The Witch-Hunt Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 784-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Coulborn Faller
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Care Center ◽  
Dade County ◽  
Ritual Abuse ◽  
Forensic Interview ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Day Nursery ◽  
Witch Hunt

This article provides an overview of The Witch-Hunt Narrative, focusing on the challenges of gathering information from young children, such as those involved in sexual abuse allegations in day care. The article summarizes the research methodology of The Witch-Hunt Narrative, which involves a series of case studies. The article articulates Cheit’s hypothesis, which is that the witch-hunt narrative originated in two key publications, a series of articles by two journalists, Tom Charlier and Shirley Dowling, and the book, Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern-Day Witch-Hunt, by Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker, and notes his disputes with the evidence from these two publications. Cheit deals in depth with three hotly contested day care center cases: the McMartin Pre-School case in Manhattan Beach, California, the Wee Care Day Nursery case in Maplewood, New Jersey, and the Country Walk Babysitting Service case in Dade County, Florida. The article summarizes Cheit’s research and conclusions related to these three cases and also notes how forensic interview practices used in these cases would not be supported today. The article concludes with noting that despite the impressive progress in forensic interviewing of children when sexual abuse is alleged, methods for gathering information from young children remain inadequate. Moreover, there are no easy answers to the reasons for the rise and fall of allegations of sexual abuse in day care and of allegations of ritual abuse.

A Response to Articles and Commentaries on The Witch-Hunt Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1002-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross E. Cheit
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Medical Evidence ◽  
Ritual Abuse ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Children's Testimony ◽  
Witch Hunt ◽  
Sufficient Space

The articles and comments in this issue bear out the enduring impact of The Witchhunt Narrative. There is not sufficient space to acknowledge or respond to most of this feedback. This response corrects an error that was identified by one commenter and it responds to questions raised by another commenter about my analysis of the “Concerned Scientists” brief. This response also documents how Wood, Nathan, and others have misapplied the term ritual abuse, misstated the facts of many cases, and promoted “mythical numbers” that significantly exaggerate the number of false convictions. These critics are wrong about the only three cases they discuss in detail. The McMartin Preschool case began with credible evidence of child sexual abuse that continues to be distorted by critics. The Keller case began with even stronger medical evidence that is not diminished by the dubious and incomplete “retraction” of the Emeregency Room doctor. The Fuster case involved overwhelming evidence of abuse, medical and testimonial, that continues to be distored or overlooked by critics. Those who promote the witchhunt narrative rely on selective use of evidence to reach an apparently predetermined result. That is politics and advocacy, not scholarship. This dismissive approach to children’s testimony has caused documented harm to children.

The Legal System and Child Sex Abuse—Ross Cheit's The Witch‐Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (01) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Grant Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Narrative Politics ◽  
Child Sex Abuse ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Witch Hunt

The prosecution of child sex abuse in cases involving very young children presents difficult problems for the justice system. Ross Cheit's book The Witch‐Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (2014) addresses these problems in the context of the 1980s cases involving daycare centers. While the conventional conclusion drawn from these cases is that young children are not credible witnesses, Cheit's examination of the trial records in these cases reveals credible evidence of abuse in many, as well as evidence of injustice attributable to untrained and/or overenthusiastic interviewers. Cheit's examination of this litigation provides an opportunity to evaluate the legal system's treatment of child witnesses in sex abuse cases, as well as to discuss the appropriate use of social scientific evidence in litigation, the impact of mass media accounts on public policy, and the respective merits of criminal versus civil lawsuits in child sex abuse cases.

The Witch-Hunt Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 948-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Beasley Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Witch Hunts ◽  
Witch Hunt

For more than two decades, conventional wisdom about the high-profile day care cases of the 1980s and early 1990s suggests all were modern-day witch hunts, based on false allegations made by highly suggestible children during an era when society was gripped by a “believe the children” hysteria. Author Ross Cheit refutes conventional wisdom by conducting an exhaustive examination of original data from dozens of cases bearing the witch hunt label. He concludes there was no witch-hunt epidemic, finding substantial evidence of sexual abuse in nearly every case he reviewed, contradicting the assertions made about those cases by what he calls the witch-hunt narrative. Cheit examines the legacy of the witch-hunt narrative and contends its exaggerated claims about the suggestibility of children have had a negative effect on the credibility of children today who allege being sexually abused. This writer examines Cheit’s conclusions in light of her own experience as a career prosecutor of crimes against children as well as her involvement in a high-profile day care case encompassed by the witch-hunt narrative. Setting the record straight about these cases is important not only for the sake of historical accuracy and intellectual honesty but also because the witch-hunt narrative’s unwarranted assertions about the suggestibility of children have had a negative effect on society’s perception of their credibility. Bringing public attention to the fallacies of the witch-hunt narrative and shining a light on questionable tactics used by some in academia to support their contention that all children are highly suggestible will ultimately serve to strengthen society’s ability to believe a child who discloses sexual abuse.

A Narrative on The Witch-Hunt Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic G. Reamer
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Whistle Blowing ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Sexual Abuse Victims ◽  
Witch Hunt

Ross Cheit’s The Witch-Hunt Narrative raises a number of complex moral issues. Cheit’s principal purpose is to challenge the belief that our society has overreacted to claims about the sexual abuse of children. Both directly and indirectly, Cheit’s in-depth analysis broaches moral concerns pertaining to the integrity of child abuse allegations, investigations, civil litigation, and criminal prosecution, with an emphasis on the mixed motives of the parties involved in key cases. This article provides an overview of ethical questions pertaining to gathering information from very vulnerable individuals, informed consent, institutional review, protection of research participants, the use of deception and coercion, confidentiality and privacy, reporting research results, and conflicts of interest. In addition, the author discusses the phenomenon of whistle-blowing as it pertains to professionals’ ethical judgments about disclosure of wrongdoing and misconduct. The author outlines key ethics-related concepts, applies relevant moral theory, and explores the implications of the moral issues raised by The Witch-Hunt Narrative for child sexual abuse victims, perpetrators, child welfare and law enforcement professionals, scholars and researchers, and the public at large.

Is There Consensus About Children’s Memory and Suggestibility?

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 926-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail S. Goodman ◽  
Olivia Jones ◽  
Cynthia McLeod
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Scholarly Book ◽  
Children's Memory ◽  
Scientific Laboratory ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Witch Hunt

The modern scientific study of children’s eyewitness memory was initially motivated, in important part, by the sensational preschool investigations and prosecutions of the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., the McMartin case, the Kelly Michaels case, the Country Walk case). These cases form the centerpiece of Professor Cheit’s scholarly book, The Witch-Hunt Narrative. In recent years, researchers have made great strides in helping the legal system tackle some of the complex issues involved in child sexual abuse investigations. While commenting on Professor Cheit’s book, we review areas of consensus regarding child forensic interviewing, areas of disconnect between scientific laboratory studies and needs of the legal system, and the potential effects of bias on the scientific enterprise relevant to Professor Cheit’s treatise. Although we find that there is consensus in the field regarding a set of general principles, there is often room for disagreement in evaluating a particular case, and there is still much to be learned about how best to interview children when allegations of sexual abuse arise.

Preventing Sexual Abuse of Children in Day Care: Whose Problem Is It Anyway?

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1151
Author(s):  
RICHARD D. KRUGMAN
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Care Center ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Federal Bureau ◽  
Day Care Centers ◽  
Federal Bureau Of Investigation ◽  
Day Care Center ◽  
Background Checks

In his 1977 C. Anderson Aldrich Award address, Henry Kempe highlighted child sexual abuse as "another hidden problem." It is no longer hidden. Public and professional awareness of the issue is rapidly increasing (reported cases have increased more than 600% in the last 7 years). The disclosure of multiple child victims in day care centers in California, Nevada, New York, and elsewhere has led to demands that "something be done." Legislators have responded by passing packages of laws that increase penalties for perpetrators, mandate long sentences for repeat offenders, and/ or require fingerprinting and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) background checks on day care center employees.

The Witch-Hunt Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 956-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther H. Gillies
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
The Witch ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Witch Hunt ◽  
Insight Into

Responding to Ross E. Cheit’s Witch-Hunt Narrative, this article is a commentary chronicling the emergence of child sexual abuse as a social issue in Los Angeles County in the 1980s. Based on the responses to child sexual abuse in Los Angeles County as experienced by one social worker during the McMartin years, it discusses the impact of the McMartin case on the identification and intervention in child sexual abuse cases and tracks the evolution and changes that took place in the 1980s and 1990s in Southern California. It offers some insight into a rationale for the denial of child sexual abuse which continues to this day.

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