig=U2P6VGkFo2McQwdcXN-u6ZwPDvk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBWoVChMIiMWX2u-iyAIVlTGICh0mpwCT#v=onepage&q=%22Patrick%20Carnes%22%20%22Phil%20Donahue%22&f=false" target="_blank">Thirty-one years ago, when </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Carnes" target="_blank">Patrick Carnes</a> walked onto the Phil Donahue television show to promote his new book on sexual compulsivity as an addiction, his notion was – in his own words – “widely perceived as a joke.”
<br />
<br />
But Carnes got the last laugh. With the mainstreaming of the addiction industry (eating, gambling, exercising and working are all potential addictions now), Carnes has risen to become guru of a lucrative empire with dozens of rehab centers staffed by thousands of paraprofessionals. Media outlets including <i>Newsweek</i> have <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/sex-addiction-epidemic-66289" target="_blank">uncritically jumped aboard</a>, warning of a grim, pornography-fueled plague afflicting up to 5 percent of the U.S. population.
<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_1564325601"></span><span id="goog_1564325602"></span>With neuroscience all the rage, celebrities including Bill Clinton and Tiger Woods have been recast from mere cads to tragic victims of a progressive and often-fatal “brain disease.” The push for scientific legitimacy reached a zenith in 2013, with an unsuccessful bid to legitimize “hypersexuality” by adding it to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
<br />
<br />
So, what changed over the course of the last three decades that made the public more receptive to seeing sexual misconduct through the lens of addiction?
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRiW-OMMg_u-_8eAnnnUT5lTyVrq3DfenYWMYZJqeS7qBBS-j-8vGVSXUSoxU0o7RGFRM-FeO1mudcPsWLzK9sqaFwePdmivMdydQDlD7s_fVV4FM3Fh4k21lA1IL27i-q6FOY_LA06ww/s1600/hot+off+press.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRiW-OMMg_u-_8eAnnnUT5lTyVrq3DfenYWMYZJqeS7qBBS-j-8vGVSXUSoxU0o7RGFRM-FeO1mudcPsWLzK9sqaFwePdmivMdydQDlD7s_fVV4FM3Fh4k21lA1IL27i-q6FOY_LA06ww/s200/hot+off+press.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
In their meticulously researched <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=QLdUCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Sex+Addiction:+A+critical+history%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAGoVChMIs_e16sKvyAIVkzWICh26WwqF#v=onepage&q=%22Sex%20Addiction%3A%20A%20critical%20history%22&f=false" target="_blank"><i>Sex Addiction: A Critical History</i></a>, three cultural historians from the University of Auckland in New Zealand trace the rise of this social movement primarily to a politically conservative, sex-negative backlash against the sexual liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
One clue to its underlying cultural values, historians <a href="http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/brea012" target="_blank">Barry Reay</a>, <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nina_Attwood" target="_blank">Nina Attwood</a> and <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire_Gooder" target="_blank">Claire Gooder</a> observe, is the movement's enduring strand of homophobia. Even before Carnes's 1983 book <i>Out of the Shadows</i> popularized sexual addiction, the term had been invoked by Lawrence Hatterer, a psychiatrist whose work in the 1950s-1960s focused on curing the “illness” of homosexuality. Heteronormativity remains prominent in the field, with gay men who violate heterosexual norms of sexuality labeled as sex addicts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlqbO8LMlN-V-U5ujNfaAgQfhGpe-6YxVeuaTCYw04sdWjJ_lqVHbW0SmmGOPJa-cAiQMfWIhEFtpnB99qrzCssoKUUo42Po9F2406C0A5M6ePQvTcasO5Y6k9-Ustm8z1oAbsp6EWO0/s1600/sex-addiction-treatment-border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlqbO8LMlN-V-U5ujNfaAgQfhGpe-6YxVeuaTCYw04sdWjJ_lqVHbW0SmmGOPJa-cAiQMfWIhEFtpnB99qrzCssoKUUo42Po9F2406C0A5M6ePQvTcasO5Y6k9-Ustm8z1oAbsp6EWO0/s320/sex-addiction-treatment-border.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
Unlike many purported disorders that are promoted by researchers or the pharmaceutical industry, sex addiction is a bottoms-up movement, with people self-diagnosing themselves via self-help books or quick-and-dirty
Internet surveys. Its infiltration into popular culture owes in large part to the media’s
abdication of its role as scientific gatekeeper, argue the authors of <i>Sex Addiction</i>. As the <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/newsweek_fetishizes_an_epidemi.php" target="_blank"><i>Columbia Journalism Review</i></a> also pointed out in a critique of the <i>Newsweek</i> <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/sex-addiction-epidemic-66289" target="_blank">puff piece</a>,
“The problem with relying on therapists, as most of the articles over
the years have done, rather than qualified experts in academia, is that
they have a vested interest in promoting the idea that there’s a
widespread problem. The more people believe it, the more money they
make."<br />
<br />
<br />
In contrast to the lay public, academic scholars have remained skeptical of a construct that is too broad and amorphous to have any scientific validity; everything from viewing pornography or having an illicit affair to feeling ashamed about one's sexuality can count toward a diagnosis. Indeed, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26372200" target="_blank">research studies</a> have found that people’s anxiety over their sexual behavior is tied more to their moral values and level of religiosity than to the actual intensity of their behavior.<br />
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It is findings such as these that open sexual addiction up to ridicule. One prominent critic, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Ley" target="_blank">David Ley</a>, author of <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=21crXJpmuioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=David+Ley+Myth+of+Sex+Addiction&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAWoVChMIhoapsMKvyAIVyC2ICh3yYAzi#v=onepage&q=David%20Ley%20Myth%20of%20Sex%20Addiction&f=false%20http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/dont_believe_the_sex_addiction_hype/" target="_blank">The Myth of Sex Addiction</a></i>, has mocked sexual addiction literature as "valley-girl science" -- a hodge-podge of anecdote and metaphor rather than any provable theory. As he told a <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/dont_believe_the_sex_addiction_hype/" target="_blank"><i>Salon</i> interviewer</a>: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>“All
of these behaviors have been happening for millennium — people
cheating, people having lots of sex…. There’s nothing new about this….
For every one of the behaviors they raise as addictive — whether it’s
porn, strip clubs, masturbation, infidelity, going to prostitutes — I
can present 10,000 people who engage in the exact same behavior and have
no problems, and they can’t explain why that is.”
</b></span></blockquote>
Historically, hysteria over sexual depravity is somewhat cyclical. Way back in the 1870s, a crusade against "smut" by a U.S. Postal Inspector and politician named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock" target="_blank">Anthony Comstock</a> resulted in thousands of arrests and the destruction of 15 tons of books. Interestingly, Comstock's passion for moral purity stemmed from his own personal demons; as a youth, he was said to have masturbated so compulsively that it almost drove him to suicide.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJGts0KgqbO66MqtUhT04Pk0ez7UX9PzsyXI5OJqgURlZxJ4JQaAX-y9EsAj3ZXO-Ug_ODUGZTue27OGsrWElmmBg9eqRim5H_9Dxyj4u_omA8dcgBiw2KuHAU4enDo7K-mXxchhjTc4/s1600/Madness-of-Womb%25281678%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJGts0KgqbO66MqtUhT04Pk0ez7UX9PzsyXI5OJqgURlZxJ4JQaAX-y9EsAj3ZXO-Ug_ODUGZTue27OGsrWElmmBg9eqRim5H_9Dxyj4u_omA8dcgBiw2KuHAU4enDo7K-mXxchhjTc4/s320/Madness-of-Womb%25281678%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Treating a case of "Madness of the Womb" (1600s)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The pathologizing of female lust has a particularly long tradition, dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. In the late 1600s, women were diagnosed with nymphomania (a diagnosis that still exists in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases, or ICD), or “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VP89imI5evoC&pg=PA64&dq=%22Madness+of+the+WOmb%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMI9o7_-rS0yAIVBaKICh3i3wXD#v=onepage&q=%22Madness%20of%20the%20WOmb%22&f=false" target="_blank">madness of the womb,</a>" a disease said to be triggered by amorous courtings, lascivious books and dancing. As with today’s sexual addiction, the condition was considered progressive; if not promptly treated it would lead to “true and perfect madness.” Treatment included bleeding, cool baths with lettuce and flowers, marriage to "a lusty young man" or -- no kidding -- rubbing of the afflicted woman's genitals by "a cunning midwife."<br />
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Nowadays, as then, there is a common pattern in the way proponents of scientifically questionable new problems attempt to establish their legitimacy. First, they announce discovery of the problem; next, the problem’s lineage is traced back through time to show that it existed all along but was overlooked or neglected. Finally, and most critically, alarmist claims are made about a growing epidemic.
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<br />
This pattern could be observed in the 2013 campaign to legitimize “hypersexuality” by making it a DSM disorder. For example, the claims-making process included articles by psychiatrist Martin Kafka tracing hypersexuality’s lineage back to the pioneering sexologists of the 19th century. But in their first-rate scholarship, the Auckland historians scoured those primary sources – the writings of early sexology heavyweights such as Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis, Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Iwan Bloch – and found that their descriptions of the sexually compulsive bore little resemblance to contemporary hypersexuality or sex addiction. Rather, the early sexologists described tortured souls who were both rare and bizarre, typically suffering from more global psychiatric or organic maladies rather than a primary sexual disorder. For example, writing in 1908 about the “sexually insane,” Iwan Bloch described him as resembling a “wild animal” who:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: blue;">“rush[es] at the first creature he meets … to gratify his lust …. He seizes in sexual embrace any other living or lifeless object, and in this state may perform acts of paederasty, bestiality, violation of children, etc. In these most severe cases we can always demonstrate the existence of mental disorder, general paralysis, mania, or periodical insanity … as a cause.”</span></b>
</blockquote>
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Judging from singular descriptions like this, the early hypersexual was an extraordinary creature, a far cry from the mundane individual proposed for the DSM-5. Indeed, the proposed operational definitions for contemporary hypersexuality are striking in their breadth. For example, one diagnostic criteria proposed for the DSM-5 was experiencing seven or more orgasms per week by any method. Based on <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16502152" target="_blank">one survey</a> of the general population in Sweden, this arbitrary cutoff would have pathologized almost half of all men (44%) and more than one out of five women.
<br />
<br />
Despite official rejection of hypersexuality by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013, the ideology of sexual addiction is gradually seeping into forensic quarters. For example, in some civil detention sites for sex offenders, minimally trained "treatment providers" play the role of moral arbiters, determining what forms of sexual desire are "appropriate" based not on their illegality or potential harm but whether the providers find them "healthy."<br />
<br />
To be deemed “healthy” in some such programs, captive patients are required to develop vanilla “masturbation fantasy scripts” that resemble a corny Hallmark card:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><b>"My masturbation fantasy involves Amanda. She is 40* years old, with flowing auburn hair and large green eyes. We enjoy cuddling by the fireplace, taking long walks on the beach in the moonlight, and gazing into each other’s eyes by candlelight."</b></span></blockquote>
<i>(*The fantasy object must be the same approximate age as the offender; if she is more than five years younger, he will be told to rewrite his script to make it more "appropriate.")</i><br />
<br />
Despite the enduring popularity of teachers, nurses and -- especially -- <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/tag/the-nympho-librarian-and-other-stories/" target="_blank">librarians</a> as objects of male fantasy, in the burgeoning sexual offender treatment industry, even these cultural tropes may be labeled as "deviant." In one case I was involved in, a man's fantasy of seducing a librarian was advanced as evidence of sexual danger, based on the notion that the library (even after hours) is a public setting. <br />
<br />
Of course, this not-so-thinly veiled moralism masquerading as treatment has no empirical support as a method to reduce former sex offenders’ risk to the public. But it does comport with popular cultural notions of addiction and sexual compulsivity, however unproven -- even bizarre -- they may at times be. <br />
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* * * * *
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=QLdUCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Sex+Addiction:+A+critical+history%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAGoVChMIs_e16sKvyAIVkzWICh26WwqF#v=onepage&q=%22Sex%20Addiction%3A%20A%20critical%20history%22&f=false" target="_blank"><i>Sex Addiction: A Critical History</i></a> by Barry Reay, Nina Attwood and Claire Gooder </span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">is as well written as it is insightful; I highly recommend it</span></span></b>. Also recommended is clinical psychologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Ley" target="_blank">David Ley</a>’s thoughtful work, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=21crXJpmuioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=David+Ley+Myth+of+Sex+Addiction&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAWoVChMIhoapsMKvyAIVyC2ICh3yYAzi#v=onepage&q=David%20Ley%20Myth%20of%20Sex%20Addiction&f=false%20http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/dont_believe_the_sex_addiction_hype/" target="_blank"><i>The Myth of Sex Addiction</i></a>. </span></span></b>Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-41455615073934833222015-10-01T15:01:00.001-07:002015-10-01T16:18:33.964-07:00The mysterious nature of the "juvenile sex offender"<b><span style="font-size: large;">New research casts doubt on practical meaningfulness of emergent category
</span></b><br />
<br />
If you ask John Q. Public about the public safety risk posed by a juvenile who has been arrested for a sex offense, chances are he will estimate too high. The public is woefully uninformed when it comes to risk of
sexual reoffense in general, and nowhere is the gap between reality and media-driven anxiety wider than in the case of juvenile sex offenders.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwubnmyf_1_TOPEqr4FnlbrZNsXz2pVeZWKxusXZAv6Eb9Kre8jXqcg8g4Vc983xzBXykt53pNEUVVYqlqXQvun5ShVXSfyq122TsLXdIaqA8QZSFn4-o9TsPHC7wkH7dWJeOMHXU4Vg/s1600/Caldwell-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwubnmyf_1_TOPEqr4FnlbrZNsXz2pVeZWKxusXZAv6Eb9Kre8jXqcg8g4Vc983xzBXykt53pNEUVVYqlqXQvun5ShVXSfyq122TsLXdIaqA8QZSFn4-o9TsPHC7wkH7dWJeOMHXU4Vg/s200/Caldwell-M.jpg" width="178" /></a></div>
<b><a href="http://experts.news.wisc.edu/experts/1124" target="_blank">Michael Caldwell</a></b>, a prominent expert on juvenile delinquency at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison, has decided to take the bull by the horns and nail down an accurate risk estimate. His goal is to collect and analyze every single study that exists, whether from peer-reviewed and published research or government studies. So far, he's put together an impressive 88 data sets comprising a whopping 25,716
juvenile sex offenders.*
<br />
<br />
The data are remarkably consistent: Overall, people who committed a sex offense prior to age 18 have <b><u>less
than a 5% risk</u></b> of being arrested or convicted for another sex offense as an adult.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoX6lMgu5tpNGP5cRxM7w1mfQepjcRySXXu-53BEOHmpEBGWJx75r8kr_d0SJmEcLgZtnvOBeSKP9vt4PctKXxlGOrN5TOm0iVNFOg_l9qDQeTGYYe8P2y6fxeG_ujKHu5xfmaOLq2WI/s1600/Caldwell-chartr1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoX6lMgu5tpNGP5cRxM7w1mfQepjcRySXXu-53BEOHmpEBGWJx75r8kr_d0SJmEcLgZtnvOBeSKP9vt4PctKXxlGOrN5TOm0iVNFOg_l9qDQeTGYYe8P2y6fxeG_ujKHu5xfmaOLq2WI/s320/Caldwell-chartr1.png" width="257" /></a></div>
Although the average followup period in these 88 studies was more than five
years, Caldwell says the length of the followup isn't as critical as you might think. That's because risk is
highest in the months immediately following the last offense, and plummets dramatically
as time goes on.
<br />
<br />
That's not surprising, given what we know about adolescent immaturity. Juvenile sex offenders are plagued by raging hormones, poor impulse
control, and even poorer judgment. Often, their sex offending is part of a broader
pattern of general delinquency that includes behavior like
stealing, truancy, fighting, rule-breaking and drug use.
<br />
<br />
But perhaps more remarkable than their low risk for sexual reoffense as adults is the finding by other researchers that most adult men who are arrested for committing sexual offenses were
never part of this juvenile sex offender pool in the first place.
<br />
<br />
In other words, there's a good chance we are looking at apples and oranges -- that most juveniles who are
arrested for a sex offense are just screwed-up kids, rather than budding pedophiles or preferential
rapists like some adult offenders.
<br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Are juvenile sex offenders special?
</span></b></i><br />
<br />
Indeed, many scholars of delinquency are coming to the
conclusion that the "juvenile sex offender" – a category that has come into vogue largely
due to growing interest in adult sex offending over the past couple of decades – may not actually exist as a distinguishable entity.
<br />
<br />
That would be very good news from a public safety standpoint, because the majority of young
people who get into trouble with the law gradually cease offending and fade
into the carpet of the community as they mature and settle down into their
adult lives.
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<b>Amanda Fanniff</b>, of Palo Alto University's <a href="http://www.paloaltou.edu/graduate-programs/phd-programs/phd-clinical-psychology/research-group-directory/juvenile-forensic-re" target="_blank">Juvenile Forensic Research Group</a>,
is one such scholar. She is testing the uniqueness of juvenile sex offenders by comparing them with
other delinquent boys from the federally funded <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-news-on-young-criminals.html" target="_blank">Pathways to Desistance project</a>, a large-scale,
multi-site, longitudinal study of serious juvenile offenders in Arizona and
Pennsylvania.
<br />
<br />
So far, Dr. Fanniff has not found much to distinguish the
127 boys with sex offenses from the 1,021 boys with serious non-sexual crime, in terms of measurable things like school problems, parental pathology, antisocial history, or deviant peers.
<br />
<br />
If anything, based on followup periods averaging about seven
years, the juveniles who offended sexually have <u><b>lower</b></u> risk of both general and
sexual recidivism than the other delinquents, she reported this week to a meeting of the
<a href="https://ccoso.org/" target="_blank">California Coalition on Sex Offending</a>.**
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-a-ObVPQRfsK71rfmMo8ytbvcANRkTiVc0fXaLbY2B_hFnnRBCU-sap9scVqrtZiX2TrAYp3ZbBAzeOW8YqTXdoJbvtIxf40_9t2c3Hz9jgGAkAGaZ_ikppzfUO1kg12PpBrIckPAng/s1600/Fanniff-chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-a-ObVPQRfsK71rfmMo8ytbvcANRkTiVc0fXaLbY2B_hFnnRBCU-sap9scVqrtZiX2TrAYp3ZbBAzeOW8YqTXdoJbvtIxf40_9t2c3Hz9jgGAkAGaZ_ikppzfUO1kg12PpBrIckPAng/s320/Fanniff-chart.png" width="270" /></a></div>
Consistent with other research, Fanniff found that in sheer
numbers, more of the juveniles <u><b>without</b></u> a prior sex offense case picked up a sex crime as an adult. Out of the 1,148 boys she tracked, 10
sex offenders and 29 general delinquents were arrested for a sex offense during the average 7-year followup period. Because there were far more general delinquents overall, that
translates to a sexual recidivism rate of about 8% for the juvenile sex offenders, and 3% for the other boys, or about 3% overall. (See chart, left. The fact that her juvenile sex offenders recidivated at a slightly higher rate than Caldwell's aggregate average likely owes to the small size of her sample, 127 versus his vast pool of 25,716.) <br />
<br />
If the perception of uniqueness is just a projection of the beholder's, says Fanniff, we might do better to focus on treatment programs that are proven to work for delinquents, such as <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/82/3/492/" target="_blank">multisystemic therapy</a> that targets family and community variables, rather than focusing too heavily on sex offender-specific treatment with its uneven track record and sometimes-counterproductive methods.
<br />
<br />
What this growing body of research evidence tells us, agree Fanniff, Caldwell and other
researchers such as <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22353046" target="_blank">Jodi Viljoen</a> at Simon Fraser University in British
Columbia and her colleagues, is that it is extremely hard to accurately identify a juvenile
sex offender who is going to reoffend.
<br />
<br />
The task is so hard, indeed, that even risk assessment instruments
designed specifically for this population – like the ERASOR and the J-SOAP – are doomed to fail most of the time.
<br />
<br />
But from a purely statistical point of view, prediction is actually a
no-brainer:<br />
<br />
If you bet that any juvenile sex offender is NOT going to reoffend,
you will be correct 95% of the time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It's pretty doggone hard to improve on that good news.
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* * * * *
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">*These new data are not yet published. Dr. Caldwell's <a href="http://ijo.sagepub.com/content/54/2/197.abstract" target="_blank">2010 review article</a> in the <i>International Journal of
Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology</i></span> <span style="color: #660000;">found the same pattern, but with only 66 data sets
comprising about 11,000 offenders.
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">**Dr. Fanniff's study has been accepted for publication in
the <i>Temple Law Review</i>. In the meantime, you can request information from her via <a href="mailto:afanniff@paloaltou.edu" target="_blank">email</a>. </span></span>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
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Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-36983821470531093992015-09-14T20:26:00.002-07:002015-09-15T07:44:01.552-07:00As courts censure civil detention practices, is it time for professionals to speak up?<h4>
<i>Guest commentary by David S. Prescott, LICSW*
</i></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DnInnyTWQUlUQ4rrrH0S5DxjrW2nrQaHFQwQ0e6ZGdksDnRjU8LCN0CTi3p8oKKt88plD7JtTWwIfczaw8q23Na82wD1ZV5fQtz20Euwcd1SSN-ZkTTUlVPoV6NctKuXnHfZBlm4lbw/s1600/Prescott-by+J+Lloyd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DnInnyTWQUlUQ4rrrH0S5DxjrW2nrQaHFQwQ0e6ZGdksDnRjU8LCN0CTi3p8oKKt88plD7JtTWwIfczaw8q23Na82wD1ZV5fQtz20Euwcd1SSN-ZkTTUlVPoV6NctKuXnHfZBlm4lbw/s320/Prescott-by+J+Lloyd.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David S. Prescott. Photo by J. Lloyd.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last week, <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/us-judge-rules-handling-of-state-s-sexual-predator-program/article_8ea46baa-5e3f-5773-a1d1-9465c9d08fe9.html" target="_blank">a federal judge ruled</a> that Missouri's civil commitment program is unconstitutional, the second such court decision in three months. For readers unfamiliar with the US civil commitment laws (AKA “SVP” laws), the short version is that 20 states and the federal government have laws that allow states to indefinitely confine sex offenders who are assessed as having a mental diagnosis that predisposes them to commit future sexual violence. There are controversies at every possible turn in these laws, their processes, and subsequent programs, and the US Supreme Court decisions allowing civil commitment have passed by as little as one vote. Because the author was an expert witness in <a href="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/1d/61df5598-70c4-5a7d-825d-1904ca085316/55f37ef05d3d1.pdf.pdf" target="_blank">the Missouri case</a>, this essay looks more at the big-picture issues rather than at that specific case. What seems clear is that there is an evolving consensus in the courts that civil commitment as it is being practiced in many places is unconstitutional and that governments and programs must work together closely to rein in widespread abuses.
<br />
<br />
As in <a href="http://www.startribune.com/judge-expected-to-rule-today-in-lawsuit-challenging-minnesota-s-sex-offender-program/307884871/" target="_blank">the Minnesota case</a> decided this June, the Missouri case involved a treatment program in operation for many years (roughly 15 in Missouri’s case and 20 in Minnesota’s) from which few have been released and no one has ever been fully discharged. On one hand it is clear that some people who are civilly committed are truly dangerous; I have worked with men who openly vow to re-offend. On the other hand, no bona fide form of treatment takes a minimum of 15 years to complete. Add to this a political climate that is at best unconducive to genuine rehabilitation, and the die for these court decisions was cast long, long ago.
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7aTw_ORdjTMOWHXo7qmh3nYzX4l8ndocphXwREUfHTVkLG3gLXiTiiW5i6aqRhKOKxwSbsu3edQKrSX6yewZN_7spRPbs5U3_a9Gd93_K2YGK4H1K_105S3ndPg7700OSNiKSSki-2y0/s1600/Duwe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7aTw_ORdjTMOWHXo7qmh3nYzX4l8ndocphXwREUfHTVkLG3gLXiTiiW5i6aqRhKOKxwSbsu3edQKrSX6yewZN_7spRPbs5U3_a9Gd93_K2YGK4H1K_105S3ndPg7700OSNiKSSki-2y0/s200/Duwe.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prison researcher <a href="http://www.baylorisr.org/scholars/d/duwe-grant/" target="_blank">Grant Duwe</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For all of our profession's advances in assessment and treatment, we seem to be producing no improved outcomes whatsoever in the civil commitment arena. A study that has not garnered the amount of discussion that it deserves is <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/07/most-civilly-detained-sex-offenders.html" target="_blank">Grant Duwe’s research</a> finding that only 28% of a sample of civilly committed offenders would likely have re-offended again in their lifetimes, raising questions as to whether states have cast their <a href="http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/29/15/2792.abstract" target="_blank">nets too wide</a>. In a nation in which “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%27s_formulation" target="_blank">Blackstone’s Formulatio</a>n” -- "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" -- is taught in schools as a fundamental principle of justice, the practice of holding thousands of people indefinitely beyond the expiration of their criminal sentences ought to give anyone pause. In fact, the principle behind Blackstone’s Formulation goes back to antiquity. For example, in the Bible, Genesis 18:23-24 quotes Abraham as asking: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?” What are the implications for civil commitment?
<br />
<br />
Closer to street level, two cases among many made prominent headlines in Minnesota last year. The first was that of a young man who had sexually abused others at an early age. From a <a href="http://www.startribune.com/judge-won-t-allow-release-of-sex-offender/270838671/" target="_blank">media account</a>:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<i>The four court-appointed experts argued that T’s early sexual offenses as a juvenile were influenced by his own sexual victimization, and that his behavior was likely exacerbated by his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and untreated trauma. The experts also noted that most juveniles who act out sexually do not continue to offend as adults. “There is little evidence to suggest that T is a dangerous sexual offender who poses a significant risk to public safety,” the experts wrote.</i>
</blockquote>
<br />
Another case involved the only woman civilly committed as a sex offender in that state. From a different <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2014/07/hearing-reveals-flaws-minnesotas-treatment-certain-sex-offenders" target="_blank">news repor</a><a href="https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2014/07/hearing-reveals-flaws-minnesotas-treatment-certain-sex-offenders" target="_blank">t</a>:
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>B’s case has proven to be even more vexing for the state….[I]t’s clear officials had little idea what to do or how to treat her.… She suffered a traumatic upbringing: abused by her father, brother and two of her uncles starting as early as 5 years old and continuing through young adulthood. She had a child at 14, and as an adult, sexually abused two boys. [One] of the court-appointed experts … characterized B’s offenses as “reactive” to her trauma as a child. As an adult, B is “flirtatious” and “forward” and easily stimulated in discussions of sexual activities. All of which means that treating her in an all-male program, with group therapy sessions, might have actually made things worse.
</i></blockquote>
<br />
Despite expert consensus that continued civil confinement was not likely to be helpful in either case, neither T nor B were released. This represents a trend. Similar cases (such as this other <a href="http://politicsinminnesota.com/2012/10/he-was-a-kid-former-juvenile-sex-offenders-languish-in-msop/" target="_blank">juvenile-only offender</a> or this <a href="http://www.startribune.com/nobody-ever-released-witness-says-at-msop-trial/292307001/" target="_blank">65-year-old man</a> who reports being shuffled among no less than 24 therapists in more than two decades of commitment) have been reported in the media, and yet the status quo continues.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sb2JTtRud1DUZpUrvnksxvOyXTCuaCBkXotkiyJf4vk3lpjtK1ZyVyq9xDgYsuikFLxnRpJaUb3WKKHsjSi37QIg-7ZEmQPf05vcqalR3qZKu8E7Q335W6NJufawacTmrFtVX6wVP6Q/s1600/SORTS-Farmington+MO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sb2JTtRud1DUZpUrvnksxvOyXTCuaCBkXotkiyJf4vk3lpjtK1ZyVyq9xDgYsuikFLxnRpJaUb3WKKHsjSi37QIg-7ZEmQPf05vcqalR3qZKu8E7Q335W6NJufawacTmrFtVX6wVP6Q/s400/SORTS-Farmington+MO.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Missouri's Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services (SORTS). </span><br />
<span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Photo credit: Jesse Bogan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"></span><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Clearly, these cases involve people who are difficult to treat. For a sense of scale, though, the woman described above was civilly committed during Bill Clinton’s first year in office, 22 years ago; others have been committed for even longer. One commentator described the lack of outcry as having the same emotional valence as fishermen noting that they sometimes catch dolphins in their tuna nets. At what point is remaining silent about the judicial findings, and the many task force reports and outside evaluations they rest on, no longer acceptable?
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Sadly, the people working at the front lines are often directed by policy and supervisors not to openly discuss these issues. In my experience, some people care more deeply than others about balancing the rights and welfare of the community with the principle of beneficence toward clients in treatment. There is no question that there are good people at the front lines trying to do the right thing and wrestling with deeply personal questions about the way forward. Still, given that two exercises of civil commitment statutes have been deemed unconstitutional -- and in the eyes of many that is another way of saying fundamentally un-American -- questions emerge for all practitioners:
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At what point do professionals in these settings openly acknowledge to them/ourselves that we are participating in systems that are openly unconstitutional and therefore unlawful according to the standards of much of the Western world? Even beyond American law, consider the case of <a href="http://www.startribune.com/britain-balks-at-extradition-in-minnesota-sex-case/159711685/" target="_blank">Shawn Sullivan</a>, who fled the US and was on Interpol’s most-wanted list. One of the UK’s highest courts denied a U.S. extradition request on the basis that Minnesota's program to commit sex offenders indefinitely to treatment violates European human rights law. From the article:
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Fwh2hOzzKsWUgU3QsXwbfA16R6Un75QuCpszKvmxs0Ii762g1H6O4qElXA0Zj4KhhCWiKShKuDTYiEFcXf00d2BpdXJhuTf4RECJ755j3V7hZ9Yn7JZwIYvvHbqXKt_M8kxvFU4i_P4/s1600/Sullivan-UK_pedophile-extradition.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Fwh2hOzzKsWUgU3QsXwbfA16R6Un75QuCpszKvmxs0Ii762g1H6O4qElXA0Zj4KhhCWiKShKuDTYiEFcXf00d2BpdXJhuTf4RECJ755j3V7hZ9Yn7JZwIYvvHbqXKt_M8kxvFU4i_P4/s320/Sullivan-UK_pedophile-extradition.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The case of Shawn Sullivan garnered international headlines</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Lord Justice Alan Moses said returning Sullivan for trial with the possibility of later being placed in the sex offender system would be a "flagrant denial of his rights" under European law.</i>
</blockquote>
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With that in mind, professionals might also want to ask at what point we are violating <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/" target="_blank">basic human rights</a> when we render "treatment" that no one can ever complete.
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Meanwhile, even in states such as Wisconsin, New York and Texas, where some committed sex offenders have successfully completed treatment and been released into the community, the constitutionality of civil commitment is threatened by broad residency restrictions and policies that severely restrict where these residents can live once discharged.
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As a profession, we have the research, the tools, and the templates to provide prompt and adequate treatment and to reduce the harm of sexual abuse, and yet we find ourselves in political climates where we cannot use them. At what point do we as individual professionals, or as professional organizations, take a stand against practices that are clearly not working to anyone’s long-term benefit? One need only look at the recent scandal of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/us/politics/psychologists-approve-ban-on-role-in-national-security-interrogations.html?ref=topics&_r=0" target="_blank">American Psychological Association and its involvement with torture</a> to see how collective inaction can ultimately bring disgrace to a profession.
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Personally, my belief is that we all need to talk about these issues much more than we do. Legal action and journal articles are one matter, public dialog is something else. Critical self-examination takes courage. Perhaps it starts with all of us when we say to ourselves: All sexual abuse is unacceptable, but I will not violate the rights of others in the name of reducing harm. It is time to take a stand for the rights of <i>all</i> human beings.<br />
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<h4>
*<a href="http://www.davidprescott.net/" target="_blank"><b>David Prescott</b></a> is Director of Professional Development for <a href="http://www.becket.org/" target="_blank">a youth services organization in New England</a>, and is a widely published <a href="http://www.davidprescott.net/publications.shtml" target="_blank">author</a> and lecturer on sex offender treatment, motivational interviewing, adolescent offenders and related topics. He was an expert witness in the Missouri class action case decided Sept. 11 by U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Fleissig, <i>Van Orden v. Schafer</i> (the full text of which is available <a href="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/1d/61df5598-70c4-5a7d-825d-1904ca085316/55f37ef05d3d1.pdf.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>). More information is available at <a href="http://www.davidprescott.net/" target="_blank">his website</a>. An<a href="http://sajrt.blogspot.com/2015/09/civil-commitment-another-program-is.html" target="_blank"> earlier version</a> of this essay appeared at the blogspot of <i>Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment</i>.
</h4>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-14989166468187190262015-09-03T20:36:00.001-07:002015-09-04T07:20:34.507-07:00Adversarial allegiance: Frontier of forensic psychology researchA colleague recently commented on how favorably impressed he was about the open-mindedness of two other forensic examiners, who had had the courage to change their opinions in the face of new evidence. The two had initially recommended that a man be civilly committed as a sexually violent predator, but changed their minds three years later .
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My colleague's admiration was short-lived. It evaporated when he realized that the experts’ change of heart had come only after they switched teams: Initially retained by the government, they were now in the employ of the defense.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNI4PRv9kTpVyqosXOkYyXBsQ4e3h94EcfPywu-T5E5atTrBX25rEoa2GC7iq1xW2Uf5_P-EySc8UaURhNLmsqY8Il1Znhm7EeKrs-0WWUmpp2hMjFBmmTb03EHGRI3t82n9DA0rv-pg/s1600/Adversarial_Allegiance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNI4PRv9kTpVyqosXOkYyXBsQ4e3h94EcfPywu-T5E5atTrBX25rEoa2GC7iq1xW2Uf5_P-EySc8UaURhNLmsqY8Il1Znhm7EeKrs-0WWUmpp2hMjFBmmTb03EHGRI3t82n9DA0rv-pg/s1600/Adversarial_Allegiance.jpg" /></a></div>
"Adversarial allegiance" is the name of this well-known phenomenon in which some experts' opinions tend to drift toward the party retaining their services. This bias is insidious because it operates largely outside of conscious awareness, and can affect even ostensibly objective procedures such as the scoring and interpretation of standardized psychological tests.<br />
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Partisan bias is nothing new to legal observers, but formal research on its workings is in its infancy. Now, the researchers spearheading the exploration of this intriguing topic have put together <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-120814-121714" target="_blank">a summary review</a> of the empirical evidence they have developed over the course of the past decade. The review, by <a href="http://cacsprd.web.virginia.edu/ilppp/FacultyAndStaff/Profile/DanielMurrie" target="_blank"><b>Daniel Murrie</b></a> of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and <b><a href="http://www.shsu.edu/academics/psychology-and-philosophy/psychology/doctoral-program/faculty.html" target="_blank">Marcus Boccaccini</a></b> of Sam Houston State University, is <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-120814-121714" target="_blank">forthcoming in the <i>Annual Review of Law and Social Science</i></a>.<br />
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Forensic psychologists’ growing reliance on structured assessment instruments gave Murrie and Boccaccini a way to systematically explore partisan bias. Because many forensic assessment tools boast excellent interrater reliability in the laboratory, the team could quantify the degradation of fidelity that occurs in real-world settings. And when scoring trends correlate systematically with which side the evaluator is testifying for, adversarial allegiance is a plausible culprit. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE55JS7dIvHVrCATOiPl8SqhiMim31WKm4Qs-u-kqKsmkh6905ZNdJkI2OchRiwhQhgIK2fGwLppcZrggCvuVEqselo-VO2xZn6rterclNlZl52ooQUiO6vjCpSLZnZ-K9KFrGZCBOYOo/s1600/Murrie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE55JS7dIvHVrCATOiPl8SqhiMim31WKm4Qs-u-kqKsmkh6905ZNdJkI2OchRiwhQhgIK2fGwLppcZrggCvuVEqselo-VO2xZn6rterclNlZl52ooQUiO6vjCpSLZnZ-K9KFrGZCBOYOo/s200/Murrie.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Murrie</td></tr>
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Such bias has been especially pronounced with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, which is increasingly deployed as a weapon by prosecutors in cases involving future risk, such as capital murder sentencing hearings, juvenile transfer to adult courts, and sexually violent predator commitment trials. In a series of ground-breaking experiments, the Murrie-Boccaccini team found that <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/03/psychopathy-rorschach-test-for.html" target="_blank">scores on the PCL-R vary hugely and systematically</a> based on whether an expert is retained by the prosecution or the defense, with the differences often exceeding what is statistically plausible based on chance.<br />
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Systematic bias was also found in the scoring of two measures designed to predict future sexual offending, the popular Static-99 and the now-defunct Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool Revised (MnSOST-R).
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One shortcoming of the team’s initial observational research was that it couldn’t eliminate the possibility that savvy attorneys preselected who were predisposed toward one side or the other. To test this possibility, two years ago the team designed <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/03/remarkable-experiment-proves-pull-of.html" target="_blank">a devious experimental study</a> in which they recruited forensic psychologists and psychiatrists and randomly assigned them to either a prosecution or defense legal unit. To increase validity, the experts were even paid $400 a day for their services. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NpMvZo4so7DqSnpuEAJqxb1A-IEZ8tnvGpETT8dIakCogc0qLmLY89FXFykqOpyY2d7Dy3g7VavDEnEbnFL9Za5dw097f0zO7-yDeiFlv3kP5fNor_Q_SEJyKHOag5ffx6f3S9Utjjs/s1600/Boccaccini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NpMvZo4so7DqSnpuEAJqxb1A-IEZ8tnvGpETT8dIakCogc0qLmLY89FXFykqOpyY2d7Dy3g7VavDEnEbnFL9Za5dw097f0zO7-yDeiFlv3kP5fNor_Q_SEJyKHOag5ffx6f3S9Utjjs/s200/Boccaccini.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marcus Boccaccini</td></tr>
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The findings provided proof-positive of the strength of the adversarial allegiance effect. Forensic experts assigned to the bogus prosecution unit gave higher scores on both the PCL-R and the Static-99R than did those assigned to the defense. The pattern was especially pronounced on the PCL-R, due to the subjectivity of many of its items. ("Glibness" and "superficiality," for example, cannot be objectively measured.)
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The research brought further bad tidings. Even when experts assign the same score on the relatively simple Static-99R instrument, they often present these scores in such a way as to exaggerate or downplay risk, depending on which side they are on. Specifically, prosecution-retained experts are far more likely to endorse use of "high-risk" norms that significantly elevate risk. <br />
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Several somewhat complimentary theories have been advanced to explain why adversarial allegiance occurs. Prominent forensic psychologist <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4317294.aspx" target="_blank">Stanley Brodsky</a> has attributed it to the social psychological process of in-group allegiance. Forensic psychologists <a href="http://works.bepress.com/thomas_grisso/112/" target="_blank">Tess Neal and Tom Grisso</a> have favored a more cognitive explanation, positing heuristic biases such as the human tendency to favor confirmatory over disconfirmatory information. More cynically, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whores-Court-Psychiatric-Testimony-American/dp/0060391979" target="_blank">others</a> have attributed partisan bias to conscious machinations in the service of earning more money. Murrie and Boccaccini remain agnostic, saying that all of these factors could play a role, depending upon the evaluator and the situation.
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One glimmer of hope is that the allegiance effect is not universal. The research team found that only some of the forensic experts they studied are swayed by which side retains them. Hopefully, the burgeoning interest in adversarial allegiance will lead to future research exploring not only the individual and situational factors that trigger bias, but also what keeps some experts from shading their opinions toward the retaining party.
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Even better would be if the courts took an active interest in this problem of bias. Some Australian courts, for example, have introduced a method called "<a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2008/08/hot-tubbing-counterbalance-for-expert.html" target="_blank">hot tubs</a>" in which experts for all of the sides must come together and hash out their differences outside of court.
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In the meantime, watch out if someone tries to recruit you at $400 a day to come and work for a newly formed legal unit. It might be another ruse, designed to see how you hold up to adversarial pressure.
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The article is: <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-120814-121714" target="_blank">Adversarial Allegiance among Expert Witnesses</a>, forthcoming from <i>The Annual Review of Law and Social Science</i>. To request it from the first author, click <a href="mailto:Murrie@Virginia.edu" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
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<h4>
<i><b>Related blog posts:
</b></i></h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/03/remarkable-experiment-proves-pull-of.html" target="_blank">Remarkable experiment proves pull of adversarial allegiance</a> (March 5 2013) </li>
<li><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/03/psychopathy-rorschach-test-for.html" target="_blank">Psychopathy: A Rorschach test for psychologists?</a> (March 25, 2011) </li>
<li><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2008/08/hot-tubbing-counterbalance-for-expert.html" target="_blank">"Hot tubbing": Counterbalance for expert partisanship?</a> (Aug. 11, 2008)
</li>
</ul>
Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-83364794902976693822015-06-05T10:37:00.001-07:002015-08-13T09:06:39.029-07:00Recommended summer reading <i>Among a bumper crop of engaging new books, here are a few that stand out as especially relevant to forensic psychologists interested in popular culture: </i><br />
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<h3>
Murder as public spectacle</h3>
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If you want to understand the nature of murder and its resolution in U.S. inner cities, look no further than L.A. Times reporter Jill Leovy's <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/100077/ghettoside-by-jill-leovy" target="_blank"><i>Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America</i></a>. Leovy embedded herself with detectives in one South Los Angeles precinct to discover the gloomy truth: When the government does not provide strong, centralized justice, people will take the law into their own hands … with tragic results.<br />
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<h3>
Sexual assault, unpunished</h3>
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With upwards of one in five women raped in their lifetimes, rape is much more common than most people realize, its most frequent victims college-aged women. So, why are so few sexual assaults ever reported to authorities? You will understand why after reading bestselling journalist Jon Krakauer's <a href="http://www.jonkrakauer.com/missoula" target="_blank">Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town</a>. This superbly researched account traces the ordeals of a cluster of young college women with the audacity to buck the good-old-boys system in search of justice. <br />
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A culture of shaming</h3>
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And finally, what's up with the culture of public shaming that seems to be strangling popular culture, with shame-laced posts regularly going viral on Twitter and other social media sites? Jon Ronson (whom you'll recall from his quirky bestseller, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/RY17RX6GZ29O0/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm" target="_blank"><i>The Psychopath Test</i></a>) confronts this nasty epidemic in his engaging new book, <a href="http://www.jonronson.com/shame.html" target="_blank"><i>So You've Been Publicly Shamed</i></a>. <br />
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Quick reads.<br />
Cutting-edge topics.<br />
Recommended.<br />
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Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-16711451311682847342015-05-03T11:23:00.000-07:002015-05-04T11:02:10.917-07:00Science reporter delves into shadowy realm of civil commitment <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQOSwtZFNAgPF4iVDYd4_vkDsgQSMc9JGH23pj5J-U1aprKhKhz8XKTEvuRFSSxX8mu4o0JLqgEWPrIXqwzVrAxPzNeZ5NeZr0yUK_wWJ2KRx6tS7fI8eH7SvGJkYru8JXPXDtJLfp80/s1600/Buzzfeed-Aldhous-Lelaind-Hicks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQOSwtZFNAgPF4iVDYd4_vkDsgQSMc9JGH23pj5J-U1aprKhKhz8XKTEvuRFSSxX8mu4o0JLqgEWPrIXqwzVrAxPzNeZ5NeZr0yUK_wWJ2KRx6tS7fI8eH7SvGJkYru8JXPXDtJLfp80/s1600/Buzzfeed-Aldhous-Lelaind-Hicks.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wayne Hicks and Hersey Lelaind. Illustration by Jenny Chang.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Hersey Lelaind knew he was in trouble -- just not how much trouble. He and a housemate had been on a drive, and Lelaind had been smoking pot. When they returned to their home in Vacaville, California, the sheriff’s department was waiting…. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"That was in 2006, when Lelaind was 26 years old. He’s been kept under lock and key ever since. His problem wasn’t the drug bust itself. But the bust prompted the authorities to review Lelaind’s checkered past. As a teenager, he had been convicted for sexual abuse against a minor -- and had served his time. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"That fact, along with other aspects of his criminal and life history, were entered into the '<a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2015/04/static-99-yet-more-bumps-on-rocky.html" target="_blank">Static-99</a>,' a little-known but highly influential questionnaire that critics contend is being tragically misused. The test spit out a score that set him on the path to being locked up in a state psychiatric facility. Why? Because he might commit another crime in the future. He doesn’t know if he will ever be released."</span></span><br />
<br />
So begins <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/these-10-questions-can-mean-life-behind-bars" target="_blank">an expose</a> on the U.S. civil commitment industry by <a href="http://peteraldhous.com/" target="_blank"><b>Peter Aldhous</b></a>, an award-winning science writer. Writing for <i>Buzzfeed</i>, Aldhous traces the stories of both Hersey Lelaind, an African American man from San Francisco, and Wayne Hicks, a gay man from the Deep South, to illustrate the life-shattering consequences of getting a bad score on <a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2015/04/static-99-yet-more-bumps-on-rocky.html" target="_blank">a badly flawed actuarial risk instrument</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtsP5uze6JbWRR5GjY1FSZfiny8wFnXmv_RUjaMpMU8m8_BWrhIjogv2qqrCFD-pgshDaJCqgUsTotRLsqSxWg_gNxU28mPXB5ajoWpcbtwlqHMkQx8soJZEBSO27go1AqRh9luzhLRo/s1600/Buzzfeed-Aldhous-screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtsP5uze6JbWRR5GjY1FSZfiny8wFnXmv_RUjaMpMU8m8_BWrhIjogv2qqrCFD-pgshDaJCqgUsTotRLsqSxWg_gNxU28mPXB5ajoWpcbtwlqHMkQx8soJZEBSO27go1AqRh9luzhLRo/s1600/Buzzfeed-Aldhous-screenshot.png" width="320" /></a></div>
The dramatically different outcomes for Lelaind and Hicks underscore the hit-or-miss nature of risk assessment, where the difference between freedom and a life behind bars can be something as random as which evaluator is assigned to the case or what risk tool that evaluator chooses to employ.<br />
<br />
The featured narratives hold special significance for me, because I was retained as an expert in each case. Hicks was set free after the federal prosecutor read my report, while Lelaind went to trial and was civilly committed -- despite the fact that he is neither a pedophile nor a rapist.<br />
<br />
Word on the street is that the Buzzfeed piece, "<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/these-10-questions-can-mean-life-behind-bars" target="_blank"><b>These 10 Questions Can Mean Life Behind Bars</b></a>," is getting a lot of, well, buzz. I encourage readers to <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/these-10-questions-can-mean-life-behind-bars" target="_blank">share it widely</a>. Hopefully, it can help to foster public and professional dialogue on the implicit biases undergirding the civil commitment enterprise.Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-57788839135865285362015-04-19T18:54:00.003-07:002016-11-16T08:47:10.489-08:00Static-99: A bumpy developmental path<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><i>By Brian Abbott, PhD and Karen Franklin, PhD* </i></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Static-99 is the most widely used instrument for assessing sex offenders’ future risk to the public. Indeed, some state governments and other agencies even mandate its use. But bureaucratic faith may be misplaced. Conventional psychological tests go through a standard process of development, beginning with the generation and refinement of items and proceeding through set stages that include pilot testing and replication, leading finally to peer review and formal publication. The trajectory of the Static-99 has been more haphazard: Since its debut 15 years ago, the tool has been in a near-constant state of flux. Myriad changes in items, instructions, norms and real-world patterns of use have cast a shadow over its scientific validity. Here, we chart the unorthodox developmental course of this tremendously popular tool.<br /> </span><b> </b>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Static-99
and 99R Developmental Timeline</span></b></div>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableLightShadingAccent5" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: 100%px;">
<tr>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #4472C4 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid #4472C4 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Date</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #4472C4 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid #4472C4 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Event</span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">1990</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">The first Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) law passes in the
United States, in Washington. A wave of similar laws begins to sweep the
nation.</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">1997</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">The US Supreme Court upholds the Constitutionality of
preventive detention of sex offenders. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">1997</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">R. Karl Hanson, a psychologist working for the Canadian prison
system, releases a four-item tool to assess sex offender risk. The Rapid Risk
Assessment for Sex Offence Recidivism (RRASOR) uses data from six settings in
Canada and one in California.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">1998</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Psychologists David Thornton and Don Grubin of the UK prison
system release a similar instrument, the Structured Anchored Clinical
Judgment (SACJ- Min) scale.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">1999</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hanson and Thornton combine the RRASOR and SACJ-Min to produce
the Static-99, which is accompanied by a three-page list of coding rules.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> The
instrument's original validity data derive from four groups of sex offenders,
including three from Canada and one from the UK (and none from the United
States). The new instrument is atheoretical, with scores interpreted based on
the recidivism patterns among these 1,208 offenders, most of them released
from prison in the 1970s. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2000</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hanson and Thornton publish a peer-reviewed article on the new
instrument.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2003</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">New coding rules are released for the Static-99, in an
84-page, unpublished booklet that is not peer reviewed.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a> The
complex and sometimes counterintuitive rules may lead to problems with scoring
consistency, although research generally shows the instrument can be scored
reliably. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2003</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">The developers release a new instrument, the Static-2002,
intended to "address some of the weaknesses of Static-99."<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> The
new instrument is designed to be more logical and easier to score; one item
from the Static-99 – pertaining to whether the subject had lived with a lover
for at least two years – was dropped due to issues with its reliability and
validity. Despite its advantages, Static-2002 never caught on, and did not
achieve the popularity of the Static-99 in forensic settings. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2007</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Leslie Helmus, A graduate student working with Karl Hanson, reports
that contemporary samples of sex offenders have much lower offense rates than
did the antiquated, non-US samples upon which the Static-99 was originally
developed, both in terms of base rates of offending and rates of recidivism after
release from custody.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">September 2008</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Helmus releases a revised actuarial table for Static-99, to
which evaluators may compare the total scores of their subjects to corresponding
estimates of risk.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a>
Another Static-99 developer, Amy Phenix, releases the first of several "Evaluators’
Handbooks."<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a>
</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">October 2008</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">At an annual convention of the Association for the Treatment
of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), Andrew Harris, a Canadian colleague of Hanson's,
releases a new version of the Static-99 with three separate "reference
groups" (Complete, CSC and High Risk) to which subjects can be compared.
Evaluators are instructed to report a range of risks for recidivism, with the
lower bound coming from a set of Canadian prison cases (the so-called CSC, or
Correctional Service of Canada group), and the upper bound derived from a
so-called "high-risk" group of offenders. The risk of the third, or
"Complete," group was hypothesized as falling somewhere between those
of the other two groups.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">November 2008</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">At a workshop sponsored by a civil
commitment center in Minnesota, Thornton and a government evaluator named
Dennis Doren propose yet another new method of selecting among the new
reference groups. In a procedure called "cohort matching,” they suggest
comparing an offender with either the CSC or High-Risk reference group based
on how well the subject matched a list of external characteristics they had created
but never empirically tested or validated.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">December 2008</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phenix and California psychologist
Dale Arnold put forth yet a new idea for improving the accuracy of the
Static-99: After reporting the range of risk based on a combination of the
CSC and High-Risk reference groups, evaluators are encouraged to consider a
set of external factors, such as whether the offender had dropped out of
treatment and the offender's score on Robert Hare's controversial Psychopathy
Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). This new method does not seem to catch on.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2009</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-indent: .4pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">An official Static-99 website, </span><span style="color: #2f5496;"><a href="http://www.static99.org/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">www.static99.org</span></a></span><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">, debuts.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Winter 2009 </span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt; text-indent: .4pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Static-99 developers admit that
norms they developed in 2000 are not being replicated: The same score on the
Static-99 equates with wide variations in recidivism rates depending on the
sample to which it is compared. They theorize that the problem is due to
large reductions in Canadian and U.S. recidivism rates since the 1970s-1980s.
They call for the development of new norms.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">September 2009</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hanson and colleagues roll out a new version of the Static-99,
the Static-99R.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a>
The new instrument addresses a major criticism by more precisely considering an
offender's age at release, an essential factor in reoffense risk. The old
Static-99 norms are deemed obsolete. They are replaced by data from 23
samples collected by Helmus for her unpublished Master's thesis. The samples vary
widely in regard to risk. For estimating risk, the developers now recommend
use of the cohort matching procedure to select among four new reference group
options. They also introduce the concepts of percentile ranks and relative
risk ratios, along with a new Evaluators’ Workbook for Static-99R and
Static-2002R. Instructions for selecting reference groups other than routine
corrections are confusing and speculative. Research is lacking to demonstrate
that selecting other than routine corrections reference group produces more
accurate risk estimates.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a>
</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">November 2009</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just two months after their introduction, the Evaluators’ Workbook
for Static-99R and Static-2002R is withdrawn due to errors in its actuarial tables.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn18" name="_ednref18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a> The
replacement workbook provides the same confusing and speculative method for
selecting a nonroutine reference group, a method that lacks scientific
validation and reliability. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2010</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">An international team of researchers presents large-scale data
from the United States, New Zealand and Australia indicating that the
Static-99 would be more accurate if it took better account of an offender's
age.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn19" name="_ednref19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Static-99 developers do not immediately embrace these researchers'
suggestions. </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">January 2012</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Amy Phenix and colleagues introduce a revised Evaluators’
Workbook for Static-99R and Static-2002R.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn20" name="_ednref20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a>
The new manual makes a number of revisions both to the underlying data
(including percentile rank and relative risk ratio data) and to the recommended
procedure for selecting a reference group. Now, in an increasingly complex
procedure, offenders are to be compared to one of three reference groups,
based on how many external risk factors they had. The groups included Routine
Corrections (low risk), Preselected Treatment Need (moderate risk), and
Preselected High Risk Need (high risk). Subsequent research shows that using
density of external risk factors to select among the three reference group
options is not valid and has no proven reliability.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn21" name="_ednref21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a>A
fourth reference group, Nonroutine Corrections, may be selected using a
separate cohort-matching procedure. New research indicates that evaluators
who are retained most often by the prosecution are more likely than others to
select the high-risk reference group,<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn22" name="_ednref22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;"> which has base rates much higher than
in contemporary sexual recidivism studies and will thus produce exaggerated
risk estimates.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn23" name="_ednref23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">July 2012</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">Six months later, the percentile ranks and relative risk
ratios are once again modified, with the issuance of the third edition of the
Static-99R and Static-2002R Evaluators’ Handbook.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn24" name="_ednref24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a> No
additional data is provided to justify that the selection of nonroutine
reference groups produces more accurate risk estimates than choosing the
routine corrections reference group.</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">October 2012</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">In an article published in </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Criminal Justice & Behavior</span></i><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">, the developers concede that risk
estimates for the 23 offender samples undergirding the Static-99 vary widely.
Further, absolute risk levels for typical sex offenders are far lower than
previously reported, with the typical sex offender having about a 7% chance
of committing a new sex offense within five years. They theorize that the
Static-99 might be inflating risk of reoffense due to the fact that the
offenders in its underlying samples tended to be higher risk than average.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn25" name="_ednref25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">2012</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">The repeated refusal of the Static-99 developers to share
their underlying data with other researchers, so that its accuracy can be
verified, leads to a court order excluding use of the instrument in a
Wisconsin case.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn26" name="_ednref26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">October 2013</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">At an annual ATSA convention, Hanson and Phenix report that an
entirely new reference group selection system will be released in a peer-reviewed
article in Spring 2014.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn27" name="_ednref27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a>
The new system will include only two reference groups: Routine Corrections
and Preselected High Risk High Need. An atypical sample of offenders from a
state hospital in Bridgewater, Massachusetts dating back to 1958 is to be
removed altogether, along with some other samples, while some new data sets are
to be added. </span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">October 2014</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 83.0%;" valign="top" width="83%">
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<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">At the annual ATSA convention, the developers once again announce
that the anticipated rollout of the new system has been pushed back pending
acceptance of the manuscript for publication. Helmus nonetheless presents an overview.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn28" name="_ednref28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: baseline;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a> She
reports that the new system will abandon two out of the current four reference
groups, retaining only Routine Corrections and Preselected High Risk Need. Evaluators
should now use the Routine Corrections norms as the default unless local
norms (with a minimum of 100 recidivists) are available. Evaluators will be
permitted to choose the Preselected High Risk Need norms based on “strong,
case-specific justification.” No specific guidance nor empirical evidence to
support such a procedure is proffered. A number of other new options for
reporting risk information are also presented, including the idea of combining
Static-99 data with that from newly developed, so-called "dynamic risk
instruments." </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D0DBF0; border-bottom: solid #4472C4 1.0pt; border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 17.0%;" valign="top" width="17%">
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<b><span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">January 2015</span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 12.0pt;">At an ATSA convention
presentation followed by an article in the journal <i>Sexual Abuse</i>,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn29" name="_ednref29" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[29]</span></span></span></a>
the developers announce further changes in their data sets and how Static-99R
scores should be interpreted. Only two of the original four "reference
groups" are still standing. Of these, the Routine group has grown by 80%
(to 4,325 subjects), while the High-Risk group has shrunk by 35%, to a paltry
860 individuals. Absent from the article is any actuarial table on the
High-Risk group, meaning the controversial practice by some government
evaluators of inflating risk estimates by comparing sex offenders' Static-99R
scores with the High-Risk group data has still not passed any formal peer
review process. The developers also correct a previous statistical method as
recommended by Ted Donaldson and colleagues back in 2012,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[30]</span></span></span></a>
the effect of which is to further lower risk estimates in the high-risk group. Only sex offenders in the Routine group with Static-99R scores of
10 are now statistically more likely than not to reoffend. It is unknown how many sex offenders were civilly committed in part due to reliance
on the now-obsolete data. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<br />
References</span></b></div>
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<div>
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R. K. (1997). The development of a brief
actuarial risk scale for sexual offense recidivism. (Unpublished report 97-04).
Ottawa: Department of the Solicitor General of Canada.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Grubin, D. (1998). Sex offending against children:
Understanding the risk. Unpublished report, Police Research Series Paper 99.
London: Home Office.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R.K. & Thornton, D. (1999). Static 99:
Improving Actuarial Risk Assessments for Sex Offenders. Unpublished paper</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (2000). Improving
risk assessments for sex offenders: A comparison of three actuarial scales. Law
and Human Behavior, 24(1), 119-136.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Harris, A. J. R., Phenix, A., Hanson, R. K., &
Thornton, D. (2003). Static-99 coding rules: Revised 2003. Ottawa, ON:
Solicitor General Canada.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R.K., Helmus, L., & Thornton, D (2010). Predicting
recidivism amongst sexual offenders: A multi-site study of Static-2002. <i>Law
& Human Behavior</i> 34, 198-211. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Helmus, L. (2007). A multi-site comparison of the
validity and utility of the Static-99 and Static-2002 for risk assessment with
sexual offenders. Unpublished Honour’s thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON,
Canada.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Helmus, L. (2008, September). Static-99 Recidivism
Percentages by Risk Level. Last Updated September 25, 2008. Unpublished paper.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Phenix, A., Helmus, L., & Hanson, R.K. (2008,
September). Evaluators’ Workbook. Unpublished, September 28, 2008</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Harris, A. J. R., Hanson, K., & Helmus, L.
(2008). Are new norms needed for Static-99? Workshop presented at the ATSA 27th
Annual Research and Treatment Conference on October 23, 2008, Atlanta: GA.
Available at www.static99.org.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Doren, D., & Thornton, D. (2008). New Norms for
Static-99: A Briefing. A workshop sponsored by Sand Ridge Secure Treatment
Center on November 10, 2008. Madison, WI.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Phenix, A. & Arnold, D. (2008, December).
Proposed Considerations for Conducting Sex Offender Risk Assessment Draft
12-14-08. Unpublished paper.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Abbott, B. (2009). Applicability of the new Static-99
experience tables in sexually violent predator risk assessments. <i>Sexual
Offender Treatment</i>, 1, 1-24.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Helmus, L., Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (2009).
Reporting Static-99 in light of new research on recidivism norms. The Forum,
21(1), Winter 2009, 38-45.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref15" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> <i>Ibid. </i></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref16" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R. K., Phenix, A., & Helmus, L. (2009,
September). Static-99(R) and Static-2002(R): How to Interpret and Report in
Light of Recent Research. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Research and
Treatment Conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers,
Dallas, TX, September 28, 2009.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref17" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> DeClue, G. & Zavodny, D. (2014). </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Forensic use of the Static-99R: Part 4. Risk
Communication. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, 1(3), 145-161.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref18" name="_edn18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Phenix, A., Helmus, L., & Hanson, R.K. (2009,
November). Evaluators’ Workbook. Unpublished, November 3, 2009.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn19">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref19" name="_edn19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Wollert, R., Cramer, E., Waggoner, J., Skelton, A.,
& Vess, J. (2010). Recent Research (N = 9,305) Underscores the Importance
of Using Age-Stratified Actuarial Tables in Sex Offender Risk Assessments. <i>Sexual
Abuse</i>: <i>A Journal of Research and Treatment</i>, 22 (4), 471-490. See
also: "</span><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/age-tables-improve-sex-offender-risk.html"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Age tables improve sex offender risk estimates</span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">," In the News blog, Dec. 1, 2010. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn20">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref20" name="_edn20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Phenix, A., Helmus, L., & Hanson, R.K. (2012,
January). Evaluators’ Workbook. Unpublished, January 9, 2012.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn21">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref21" name="_edn21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[21]</span></span></span></a> Abbott, B.R.
(2013). The Utility of Assessing “External Risk Factors” When Selecting
Static-99R Reference Groups. <i>Open Access Journal of Forensic Psychology</i>,
5, 89-118. </div>
</div>
<div id="edn22">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref22" name="_edn22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Chevalier, C., Boccaccini, M. T., Murrie, D. C. &
Varela, J. G. (2014), Static-99R Reporting Practices in Sexually Violent
Predator Cases: Does Norm Selection Reflect Adversarial Allegiance? <i>Law
& Human Behavior</i>. To request a copy from the author, click </span><a href="mailto:boccaccini@shsu.edu"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">HERE.</span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn23">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref23" name="_edn23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Abbott (2013) op. cit. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn24">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref24" name="_edn24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Phenix, A., Helmus, L., & Hanson, R.K. (2012,
July). Evaluators’ Workbook. Unpublished, July 26, 2012.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn25">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref25" name="_edn25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Helmus, Hanson, Thornton, Babchishin, & Harris
(2012), Absolute recidivism rates predicted by Static-99R and Static-2002R sex
offender risk assessment tools vary across samples: A meta-analysis, Criminal
Justice & Behavior. See also: "</span><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/10/static-99r-risk-estimates-wildly.html"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Static-99R risk estimates wildly unstable, developers
admit</span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">," In the News blog, Oct.
18, 2012. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn26">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref26" name="_edn26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></i><a href="http://bit.ly/1HeOaXv"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">State of Wisconsin v. Homer L. Perren Jr.</span></i></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">, La Crosse County 2010-CI000003. See Franklin, K.
"</span><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/12/judge-bars-static-99r-risk-tool-from.html"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Judge bars Static-99R risk tool from SVP trial:
Developers staunchly refused requests to turn over data</span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">" (2012, Dec. 14), In the News blog. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref27" name="_edn27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Hanson, R.K. & Phenix, A. (2013, October). Report
writing for the Static-99R and Static-2002R. Preconference seminar presented at
the 32nd Annual Research and Treatment Conference of the Association for the
Treatment of Sexual Abusers, Chicago, IL, October 30, 2013. See also: "</span><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/11/static-99-norms-du-jour-get-yet-another.html"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Static-99 'norms du jour' get yet another makeover</span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">," In the News blog, Nov. 17, 2013. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref28" name="_edn28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Helmus, L.M. (2014, October). Absolute recidivism
estimates for Static-99R and Static-2002R: Current research and
recommendations. Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Research and Treatment
Conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, San Diego,
CA, October 30, 2014.</span></div>
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Hanson, R. K., Thornton, D., Helmus, L-M, & Babchishin, K. (2015). <a href="http://www.static99.org/pdfdocs/Research-Hanson_Thornton_Helmus_Babchishin-2015.pdf">What
sexual recidivism rates are associated with Static-99R and Static-2002R scores?</a>
<i>Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment</i>, 1-35.
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2361358365193630538#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[30]</span></span></a></div>
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Donaldson, T., Abbott, B., & Michie, C. (2012). <a href="http://www.forensicpsychologyunbound.ws/OAJFP/Volume_4__2012_files/Donaldson%202012.pdf">Problems with the Static-99R prediction estimates and confidence intervals</a>. <i>Open Access Journal of Forensic
Psychology</i>, <i>4</i>,
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1-23.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">* * * * *</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">*Many thanks to Marcus Boccaccini, Gregory DeClue, Daniel Murrie and other knowledgeable colleagues for their valuable feedback. </span></i></b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/files/Static%2099%20timeline-Abbott-Franklin-2014(TableOnly).pdf" target="_blank">This timeline can be downloaded in pdf format for easy reference</a>.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.karenfranklin.com/resources/static-99-a-bumpy-developmental-path/" target="_blank">Another online version can also be found at my website</a>. </span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">* * * * *</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Related blog posts:</span></i></b></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/11/static-99-norms-du-jour-get-yet-another.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Static-99 "norms du jour"
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2013/10/black-swan-crash-lands-on-florida-svp.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Black swan crash lands on Florida
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/10/static-99r-risk-estimates-wildly.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Static-99R risk estimates wildly
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/08/violence-risk-instruments.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Violence risk instruments
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<span style="color: #365f91; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/05/svp-risk-tools-show-disappointing.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">SVP risk tools show 'disappointing'
reliability in real-world use</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (May 29, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #365f91; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/11/mnsost-3-promising-new-actuarial-for.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">MnSOST-3: Promising new actuarial
for sex offenders to debut</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (Nov. 27, 2011)</span></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/age-tables-improve-sex-offender-risk.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Age tables improve sex offender risk
estimates</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (Dec. 1, 2010)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #365f91; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/10/systems-failure-or-black-swan.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Systems failure or black swan? New
frame needed to stop "Memorial Crime Control" frenzy</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">
(Oct. 19, 2010)</span></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-study-do-popular-actuarials-work.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">New study: Do popular actuarials
work?</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (April 20, 2010)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #365f91; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/04/delusional-campaign-for-world-without.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Delusional campaign for a world
without risk</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (April 3, 2010)</span></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/03/study-actuarials-fail-to-predict.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Study: Actuarials fail to predict
sexually violent recidivism</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (March 5, 2010)</span></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2009/10/svp-industry-sneak-preview-exploding.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">SVP industry sneak peek: Problems in
Actuaryland</span></a></span><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> (Oct. 4, 2009)</span></div>
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Karen Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.com