Karen Franklin

Karen Franklin is an American forensic psychologist. For her doctoral dissertation, she conducted research on anti-gay violence.James Brooke, October 14, 1998, The New York Times
Homophobia Often Found In Schools, Data Show
Accessed July 26, 2014, "...The study was conducted this year by Karen Franklin, a forensic psychologist... at the University of Washington..."Psychology Today
Experts
Accessed July 26, 2014, "..Karen Franklin, Ph.D., is a forensic psychologist in Northern California and an adjunct professor at Alliant International University. She is a former criminal investigator and legal affairs reporter. ..."May 26, 2011, NPR, All Things Considered
Expert Panel: Weighing The Value Of A Test For Psychopaths: On All Things Considered this week, NPR's Alix Spiegel explores the controversial PCL-R test, designed to evaluate psychopaths, and its great influence over one inmate's parole fate. Here, a panel of experts debates the test's role in the criminal justice system.
Accessed July 26, 2014, "..Karen Franklin is a clinical and forensic psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area ..." She has also published commentaries about sex crimes, primarily expressing her opposition to the use of the hebephilia and other diagnoses in sexually violent predator regulations. She received the 2012 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in Psychology and the Monette-Horwitz Trust Award in 2001.

Career

In 1982, Franklin received a BA in journalism from San Francisco State University, and at one point she worked as a legal affairs news reporter. She received her PhD in 1997 from the California School of Professional Psychology. She is an instructor of clinical psychology at Alliant International University, and serves as chair of the Ethics & Professional Affairs Committee of the Alameda County Psychological Association.

Franklin formerly worked as a criminal investigator for death penalty cases, which sparked her interest in forensic psychology. In her forensic psychology practice, she conducts competency evaluations, risk assessment, and mental state exams for criminal defendants, particularly sex offenders as well as defendants facing possible execution.2014, The Guardian
Karen Franklin
Accessed July 26, 2014, "...Karen Franklin is an award-winning researcher, professor and forensic psychologist in the San Francisco Bay area ... evaluation of criminal defendants.." Franklin has served as an expert witness in criminal trials. She was a guest expert on '' National Public Radio's'' documentary program ''All Things Considered'', and the Public Broadcasting Service's in-depth documentary program ''Frontline''.

Research

Franklin's research focused the psychological basis for anti-gay hate crimes,Frontline (PBS
Interviews
Accessed July 26, 2014, "...forensic psychologist, Karen Franklin's dual interests in psychology and the law brought her to question the roots of anti-gay hate crimes... badly needed empirical data on the nature and extent of negative reactions to gays..."Karen Franklin, Frontline (PBS)

Accessed July 26, 2014, "...Bias-related violence against homosexuals is believed to be widespread in the United States, with perpetrators typically described by victims as young men in groups .." hebephilia,Hannah Osborne (July 17, 2014), International Business Times
Hebephilia: No, It's Not Normal for Men to Have Sex with Pubescent Girls
Accessed July 26, 2014, "..One of his biggest critics, Karen Franklin, claimed hebephilia is normal for men because in terms of evolution and reproduction, it is beneficial to be attracted to a girl when she becomes fertile: ..."James M. Cantor, Research Gat
The Errors of Karen Franklin's Pretextuality.
Accessed July 26, 2014, "..in her recent article, Hebephilia: Quintessence of Diagnostic Pretextuality (published in Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 2010), Karen Franklin expands on her previous argument that psychologists and psychiatrists should not diagnose..." and the interpersonal dynamics of gang rape. In addition, she published articles on subjects such as ethics in forensics issues,May 31, 2014, Marvin W. Acklin, Ph.D., Hawaii Forensic Psychology
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS,"PARTISAN ALLEGIANCE," AND EXPERT WITNESS LIABILITY
Accessed July 26, 2014, "..Franklin ... experts have an ethical duty in the quality of their forensic work, to know ... relevant literature and controversies, acknowledge scientific limitations, and understand...." whether child molesters could outsmart tests, criminal justice decisions, false confessions,Douglas L. Keene, Rita R. Handrich, November 28, 2012, The Jury Expert
"Only the Guilty Would Confess to Crimes" : Understanding the Mystery of False Confessions
Accessed July 26, 2014, "...Karen Franklin, PhD is an award-winning forensic psychologist .." the nature of psychopathy, and other topics in forensic psychology. Her analysis of hate crimes identified four main motives: ideology, thrill seeking, peer dynamics and perceived self-defense; she elaborated that "offenders perceive that they have societal permission to engage in violence against homosexuals." She presented her paper ''Psychosocial Motivations of Hate Crimes Perpetrators'' to a congressional hearing in 1998. She asserted that laws to punish people who commit hate crimes may not be the best way to prevent such crimes; she argued that many criminals don't curtail their violence based on their estimate of possible future punishment. She argued in 2015 that the objectification of women can desensitize viewers to the humanity of women, but that such objectification had little direct impact on group violence. She argued that group-perpetrated violence can serve a variety of purposes for men who feel disempowered, by promoting group adhesion and camaraderie, as well as giving the members a chance to "demonstrate and celebrate their masculinity."

Franklin has also criticized the usefulness of the concept of psychopathy. In 2011, she wrote, "By foregrounding intrinsic evil, psychopathy marginalizes social problems and excuses institutional failures at rehabilitation"; she also calls diagnoses of psychopathy "essentially subjective."

Franklin questioned whether childhood behaviors such as a history of abusing animals, or setting fires, or bedwetting, sometimes called the homicidal triad, were good predictors of future psychopathic behavior; she claimed that they were less effective than commonly thought.

Franklin's forensic research has been published in ''Behavioral Sciences and the Law'', ''American Behavioral Scientist'',. ''Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice'', ''Sexuality Research and Social Policy'', the ''Journal of Interpersonal Violence'', and others, as well as in popular magazines such as ''Psychology Today''.

References

External links

Karen Franklin's websiteFranklin's forensic psychology blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Karen
American women psychologists
American psychologists
Clinical psychologists
Forensic psychologists
American women journalists
American legal writers
Journalists from California
United States International University alumni
San Francisco State University alumni
University of Washington alumni
People from San Francisco
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century American women