“The book argues that even though many cases have been held up as classic examples of modern American “witch hunts,” none of them fits that description. McMartin certainly comes close. But a careful examination of the evidence presented at trial demonstrates why, in my view, a reasonable juror could vote for conviction, as many did in this case. Other cases that have been painted as witch-hunts turn out to involve significant, even overwhelming, evidence of guilt. There are a few cases to the contrary, but even those are more complicated than the witch-hunt narrative allows. In short, there was not, by any reasonable measure, an epidemic of “witch hunts” in the 1980s. There were big mistakes made in how some cases were handled, particularly in the earliest years. But even in those years there were cases such as those of Frank Fuster and Kelly Michaels that, I believe, were based on substantial evidence but later unfairly maligned as having no evidentiary support.” RealityMediaCrimeEvidenceAbuseCourtGuiltGuiltyWitnessNarrativeChild AbuseSexual AbuseJuryChild Sexual AbuseJudgeRitual AbuseSociety DenialEpidemicTrialSatanic Ritual AbuseNot GuiltyChild RapeWitch HuntDay CareSraDaycareInstitutional AbuseWitchhuntChild MolestersFalse AllegationFrank FusterJurorKelly MichaelsManiuplationMcmartinOverwhelming Evidence Book:The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children Source: The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children
“The witch-hunt narrative is a really popular story that goes like this: Lots of people were falsely convicted of child sexual abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s. And they were all victims of a witch-hunt. It just doesn’t happen to line up with the facts when you actually look at the cases themselves in detail. But it’s a really popular narrative — I think it’s absolutely fair to say that’s the conventional wisdom. It’s what most people now think is the uncontested truth, and those cases had no basis in fact. And what 15 years of painstaking trial court research (says) is that that’s not a very fair description of those cases, and in fact many of those cases had substantial evidence of abuse. The witch-hunt narrative is that these were all gross injustices to the defendant. In fact, what it looks like in retrospect is the injustices were much more often to children.” TruthLawMediaCrimeAbuseInjusticeDenialJudgementManipulationSurvivorChild AbuseChild Sexual AbuseJudgeLegalCriminalChild RapePedophiliaWitch HuntChildhood Sexual AbusePedophilesChild Abuse SurvivorsMedia LiesWitchhuntConvictedConvictSocial DenialChild Abuse ProtectorsMedia Denial Author:Ross Cheit
“The witch-hunt narrative is now the conventional wisdom about these cases. That view is so widely endorsed and firmly entrenched that so widely endorsed and firmly entrenched that there would seem to be nothing left to say about these cases. But a close examination of the witch hunt canon leads to some unsettling questions: Why is there so little in the way of academic scholarship about these cases? Almost all of the major witch-hunt writings have been in magazines, often without any footnotes to verify or assess the claims made. Why hasn't anyone writing about these cases said anything about how difficult they are to research? There are so many roadblocks and limitations to researching these cases that it would seem incumbent on any serious writer to address the limitations of data sources. Many of these cases seem to have been researched in a manner of days or weeks. Nevertheless, the cases are described in a definitive way that belies their length and complexity, along with the inherent difficulty in researching original trial court documents. This book is based on the first systematic examination of court records in these cases.” MediaEvidenceCourtWitnessSpeculationSexual AbuseRumorChild Sexual AbuseMisinformationConventional WisdomMedia ManipulationTrialChild RapeDisinformationWitch Hunt1980sWitchhuntChild MolestersUrban Myth Book:The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children Source: The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children