Recovered memory corroboration rates - There are many studies that show fairly high corroboration rates for recovered memories.http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/
There are many studies that show fairly high corroboration rates for recovered memories.
van der Kolk, BA & R Fisler (1995), "Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study", J Traumatic Stress 8: 505–25 "a systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD which indicates that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that some believe can be properly referred to as "explicit memory"....Of the 35 subjects with childhood trauma, 15 (43%) had suffered significant, or total amnesia for their trauma at some time of their lives. Twenty seven of the 35 subjects with childhood trauma (77%) reported confirmation of their childhood trauma."
http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Van%20der%20Kolk%20Fragmentary%20Nature%20of%20Traumatic%20Memory%20J%20Traumatic%20Stress%201995.pdf
“The Validity of Recovered Memory: Decision of a US District Court” Judge Edward F. Harrington, Presentation by Jim Hopper, Ph.D. The legal documentation citation is: 923 Federal Supplement 286 (D. Mass. 1996), United States District Court - District of Massachusetts Ann Shahzade, plaintiff Civil Action No.: V. 92-12139-EFH George Gregory, Defendant. http://www.jimhopper.com/memory-decision/
“Recovered memories of abuse among therapy patients: A national survey.” Pope, Kenneth S.; Tabachnick, Barbara G. Independent practice, Norwalk, CT, US Ethics & Behavior 1995 Vol 5(3) 237-248, “According to the therapists, about 50% of the patients who claimed to have recovered the memories had found external validation, a percentage that coincides with that obtained in the Feldman-Summers & Pope, 1994 study”
Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories “Studies vary in frequency. Between 31 and 64 percent of abuse survivors in six major studies reported that they forgot “some of the abuse.” Numbers reporting severe amnesia ranged from under 12% to 59%….Studies report 50-75% of abuse survivors corroborating the facts of their abuse through an outside source. Reference: Bowman, Elizabeth. Delayed Memories of Child Abuse: Part I: An Overview of Research Findings on Forgetting, Remembering, and Corroborating Trauma. Dissociation, IX (4) pp. 221-231 http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
Chu, JA; et al. (1999). Memories of childhood abuse: Dissociation, amnesia and corroboration.. Am J Psychiatry 156: 749-55. “Childhood abuse, particularly chronic abuse beginning at early ages, is related to the development of high levels of dissociative symptoms including amnesia for abuse memories. This study suggests that psychotherapy usually is not associated with memory recovery and that independent corroboration of recovered memories of abuse is often present.”
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/156/5/749
Williams LM (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse. J Consult Clin Psychol 62: 1167–76. PMID 7860814.
One hundred twenty-nine women with previously documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked detailed questions about their abuse histories to answer the question "Do people actually forget traumatic events such as child sexual abuse, and if so, how common is such forgetting?" A large proportion of the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17 years earlier. Women who were younger at the time of the abuse and those who were molested by someone they knew were more likely to have no recall of the abuse. The implications for research and practice are discussed. Long periods with no memory of abuse should not be regarded as evidence that the abuse did not occur.
http://www.hss.caltech.edu/courses/2004-05/winter/psy130/Debate2Williams1.pdf
How often do children’s reports of abuse turn out to be false? Research has consistently shown that false allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare. Jones and McGraw examined 576 consecutive referrals of child sexual abuse to the Denver Department of Social Services, and categorized the reports as either reliable or fictitious. In only 1% of the total cases were children judged to have advanced a fictitious allegation. Jones, D. P. H., and J. M. McGraw: Reliable and Fictitious Accounts of Sexual Abuse to Children.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 27-45, 1987. In a more recent study, investigators reviewed case notes of all child sexual abuse reports to the Denver Department of Social Services over 12 months. Of the 551 cases reviewed, there were only 14 (2.5%) instances of erroneous concerns about abuse emanating from children. These consisted of three cases of allegations made in collusion with a parent, three cases where an innocent event was misinterpreted as sexual abuse and eight cases (1.5%) of false allegations of sexual abuse. Oates, R. K., D.P. Jones, D. Denson, A. Sirotnak, N. Gary, and R.D. Krugman: Erroneous Concerns about Child Sexual Abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 24:149-57, 2000….Children Tend to Understate Rather than Overstate the Extent of Any Abuse Experienced - Research with children whose sexual abuse has been proven has shown that children tend to minimize and deny abuse, not exaggerate or over-report such incidents. http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/csa-acc.html
Duggal, S., & Sroufe, L. A. (1998). Recovered memory of childhood sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11(2), 301-321. A case of recovered memory of childhood trauma is reported with documented sexual trauma in early childhood, chronicled evidence of the absence of memory for traumatic experience over a period of time, and substantial evidence of spontaneous recovery of memory.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110491838/abstract
“Child Maltreatment, Vol. 2, No. 2, 91-112 (1997) DOI: 10.1177/1077559597002002001 Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before David L. Corwin, Erna Olafson….This article presents the history, verbatim transcripts, and behavioral observations of a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse to Dr. David Corwin in 1984 and the spontaneous return of that reportedly unrecallable memory during an interview between the same individual, now a young adult, and Dr. Corwin 11 years later.http://cmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/91
Herman, J L.; Schatzow E (1987). Recovery and verification of memories of childhood sexual trauma.. Psychoanalytic Psychol 4. “Three out of four patients were able to validate their memories by obtaining corroborating evidence from other sources”http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ppsy.004.0001a
Kluft, RP (1995). The confirmation and disconfirmation of memories of abuse in Dissociative Identity Disorder patients: A naturalistic study. Dissociation 8: 253-8. “The charts of 34 dissociative identity disorder (DID) patients in treatment with the author were reviewed for instances of the confirmation or disconfirmation of recalled episodes of abuse occurring naturalistically in the course of their psychotherapies. Nineteen, or 56%, had instances of the confirmation of recalled abuses. Ten of the 19, or 53%, had always recalled the abuses that were confirmed. However, 13 of the 19, or 68%, obtained documentation of events that were recovered in the course of therapy, usually with the use of hypnosis. Three patients, or 9%, had instances in which the inaccuracy of their recollection could be demonstrated.”
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/1155/Dis_8_4_9_ocr.pdf?sequence=1
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From Research discussing corroboration and accuracy of recovered memories An Annotated Bibliography by Lynn Crook
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
(see this bibliography for more detailed information)
Andrews, B., Brewin, C., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D., Davies, G., and Mollon, P. (1999). Characteristics, context and consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy. Brit J Psychiatry 175:141-146.
Abstract: One-hundred and eight therapists provided information on all clients with recovered memories seen in the past three years, and were interviewed in detail on up to three such clients. Of a total of 690 clients, therapists reported that 65% recalled child sexual abuse and 35% recalled other traumas, 32% started recovering memories before entering therapy. According to therapists' accounts, among the 236 detailed client cases, very few appeared improbable and corroboration was reported in 41%. Most (78%) of the clients' initial recovered memories either preceded therapy or preceded the use of memory recovery techniques used by the respondents. Techniques seemed to be used more to help the clients to elaborate the memories than to facilitate their initial recovery. Clients with whom techniques had been used before the first reported memory recovery were no less likely to have found corroborating evidence than clients with whom no techniques had been used before memory recovery. Some of the data are consistent with memories being of iatrogenic origin, but other data clearly point to the need for additional explanations.
Bagley, C. (1995). The prevalence and mental health sequels of child sexual abuse in community sample of women aged 18 to 27. Child sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults. Aldershot: Avebury.
Abstract: Study of women 18-24 years who had been removed from home 10 years previously by social services due to intrafamilial sexual abuse. Of the 19 women for whom there was evidence of serious sexual abuse, 14 remembered events corresponding to their records. Two remembered that abuse had taken place but could recall no specific details, and three had no memory. Two of the last three described long blank periods for the memory of childhood corresponding to the age when abuse had taken place.
Bull, D. (1999). A verified case of recovered memories of sexual abuse. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 53(2), 221-224.
Abstract: A case is presented that shows verifiable evidence of repression at work. Rachel, a 40-year-old woman with no history of mental illness and ten years of exemplary professional work, recovers memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father through a call from her youth pastor in whom she had confided as an adolescent.
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Dahlenberg, C. (1996, Summer) Accuracy, timing and circumstances of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of abuse. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law.
Abstract: Seventeen patients who had recovered memories of abuse in therapy participated in a search for evidence confirming or refuting these memories. Memories of abuse were found to be equally accurate whether recovered or continuously remembered. Predictors of number of memory units for which evidence was uncovered included several measures of memory and perceptual accuracy. Recovered memories that were later supported arose in psychotherapy more typically during periods of positive rather than negative feelings toward the therapist, and they were more likely to be held with confidence by the abuse victim.
Feldman-Summers, S., & Pope, K. S. (1994). The experience of forgetting childhood abuse: A national survey of psychologists. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 636-639.
Abstract: A national sample of psychologists were asked whether they had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse. Almost a quarter of the sample (23.9%) reported childhood abuse, and of those, approximately 40% reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse. The major findings were that (a) both sexual and nonsexual abuse were subject to periods of forgetting; (b) the most frequently reported factor related to recall was being in therapy; (c) approximately one half of those who reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse; and (d) reported forgetting was not related to gender or age of the respondent but was related to severity of the abuse.
Summary: 330 psychologists. 24% physical and 22% sexual abuse. Of those abused, 40% did not remember at some time. 47% had corroboration. 56% said psychotherapy aided in recall. Differences between those who first recalled abuse in therapy and those who recalled it elsewhere were not significant.
Herman, J. L., & Harvey, M. R. (1997). Adult memories of childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 557-571.
The clinical evaluations of 77 adult outpatients reporting memories of childhood trauma were reviewed. A majority of patients reported some degree of continuous recall. Roughly half (53%) said they had never forgotten the traumatic events. Two smaller groups described a mixture of continuous and delayed recall (17%) or a period of complete amnesia followed by delayed recall (16%). Patients with and without delayed recall did not differ significantly in the proportions reporting corroboration of their memories from other sources. Idiosyncratic, trauma-specific reminders and recent life crises were most commonly cited as precipitants to delayed recall. A previous psychotherapy was cited as a factor in a minority (28%) of cases. By contrast, intrusion of memories after a period of amnesia was frequently cited as a factor leading to the decision to seek psychotherapy. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the role of psychotherapy in the process of recovering traumatic memories.
Lewis, D., Yeager, C., Swica, Y., Pincus, J. and Lewis, M. (1997). Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12 murderers with dissociative identity disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 154(12):1703-10.
OBJECTIVE: The skepticism regarding the existence of dissociative identity disorder as well as the abuse that engenders it persists for lack of objective documentation. This is doubly so for the disorder in murderers because of issues of suspected malingering. This article presents objective verification of both dissociative symptoms and severe abuse during childhood in a series of adult murderers with dissociative identity disorder. METHOD: This study consisted of a review of the clinical records of 11 men and one woman with DSM-IV-defined dissociative identity disorder who had committed murder. Data were gathered from medical, psychiatric, social service, school, military, and prison records and from records of interviews with subjects' family members and others. Handwriting samples were also examined. Data were analyzed qualitatively. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of dissociative identity disorder in childhood and adulthood were corroborated independently and from several sources in all 12 cases; objective evidence of severe abuse was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had amnesia for most of the abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in writing style and/or signatures were documented in 10 cases. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder. Further, the data demonstrate that the disorder can be distinguished from malingering and from other disorders. The study shows that it is possible, with great effort, to obtain objective evidence of both the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder and the abuse that engenders it.
Martinez-Taboas, A. (1996). Repressed memories: Some clinical data contributing toward its elucidation. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 50(2), 217-30.
Abstract: Recently there has been considerable controversy about the validity of memories recovered during psychotherapy. In the last two decades, a plethora of studies have been published that leave no reasonable doubt that many children are victimized and abused. Proponents of false memory syndrome have taken the position that "memories" that surface in the course of psychotherapy are not the product of real traumas, but are instead,"pseudomemories" implanted by therapists through techniques such as hypnosis and abreactions. In response to these claims, the author presents two well documented and corroborated cases of dissociated or delayed memories of child sexual abuse in patients with a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The patients had absolutely no conscious memory of their childhood abusive experiences and in both cases the author obtained definite and clear cut independent corroboration of the realities of the abuse. The amnesia was documented and memories were recovered in the course of treatment. Only through the publication of clear cut cases can the debate about repressed memories be settled in an empirical way.
Viederman M. (1995). The reconstruction of a repressed sexual molestation fifty years later. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 43(4): 1169-1219.
Summary: Reconstruction of a previously completely repressed memory of sexual molestation. Six years following termination of analysis, the patient wrote a letter describing a confirmation of the event, now sixty years past, from the sole other survivor of the period who had knowledge of what had happened.
Westerhof, Y., Woertman, L. Van der Hart, O., & Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (2000). Forgetting child abuse: Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994) study replicated among Dutch psychologists. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 7, 220-229.
Abstract: In a replication of Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994) national survey of American psychologists on 'forgetting' childhood abuse, a Dutch sample of 500 members of the Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP) were asked if they had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse for soem significant period of time. As compared to the 23.9% in the original study, 13.3% reported childhood abuse. Of that subgroup, 39% (as compared to 40% in the original study) reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse for a period of time. Both sexual and non-sexual physical abuse were subject to forgetting, which in 70% of cases was reversed while being in therapy. Almost 70% of those who reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse. The forgetting was not related to gender or age, but was associated with the reported early abuse onset. These results were remarkably similar to the results of the Feldman-Summers and Pope's original study.
Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1996). Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization: Part 1. Psychological Assessment, 8(4), 412-421.
Abstract: Using data from a study with prospective-cohorts design in which children who were physically abused, sexually abused, or neglected about 20 years ago were followed up along with a matched control group, accuracy of adult recollections of childhood physical abuse was assessed. Two hour in-person interviews were conducted in young adulthood with 1,196 of the original 1,575 participants. Two measures (including the Conflict Tactics Scale) were used to assess histories of childhood physical abuse. Results indicate good discriminant validity and predictive efficiency of the self-report measures, despite substantial underreporting by physically abused respondents. Tests of construct validity reveal shared method variance, with self-report measures predicting self-reported violence and official reports of physical abuse predicting arrests for violence. Findings are discussed in the context of other research on the accuracy of adult recollections of childhood experiences.
Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1997). Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization. Part 2. Childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Assessment 9: 34-46.
Summary: A prospective study in which abused and neglected children (court substantiated) [N=1,114] were matched with non-abused and neglected children and followed into adulthood. There was substantial underreporting of sexual abuse, when compared to court and medical records. Victimization recall was checked by comparing crimes disclosed in victimization surveys found in police records. The question should be not whether reports of childhood sexual abuse are valid or not, but what is the best way to ask questions to make answers more valid.
Williams, L. M. (1995, October). Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented child sexual victimization histories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8(4).
Abstract: This study provides evidence that some adults who claim to have recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that occurred in childhood. One hundred twenty-nine women with documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked about abuse history. Seventeen years following the initial report of the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10 women (16% of those who recalled the abuse) reported that at some time in the past they had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a prior period of forgetting - the women with "recovered memories" - were younger at the time of abuse and were less likely to have received support from their mothers than the women who reported that they had always remembered their victimization. The women who had recovered memories and those who had always remembered had the same number of discrepancies when their accounts of the abuse were compared to the reports from the early 1970's.
REFERENCE
Brown, D., Scheflin, A., and Whitfield, C. (1999). Recovered memories: the current weight of the evidence in science and in the courts. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law 27/Spring 1999
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From How People Forget: The Truth About Delayed Memory Studies of Delayed Memory http://web.archive.org/web/20000609035705/http://ncasa.org/memory.html
That dissociation and amnesia are relatively common in child sexual abuse survivors is well-documented. There have been several recent studies that verify the repression of trauma and the fact of delayed memories: In a survey of 450 adults in treatment for child sexual abuse, 59% had periods in which they could not remember the abuse. (Briere and Conte, in press). Briere, John. "Studying Delayed Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse." The APSAC Advisor, Summer 1992.
In a study of 53 women in therapy, Judith Herman and Emily Schatzow found that 74% were able to obtain corroborating evidence for the abuse, through witnesses, offenders’ diaries, pornographic pictures, offender confessions, and other sources. Nine percent found evidence that was “strongly suggestive, but not conclusive;” 11% did not try to confirm their memories; and only 6% found no supportive evidence. The conclusion of the researchers was that, “delayed recall of sexual abuse is as verifiable as any other form of disclosure.” Herman, Judith L. And Mary R. Harvey. "The False Memory Debate: Social Science or Social Backlash?" The Harvard Mental Health Letter, Volume 9, Number 10, April 1993.
Interviews were conducted with 100 women who as children reported sexual abuse in 1973, 1974 or 1975. The records of these girls were obtained from a city hospital emergency department which had interviewed the girls and the families and collected forensic evidence. In 1990 and 1991 the women, aged 18-31, were interviewed for two hours for what they were told was a study that examined the lives and health of women who obtained care at the hospital. In the course of the interview, the women were asked about their childhood experiences with sex. They were asked whether they or their families had ever reported childhood sexual abuse, or if anyone in their family ‘got in trouble’ for his or her sexual activities. Thirty-eight percent of the women either did not remember the abuse or chose not to report it to the interviewer. The interviewer states,”…qualitative analysis of these reports and non-reports suggests that the vast majority of the 38% were women who did not remember the abuse. They responded openly to other personal matters, and over one-half of the women who were amnestic reported other childhood victimizations.” Williams, Linda M. "Adult Memories of Childhood Abuse: Preliminary Findings from a Longitudinal Study." The APSAC Advisor, Summer 1992.
Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources
At least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall. http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
101 corroborated cases of recovered memory
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/archive.html
Summary of Research Examining the Prevalence of Full or Partial Dissociative Amnesia for Traumatic Events
The most comprehensive review of the scientific literature on dissociative amnesia has been conducted by Brown, Scheflin and Hammond in their book, Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law . (New York: Norton, 1998). This book is viewed as setting the standard in the field after receiving the American Psychiatric Association's 1999 prestigious Manfred S. Guttmacher Award for best book in law and forensic psychiatry.
Brown, Scheflin and Hammond reviewed 43 studies relevant to the subject of traumatic memory and found that every study that examined the question of dissociative amnesia in traumatized populations demonstrated that a substantial minority partially or completely forget the traumatic event experienced, and later recover memories of the event.
By 1999, over 68 studies had been published that document dissociative amnesia after childhood sexual abuse. In fact, no study that has looked for evidence of traumatic or dissociative amnesia after child sexual abuse has failed to find it. see: Brown, Scheflin, & Whitfield. (1999). Recovered Memories: The Current Weight of the Evidence in Science and in the Courts, Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 27, 5-156. http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/prev.html
What about Recovered Memories? Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html Both interviews were videotape recorded.”
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Day Care and Child Abuse Cases
This page has information on the McMartin Preschool Case, Michelle Remembers, the Fells Acres - Amirault Case, the Wenatchee, Washington Case, the Dale Akiki Case, the Glendale Montessori - Toward case and the Little Rascals Day Care Center case.
It describes alleged crimes against children and the convictions in most of these cases.
The McMartin Preschool Case - What Really Happened and the Cover-up
verification of the accuracy of the book “Michelle Remembers“by Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, MD from the book “A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER” pages xi - xiii”
“Dr. Pazder’s credentials are impressive. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Alberta in 1961; his diploma in tropical medicine from the University Liverpool in 1962; and in 1968, his specialist certificate in psychiatry and his diploma in psychological medicine from McGill University. In 1971, he was made a fellow of Canada’s Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a member of three Canadian professional associations and of the American Psychiatric Association as well. He practiced medicine in West Africa and has participated in medical task forces and health organizations. He has been chairman of the Mental Health Committee of the Health Planning Council for British Columbia. A member of the staff of two hospitals in Victoria, British Columbia -the Royal Jubilee and the Victoria General-he is in private practice with a group of five psychiatrists. His professional papers include a study of the long-term effects of stress upon concentration-camp victims.
Two experienced interviewers journeyed to Victoria and talked to Dr. Pazder’s colleagues, to the priests and the bishop who became involvedin the case, to doctors who treated Michelle Smith when she was a child, to relatives and friends. From local newspaper, clergy, and police sources they learned that reports of Satanism in Victoria are not infrequent and that Satanism has apparently existed there for many years. Satanism in Western Canada flourished in many areas with activities far more ominous than some of the innocuous groups now found in parts of the United States who claim some connection with Satanism.
The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”
Thomas B. Congdon, Jr New York April 22, 1980
Fells Acres - Amirault Case
http://web.archive.org/web/20010719201703/http://www.vocal-nasvo.org /hardoon.htm
Letters to the Editor: The Real Darkness Is Child Abuse WALL STREET JOURNAL (J) 02/24/95
excerpts:
As the chief prosecutor of both of the Amirault cases I am writing to prevent the public from being misled into believing that an injustice occurred as Dorothy Rabinowitz alleges in her Jan. 30 editorial-page piece “A Darkness in Massachusetts.”
Her suggestion that the convictions were based on “some of the most fantastic claims ever presented” presumptuously ignores the reality of the cases. The three Amiraults — Gerald, Violet and Cheryl - were convicted after two trials before different judges and juries almost one year apart. They were represented by able and well-known defense counsel. The convictions were upheld after review by state and federal appellate courts. The McMartin case in California was the result of a botched legal system and Kelly Michaels’s conviction was overturned because of legal errors. Contrary to Ms. Rabinowitz’s implication, the Amirault convictions were neither of these.
Studies show, as did testimony from a nationally recognized pediatric gynecologist, that most sexually molested young children have absolutely normal physical examinations. However, in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children.
Ms. Rabinowitz’s article is a superficial, one-sided look at a case handled extensively and carefully by the legal system. The victims and their families in these cases have been irrevocably harmed by what was done to them by the Amiraults. Every argument raised by Ms. Rabinowitz was ably presented by the defense at the trials. The juries, by their verdicts, rejected these arguments. Justice was done.
see for actual case evidence http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/commonwealth-vs-amirault/
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common -vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-624.jpg
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-622.jpg
“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Amirault’s accusers reveal their faces, and their pain Boston Herald - Boston, Mass. - Peter Gelzinis - Aug 7, 2001
Mass. Victims Fight Commutation Plea By Leslie Miller, Associated Press Writer
excerpts:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison. “During counseling meetings as a child, I would speak of a tall man touching me and taking pictures of me,” Phaedra Hopkins, 20, said at an emotional news conference. “So many times, Mr. Amirault hovered over me, touched me and hurt me and committed many disgusting acts of abuse.” Those children, now adults, stood by their testimony Thursday.
“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will,” said Bennett, 22. “I was there. None of you were there. We weren’t coaxed, nor were we ever ever ever brainwashed.”Brian Martinello, 21, said he was sexually abused by Amirault. His mother, Barbara Standke, claims her son came home from the day care with sores on his genitals and other people’s underwear. “I think it’s an absolute disgrace to let anyone out of prison for such a disgusting crime,” Martinello said.
Paul Ingram - Thurston County Washington Case
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - June 8, 1996 - News, Pg. B1 - Son of Deputy Says He Was Sexually Abused ; Dramatic Report in Testimony to Clemency Panel -: Rachel Zimmerman P-I Capitol Bureau - Olympia
excerpts:
The son of Paul Ingram, a former Thurston County deputy sheriff who confessed to raping his daughters during nightmarish satanic rituals but later recanted, said for the first time yesterday that he was physically and sexually abused by his father for eight years. Chad Ingram, 27, told the state Pardons and Clemency Board that his father, who is serving 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to six counts of third-degree rape - crimes he now says never happened - said he was abused by his father from ages 4 to 12. “He would put himself on top of me and I would perform oral sex on him,” Chad Ingram said.
Thurston County Sheriff Gary Edwards, though the case never went to trial, it was subject to intense judicial scrutiny, “all the way up to the Ninth Circuit.” Edwards added, “This case was not perfect but it had complete judicial review. “Paul Ingram did commit these crimes; he plead guilty to these crimes. I have no problem shaving in the morning. I can look myself in the mirror.”
The Facade of Scientific Documentation: A Case Study of Richard Ofshe’s Analysis of the Paul Ingram Case” by Karen Olio and William Cornell. APA’s journal “Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,” (1998, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1182-1197) “The case of Paul Ingram, a man who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his daughters, has received widespread media attention. Richard Ofshe (1992, 1994) set forth a narrative of the case which included his account of an experiment to test the veracity of Ingram’s confessions and concluded that the inadvertent use of hypnosis during Ingram’s interrogation resulted in the creation of pseudomemories that convinced Ingram of his guilt. On the basis of an examination of the original source documents, the authors discusses the errors of fact, methodological flaws, and confounding factors in Ofshe’s rendering of this case of alleged child abuse. They also cite examples of the extent to which Ofshe’s imperfect narrative of this case and pseudoscientific conclusions have been uncritically accepted and repeated in the literature…”
Harvard Society for Law & Public Policy, Inc. Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy - Spring, 1999 - 22 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 523 The Guilty and the “Innocent”: an Examination of Alleged Cases of Wrongful Conviction from False Confessions by Paul G. Cassell -”According to the authors (Leo and Ofsche), in twenty-nine of these cases the false confession resulted in the wrongful conviction of an innocent person.” “examines nine of these twenty-nine cases in detail. Based on review of original trial court records and other similar sources, the part concludes that each of these nine persons were, in all likelihood, entirely guilty of the crimes charged against them.”"Leo and Ofshe rely in large measure on secondary sources for the descriptions of the evidence against the defendants in their collection….For many cases, court records are available only in the local courthouses where the trial took place, while media accounts are often readily accessible in computerized databases. Relying on secondary sources, however, poses the risk of inaccurate recounting of the evidence. Examining primary sources for the cases in Leo and Ofshe’s collection reveals that this is a very real problem.” “The problems with the subjective determination of “innocence” in the Leo-Ofshe collection, like similar problems elsewhere, suggests that reliance on second-hand sources combined with understandable enthusiasm for the enterprise of discovering miscarriages may produce more such cases than really exist.” “Only a relative handful of Leo and Ofshe’s cases would satisfy the criterion of undisputed wrongful conviction.” http://www.kspope.com/memory/facade1a.php
Wenatchee, Washington Case
http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/articles-on-wenatchee/
information from articles :
At the trial, one girl showed “definite medical signs of sexual abuse” while “it could not be ruled out for two others.
In 1996, a consultant, retired Bellevue Police Chief D.P. Van Blaricom, hired by a city insurer who looked into how the Wenatchee police ran the child abuse investigations stated that the cases were handled properly. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation also found that there was no evidence of civil rights violations.
Cops Win Wash. State Sex Ring Case - June 29, 1998 - Aviva L. Brandt AP Online - Seattle “A jury on Monday rejected claims of police misconduct brought by four people who say they were falsely accused of child rape and molestation. After deliberating for more than five days, the King County Superior Court panel decided that the central Washington town of Wenatchee, the town’s police officials and three members of the Douglas County sheriff’s department did not violate the civil rights of the four, who said they were falsely accused in 1994-95. Douglas County Sheriff Dan LaRoche said the verdict allows police to keep investigating sex abuse and molestation cases without fear of lawsuits.
Debate Rages Over Wenatchee Sex-Ring Allegations - November 6, 1995- Aviva L. Brandt, Associated Press Writer - Wenatchee, Wash.
Excerpts:
A line divides this town. On one side are those who believe dozens of children were raped and molested over seven years by adults in two loosely organized sex rings. On the other are those who assert a rogue cop and obsessed social workers created a whirlpool of sexual hysteria- coaxing children into accusations and bullying bewildered, poorly educated adults into confessions. Gov. Mike Lowry, petitioned by critics who believe the case is a witch hunt, has asked for a Justice Department review and is awaiting a decision from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Authorities say as many as 50 children were forced to have sex with adults since 1988 - sometimes alone, sometimes in groups. In the last year, 28 adults have been charged with child rape and sexual abuse. Five have been convicted, 10 have pleaded guilty.
“Every female victim had physical evidence of sexual abuse and the majority of the males did,” Smith said. “Clearly it’s pretty good evidence to show that this is occurring.”
Douglas County Prosecutor Steve Clem sounded frustrated when asked about allegations that his office hasn’t bothered to look for the truth. “The defense attorneys are using what I’m sure … some day in the future will be called the O.J. defense, where they sling mud, make wild accusations and see conspiracies all around them,” he said.” There’s physical evidence consistent with the stories they (the children) tell. There’s more than one person talking about the very same things going on,” said Tim Abbey, a regional supervisor with the state Child Protective Services. “And there are a lot of confessions, and many times they’re confessing to more than the kids said happened.”
Dale Akiki Case
describes crimes
Ex-School Volunteer Acquitted of Child Abuse Charges Verdict: After deliberating for just seven hours, jury finds Dale Akiki not guilty on all 35 counts. Trial was longest in San Diego’s history. Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles, Calif. - Michael Granberry - Nov 20, 1993
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60254778.html?dids=60254778:6025 4778&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+20%2C+1993& author=MICHAEL+GRANBERRY&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edi tion=&startpage=29&desc=Ex-School+Volunteer+Acquitted+of+Child+Abuse+C harges+Verdict%3A+After+deliberating+for+just+seven+hours%2C+jury+finds+Dale+A kiki+not+guilty+on+all+35+counts.+Trial+was+longest+in+San+Diego%27s+history
A Superior Court jury concluded a 7 1/2-month trial Friday by acquitting a former nursery school volunteer of 35 counts of child abuse and kidnapping that had kept him jailed without bail for 2 1/2 years….
Nearly 170 witnesses testified during Akiki’s trial-the longest in San Diego history-which ended after only seven hours of jury deliberation….
Several on the (jury) panel sided with Akiki’s attorneys, public defenders Kathleen Coyne and Susan Clemens, who tried to show that Akiki’s alleged victims-nine boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 5-had been systematically brainwashed by parents and therapists.
But Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Avery, the lead prosecutor, disputed such claims.
“The whole idea of contamination and suggestibility just does not account for the major behavior changes that occurred (in the children) while they were in Dale Akiki’s (nursery school) class,” she said, referring to such incidents as bed-wetting and nightmares.
Witnesses accused Akiki of sexually molesting and terrorizing children at Faith Chapel charismatic church in Spring Valley by hanging them upside-down from a chandelier, dunking them in toilets and making them drink the blood of animals in ritualistic ceremonies.
Molestation Hearing Continues Next Week - Los Angeles Times - February 8, 1992 - San Diego County Edition
.…Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Avery has called some of the parents to testify about behavioral changes they observed in the children. “There were drastic changes observed,” Avery said. Defense attorney Kate Coyne, however, maintains that Akiki has been falsely accused by parents who did not like his physical appearance.
Judge Rejects Bail for Suspect In Molestations at Preschool - Los Angeles Times - May 25, 1991 Amy Wallace; Times Staff Writer
….But Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Avery, the prosecutor, said that, in addition to the grand jury testimony of seven children who attended the Faith Chapel in Casa de Oro, her case will rely on behavioral symptoms observed by parents months before any allegations of abuse were raised.
One mother said her daughter was so terrified of having her head near water that it was impossible to wash her hair, Avery said. Grand jury testimony later revealed that at least one child had had her head dunked in a toilet, she said.
Testimony was also heard that a child became hysterical when he was taken to a hospital to get stitches, apparently because he had a flashback of “the defendant holding him down and hurting him,” Avery said. The indictment filed against Akiki said he inflicted injuries on children with a needle.
Avery maintained that some of the children remain so traumatized by Akiki’s treatment that they have attempted suicide–one by running in front of a car, another with a knife.
Other Suspects Added to Child Sex Abuse Probe - Los Angeles Times - May 15, 1991 - Amy Wallace; Times Staff Writer
As many as three former child care workers at Faith Chapel in Spring Valley are suspected of molesting and abusing preschoolers over a 15-month period ending in August, 1989, a San Diego County prosecutor said Tuesday.
Speaking after the arraignment of Dale Anthony Akiki, a former church volunteer who was indicted last week on 50 felony counts of child molestation and related charges, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Avery said two other former child care workers are being investigated….
According to the 13-page indictment, which a grand jury returned after hearing live televised testimony from seven of the children, Akiki abused them sexually and physically, at times using a bottle top, a toy, a glass, a stick and a needle.
Church Volunteer Indicted in Molestations - Los Angeles Times - May 14, 1991 - Amy Wallace; Alan Abrahamson; Times Staff Writers
….Soon, Avery said, a couple of parents noticed that their children were exhibiting similar “unusual” and “regressive” behavior. The children had not yet said they were abused, Avery said, but the parents observed a pattern.
“In thinking it over, they realized the one thing the children had in common was they went to the same church,” she said.
The church asked a licensed social worker to assess whether there was reasonable suspicion of abuse and, after talking to a few families, he reported the case to the authorities.
Avery began investigating in February, 1990. Since then, she said, the district attorney’s office has kept Akiki under periodic surveillance, “to make sure he was not working with children during the week or involved with child care in any way.”
Avery said her case is strengthened by the fact that it relies on the children’s behavior as well as their testimony. “It will focus on behavior that was observed prior to the initial disclosure” of the alleged abuse, she said. “So there cannot be a contamination issue regarding behavior that occurred prior to anyone ever mentioning this to the children.”
Unlike other child molestation cases that rely largely on the testimony of the victims, the Akiki case is “one which can be cleanly and coherently presented to a jury for their determination,” said Steve Casey, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Glendale Montessori - Toward case
describes crimes
Headmaster’s evil lives on in 20-year-old abuse case By Jill Taylor Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 3/1/08 Stuart - Twenty years ago today, on a quiet street in a guard-gated Palm City community, investigators snapped handcuffs onto the wrists of a respected Montessori school headmaster and delivered a message the people of Martin County did not want to hear. Little children, lots of little children, were raped and defiled in unspeakable ways by a man some of the smartest and richest people in the community had trusted to care for their sons and daughters….Hours later, Toward’s office manager, Brenda Williams, turned herself in at the Martin County jail to answer similar charges. Four months later, Toward was charged with molesting and kidnapping five more preschool boys, and Williams was charged in four of those cases. Investigators later learned of up to 60 victims, most ages 2 to 5….Toward, now 77, pleaded guilty to molesting or kidnapping the six boys and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He was released from his prison term on probation after 12 years, but has remained in custody under the state’s Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows confinement of sex offenders deemed a continuing danger to the community. Toward is challenging his commitment and maintains his innocence, saying his plea was only to avoid a harsher sentence. No date has been scheduled for a civil trial on the issue. He did not respond to a request for an interview. Part of Toward’s plea deal prevented prosecutors from filing more charges or arresting others they thought were involved when dozens more victims came forward later….”We found there were literally dozens of kids who were affected by this guy for a long time,” Colton said. “He spent his life manipulating people. He convinced people they could trust him with their children.” Ralicki expects she will be called to testify at an upcoming Jimmy Ryce hearing. She says she has no doubt that Toward still poses a threat to children. She can never forget what he did to the 20 or so children she treated….Williams pleaded no contest to sex and attempted kidnapping charges involving five boys, and was released from prison in 1993 after serving five years of a 10-year sentence. She could not be reached for comment, but is listed in records as owning a home in Vero Beach….
The psychotherapist Jeanne Ralicki, who treated many of the victims stated “There’s this whole underbelly of evil here that just oozes…Who wants to think that that exists in the world?”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Little Rascals Day Care Center case
(describes crimes)
Closing Arguments in Child-Abuse Trial By Ronald Smothers, 3/24/1992 New York Times - Calling the operator of a day-care center who is the defendant in a child sex-abuse case an “evil, evil man,” the prosecution in the eight-month-long case began closing arguments today, painstakingly recalling children’s testimony that jurors had not heard since September…. Mr. Kelly, 43 years old, is facing 100 charges of sexually abusing a dozen children in 1988 and 1989 at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, N. C., 60 miles east of here. Originally there were 248 charges involving 22 children, but the prosecution has withdrawn many charges while Judge D. Marsh McLelland of Pitt County Superior Court has dismissed others. Six Others Charged - Still, the case remains one of the largest child sex-abuse cases in the nation’s history in terms of number of charges and alleged victims. The case also involves charges against Mr. Kelly’s wife, Elizabeth, three adult employees of the center and two other adults. All have been accused of fondling, raping and sodomizing the children at the center….Testifying on his own behalf in January, Mr. Kelly said he never touched any of the children in a sexual way….Using 8-by-10-inch color photographs of each of the dozen children who testified, Mrs. Lamb recounted their own childish words in testifying about what “Mr. Bob” did to them. The words, which were children’s euphemisms for sex organs and body parts, seemed incongruous coming from the adult prosecutor, but with repetition even that incongruity served to highlight the horror of the allegations. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/us/closing-arguments-in-child-abuse-trial.html
Man convicted in N.C. child sex abuse case M. Mayfield 4/23/92 USA TODAY In April 1992, “Robert Kelly Jr. was convicted of 99 of 100 counts of rape and related crimes against children.” One of the mothers of the 12 children that testified against Kelly stated that she felt “overwhelming relief.” The six other defendants, including Kelly’s wife, would face trials later. The jury believed the children on the witness stand. One juror stated “the children were convincing.” Kelly and his supporters believed he was innocent. He was sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms in prison. The trial “included 83 prosecution witnesses and 60 defense witnesses.” The children had testified that Kelly had forced them to have different types of sex. The parents testified that the children exhibited abnormal behavior. “Twelve children, between the ages of 4 and 7, testified, and the results of physical and psychological tests of them were presented as evidence.” http://www.highbeam.com/do c/1P2-1002268.html
Day-Care Owner Is Convicted of Child Molesting 4/23/92 The longest and costliest criminal trial ever held in North Carolina ended today when the owner of a day-care center was convicted on 99 of 100 charges of sexually abusing 12 children there. After 14 days of deliberating, a Pitt County Superior Court jury found the 44-year-old defendant, Robert F. Kelly Jr., guilty of 4 counts of rape, 46 of taking indecent liberties, 36 of first-degree sexual offense and 13 crimes against nature. He was acquitted only of a single charge of taking indecent liberties with one of the 12 children….one juror, Dennis Ray, did speak to reporters, saying the panel had rejected the defense’s assertion of widespread hysteria and had believed the children. “The children were convincing,” Mr. Ray said. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/23/us/day-care-owner-is-convicted-of-child-molesting.html
Six months after Betsy’s release, the Appellate Court of North Carolina overturned the convictions of both Robert Kelly and Dawn Wilson, stating that there were legal errors by the prosecution. On May 23, 1997, the prosecution dropped all charges related to the Little Rascals case against the two.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Glendale Montessori - Toward and Little Rascals cases
Glendale Montessori - Toward case
describes crimes
Headmaster's evil lives on in 20-year-old abuse case By Jill Taylor Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 3/1/08 Stuart - Twenty years ago today, on a quiet street in a guard-gated Palm City community, investigators snapped handcuffs onto the wrists of a respected Montessori school headmaster and delivered a message the people of Martin County did not want to hear. Little children, lots of little children, were raped and defiled in unspeakable ways by a man some of the smartest and richest people in the community had trusted to care for their sons and daughters….Hours later, Toward's office manager, Brenda Williams, turned herself in at the Martin County jail to answer similar charges. Four months later, Toward was charged with molesting and kidnapping five more preschool boys, and Williams was charged in four of those cases. Investigators later learned of up to 60 victims, most ages 2 to 5….Toward, now 77, pleaded guilty to molesting or kidnapping the six boys and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He was released from his prison term on probation after 12 years, but has remained in custody under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows confinement of sex offenders deemed a continuing danger to the community. Toward is challenging his commitment and maintains his innocence, saying his plea was only to avoid a harsher sentence. No date has been scheduled for a civil trial on the issue. He did not respond to a request for an interview. Part of Toward's plea deal prevented prosecutors from filing more charges or arresting others they thought were involved when dozens more victims came forward later…."We found there were literally dozens of kids who were affected by this guy for a long time," Colton said. "He spent his life manipulating people. He convinced people they could trust him with their children." Ralicki expects she will be called to testify at an upcoming Jimmy Ryce hearing. She says she has no doubt that Toward still poses a threat to children. She can never forget what he did to the 20 or so children she treated….Williams pleaded no contest to sex and attempted kidnapping charges involving five boys, and was released from prison in 1993 after serving five years of a 10-year sentence. She could not be reached for comment, but is listed in records as owning a home in Vero Beach....
The psychotherapist Jeanne Ralicki, who treated many of the victims stated "There's this whole underbelly of evil here that just oozes...Who wants to think that that exists in the world?"
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Little Rascals Day Care Center case
(describes crimes)
Closing Arguments in Child-Abuse Trial By Ronald Smothers, 3/24/1992 New York Times
Calling the operator of a day-care center who is the defendant in a child sex-abuse case an "evil, evil man," the prosecution in the eight-month-long case began closing arguments today, painstakingly recalling children's testimony that jurors had not heard since September.... Mr. Kelly, 43 years old, is facing 100 charges of sexually abusing a dozen children in 1988 and 1989 at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, N. C., 60 miles east of here. Originally there were 248 charges involving 22 children, but the prosecution has withdrawn many charges while Judge D. Marsh McLelland of Pitt County Superior Court has dismissed others. Six Others Charged - Still, the case remains one of the largest child sex-abuse cases in the nation's history in terms of number of charges and alleged victims. The case also involves charges against Mr. Kelly's wife, Elizabeth, three adult employees of the center and two other adults. All have been accused of fondling, raping and sodomizing the children at the center....Testifying on his own behalf in January, Mr. Kelly said he never touched any of the children in a sexual way....Using 8-by-10-inch color photographs of each of the dozen children who testified, Mrs. Lamb recounted their own childish words in testifying about what "Mr. Bob" did to them. The words, which were children's euphemisms for sex organs and body parts, seemed incongruous coming from the adult prosecutor, but with repetition even that incongruity served to highlight the horror of the allegations. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/us/closing-arguments-in-child-abuse-trial.html
Man convicted in N.C. child sex abuse case M. Mayfield 4/23/92 USA TODAY
In April 1992, "Robert Kelly Jr. was convicted of 99 of 100 counts of rape and related crimes against children." One of the mothers of the 12 children that testified against Kelly stated that she felt "overwhelming relief." The six other defendants, including Kelly's wife, would face trials later. The jury believed the children on the witness stand. One juror stated "the children were convincing." Kelly and his supporters believed he was innocent. He was sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms in prison. The trial "included 83 prosecution witnesses and 60 defense witnesses." The children had testified that Kelly had forced them to have different types of sex. The parents testified that the children exhibited abnormal behavior. "Twelve children, between the ages of 4 and 7, testified, and the results of physical and psychological tests of them were presented as evidence." http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1002268.html
Day-Care Owner Is Convicted of Child Molesting 4/23/92 The longest and costliest criminal trial ever held in North Carolina ended today when the owner of a day-care center was convicted on 99 of 100 charges of sexually abusing 12 children there. After 14 days of deliberating, a Pitt County Superior Court jury found the 44-year-old defendant, Robert F. Kelly Jr., guilty of 4 counts of rape, 46 of taking indecent liberties, 36 of first-degree sexual offense and 13 crimes against nature. He was acquitted only of a single charge of taking indecent liberties with one of the 12 children....one juror, Dennis Ray, did speak to reporters, saying the panel had rejected the defense's assertion of widespread hysteria and had believed the children. "The children were convincing," Mr. Ray said. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/23/us/day-care-owner-is-convicted-of-child-molesting.html
Six months after Betsy's release, the Appellate Court of North Carolina overturned the convictions of both Robert Kelly and Dawn Wilson, stating that there were legal errors by the prosecution. On May 23, 1997, the prosecution dropped all charges related to the Little Rascals case against the two.
describes crimes
Headmaster's evil lives on in 20-year-old abuse case By Jill Taylor Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 3/1/08 Stuart - Twenty years ago today, on a quiet street in a guard-gated Palm City community, investigators snapped handcuffs onto the wrists of a respected Montessori school headmaster and delivered a message the people of Martin County did not want to hear. Little children, lots of little children, were raped and defiled in unspeakable ways by a man some of the smartest and richest people in the community had trusted to care for their sons and daughters….Hours later, Toward's office manager, Brenda Williams, turned herself in at the Martin County jail to answer similar charges. Four months later, Toward was charged with molesting and kidnapping five more preschool boys, and Williams was charged in four of those cases. Investigators later learned of up to 60 victims, most ages 2 to 5….Toward, now 77, pleaded guilty to molesting or kidnapping the six boys and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He was released from his prison term on probation after 12 years, but has remained in custody under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows confinement of sex offenders deemed a continuing danger to the community. Toward is challenging his commitment and maintains his innocence, saying his plea was only to avoid a harsher sentence. No date has been scheduled for a civil trial on the issue. He did not respond to a request for an interview. Part of Toward's plea deal prevented prosecutors from filing more charges or arresting others they thought were involved when dozens more victims came forward later…."We found there were literally dozens of kids who were affected by this guy for a long time," Colton said. "He spent his life manipulating people. He convinced people they could trust him with their children." Ralicki expects she will be called to testify at an upcoming Jimmy Ryce hearing. She says she has no doubt that Toward still poses a threat to children. She can never forget what he did to the 20 or so children she treated….Williams pleaded no contest to sex and attempted kidnapping charges involving five boys, and was released from prison in 1993 after serving five years of a 10-year sentence. She could not be reached for comment, but is listed in records as owning a home in Vero Beach....
The psychotherapist Jeanne Ralicki, who treated many of the victims stated "There's this whole underbelly of evil here that just oozes...Who wants to think that that exists in the world?"
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Little Rascals Day Care Center case
(describes crimes)
Closing Arguments in Child-Abuse Trial By Ronald Smothers, 3/24/1992 New York Times
Calling the operator of a day-care center who is the defendant in a child sex-abuse case an "evil, evil man," the prosecution in the eight-month-long case began closing arguments today, painstakingly recalling children's testimony that jurors had not heard since September.... Mr. Kelly, 43 years old, is facing 100 charges of sexually abusing a dozen children in 1988 and 1989 at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, N. C., 60 miles east of here. Originally there were 248 charges involving 22 children, but the prosecution has withdrawn many charges while Judge D. Marsh McLelland of Pitt County Superior Court has dismissed others. Six Others Charged - Still, the case remains one of the largest child sex-abuse cases in the nation's history in terms of number of charges and alleged victims. The case also involves charges against Mr. Kelly's wife, Elizabeth, three adult employees of the center and two other adults. All have been accused of fondling, raping and sodomizing the children at the center....Testifying on his own behalf in January, Mr. Kelly said he never touched any of the children in a sexual way....Using 8-by-10-inch color photographs of each of the dozen children who testified, Mrs. Lamb recounted their own childish words in testifying about what "Mr. Bob" did to them. The words, which were children's euphemisms for sex organs and body parts, seemed incongruous coming from the adult prosecutor, but with repetition even that incongruity served to highlight the horror of the allegations. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/us/closing-arguments-in-child-abuse-trial.html
Man convicted in N.C. child sex abuse case M. Mayfield 4/23/92 USA TODAY
In April 1992, "Robert Kelly Jr. was convicted of 99 of 100 counts of rape and related crimes against children." One of the mothers of the 12 children that testified against Kelly stated that she felt "overwhelming relief." The six other defendants, including Kelly's wife, would face trials later. The jury believed the children on the witness stand. One juror stated "the children were convincing." Kelly and his supporters believed he was innocent. He was sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms in prison. The trial "included 83 prosecution witnesses and 60 defense witnesses." The children had testified that Kelly had forced them to have different types of sex. The parents testified that the children exhibited abnormal behavior. "Twelve children, between the ages of 4 and 7, testified, and the results of physical and psychological tests of them were presented as evidence." http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1002268.html
Day-Care Owner Is Convicted of Child Molesting 4/23/92 The longest and costliest criminal trial ever held in North Carolina ended today when the owner of a day-care center was convicted on 99 of 100 charges of sexually abusing 12 children there. After 14 days of deliberating, a Pitt County Superior Court jury found the 44-year-old defendant, Robert F. Kelly Jr., guilty of 4 counts of rape, 46 of taking indecent liberties, 36 of first-degree sexual offense and 13 crimes against nature. He was acquitted only of a single charge of taking indecent liberties with one of the 12 children....one juror, Dennis Ray, did speak to reporters, saying the panel had rejected the defense's assertion of widespread hysteria and had believed the children. "The children were convincing," Mr. Ray said. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/23/us/day-care-owner-is-convicted-of-child-molesting.html
Six months after Betsy's release, the Appellate Court of North Carolina overturned the convictions of both Robert Kelly and Dawn Wilson, stating that there were legal errors by the prosecution. On May 23, 1997, the prosecution dropped all charges related to the Little Rascals case against the two.
ACLU - Child Victims Act, Recovered Memory, DID/Abuse, ritual abuse
from http://ritualabuse.us
"The NYCLU, like the ACLU, is an institution that makes the world a worse place for children."
"It is concluded that the weight of the evidence should allow the recovered memory victim to come before the court."
"This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder."
"Civil Liberties" and Uncivil Lies: What the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Have in Common - An Agenda to Keep Child Predator Identities Secret By Marci A. Hamilton 3/19/2009 Yesterday, March 18, the New York Assembly Rules Committee passed the Child Victims Act (Assembly Bill A02596/Senate Bill S02568), which will extend the criminal and civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse by five years. It will also open a one-year window of opportunity for child sex abuse victims to go to court even if their statute of limitations already had expired. The next stop is the full Assembly and then on to the Senate....
If this bill is passed, as it looks like it will be, the result will be that parents in New York will know many more names of perpetrators at the end of next year than they do today. When California enacted such a window in 2003, by comparison, 300 new perpetrators were publicly named....The New York Civil Liberties Union's Disappointing Anti-Child Victim Position - and Why It Is So Unpersuasive - Meanwhile, the New York Civil Liberties Union apparently does not want New York citizens to learn the identities of perpetrators, because they are the defendants the NYCLU would represent. They are taking the side of the perpetrators, making the patently ridiculous argument that it is not "fair" for those who preyed on children to be named decades after their abuse occurred, because memories are faulty. Once again, the truth has taken a hit from a group intent on misinforming the public for its own ends. The NYCLU appears to be ignorant of the vast literature on child sex abuse over the last couple of decades, and has not accurately informed legislators or anyone else about how the burdens of proof are apportioned in such cases. In fact, when the statute of limitations window is opened, and the statute's term is extended, the plaintiff still bears the initial burden of proof and if the plaintiff has no corroborating evidence, then the case is over. It is rare that a defendant has to defend himself or herself against claims that are solely the result of the victim's story, or the result of "faulty memories." In the overwhelming majority of cases, instead, there are markers of abuse that can corroborate a victim's story. While the crime itself occurs usually with no one else there, child sex abuse victims display common characteristics that can be traced to the abuse, such as falling grades, depression, sexual confusion, and substance abuse. There is also evidence to be adduced about the availability of the victim to the perpetrator. For example, did the perpetrator call the child out of class on a regular basis for private "counseling" sessions? With respect to organizations, there are also employee files that often prove that the organization knew about the perpetrator's dangerous predisposition toward children, but did nothing. That is true of the Catholic Church, with its "secret archives," which so often provide all the information anyone would need to know the hierarchy's role in crafting the unsafe conditions that led to the abuse. Some of the most important corroborating evidence, though, comes from the fact that most abusers have multiple -- and even, in some cases, hundreds -- of victims....
The NYCLU, like the ACLU, is an institution that makes the world a worse place for children. The NYCLU and ACLU rarely, if ever, take the position of the child, unless the issue is free speech in public schools. Whether the issue is the medical neglect of children in faith-healing homes, or the abuse of children in polygamous families, or the failure to educate children in Amish or Mennonite communities, they choose the religious parents to the detriment of the helpless children. It is a record that all those in the emerging civil rights movement for children have come to know well, and to be deeply disappointed by. The truth is that the NYCLU and ACLU seem incapable of factoring the rights of children into the mix. The ACLU might as well be called the Adult Civil Liberties Union. These organizations' knee-jerk reaction to the Child Victims Act is not only dangerous to children and families, but also based on outdated, inaccurate information about the reality of childhood sexual abuse.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20090319.html
Recovered Memory and the Daubert Criteria : Recovered Memory as Professionally Tested, Peer Reviewed, and Accepted in the Relevant Scientific Community - Constance Dalenberg - Alliant International University California School of Professional Psychology - Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Vol. 7, No. 4, 274-310 (2006) DOI: 10.1177/1524838006294572 Research during the past two decades has firmly established the reliability of the phenomenon of recovered memory. This review first highlights the strongest evidence for the phenomenon itself and discusses the survey, experimental, and biological evidence for the varying mechanisms that may underlie the phenomenon. Routes to traumatic amnesia from dissociative detachment (loss of emotional content leading to loss of factual content) and from dissociative compartmentalization (failure in integration) are discussed. Next, an argument is made that false memory is a largely orthogonal concept to recovered memory; the possibility of one phenomena is largely irrelevant to the potential for the other. Furthermore, some aspects of the false memory research offer supportive data for the recovered memory researcher. Finally, the issue of error rates in making the Daubert case is explored. It is concluded that the weight of the evidence should allow the recovered memory victim to come before the court. http://tva.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/4/274
Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12 murderers with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Lewis, D.O., Yeager, C.A., Swica, Y., Pincus, J.H., & Lewis, M. (1997). American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1703-1710. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of dissociative identity disorder in childhood and adulthood were corroborated independently and from several sources in all 12 cases; objective evidence of severe abuse was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had amnesia for most of the abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in writing style and/or signatures were documented in 10 cases. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder. Further, the data demonstrate that the disorder can be distinguished from malingering and from other disorders. The study shows that it is possible, with great effort, to obtain objective evidence of both the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder and the abuse that engenders it. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/154/12/1703
Cult and Ritual Abuse - James Randall Noblitt - Chapter 6 - Empirical Evidence of Ritual Abuse http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C&printsec=frontcover#PPA55,M1
Psychometric measures of trauma among psychiatric patients reporting ritual abuse - Noblitt- Psychol Rep. 1995 Dec;77(3 Pt 1):743-7. The present investigation compared psychometric measures of trauma, the MMPI-2 PK and PS scales, in a group of patients reporting ritual abuse and another group with no such accounts of ritual abuse. Comparisons were statistically significant with mean PK and PS scores of 86.3 and 85.8, respectively, for the 34 reporting ritual abuse and 58.3 and 58.7 for the 31 not reporting ritual abuse. Further, 91% of the patients alleging ritual abuse had scores on at least one of the two scales within the clinical range, i.e., T score > or = 65. It was concluded that patients reporting histories of ritual abuse also showed significantly elevated scores on these scales and their scores were higher than those obtained for a sample of patients not reporting ritual abuse. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8559911
The Body Keeps The Score: Memory & the Evolving Psychobiology of Post Traumatic Stress
by Bessel van der Kolk first published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1994, 1(5), 253-265.
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/Homepage/Class/Psy394U/Bower/03%20Emot,%20Trauma,Mem/Body%20keeps%20the%20score.%20Kolk%20.pdf
Dissociation & the Fragmentary Nature of Traumatic Memories: Overview & Exploratory Study
Bessel A. van der Kolk & Rita Fisler - Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1995, 8(4), 505-525. http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Van%20der%20Kolk%20Fragmentary%20Nature%20of%20Traumatic%20Memory%20J%20Traumatic%20Stress%201995.pdf
Monday, March 16, 2009
Fewer than 10% of sexual assault victims reported crime to police
Describes crimes
Sex assaults go unreported - Many women feel shame, have fear or mistrust authorities By Danielle Bell, The Daily News 3/15/09 The latest statistics available suggest that sexual assaults can go unreported because victims remain silent out of shame, fear of reprisal or a reluctance to get involved in the legal system....Victimization studies suggest many women never come forward. It's a troubling trend that advocacy groups believe heightens awareness to ensure that adequate support services are in place. Fewer than 10% of sexual assault victims reported the crime to police in 2004, suggested by the latest figures from Statistics Canada in Measuring Women Against Violence: Statistical Trends 2006. Of spousal violence victims, 36% of women reported those crimes to police. Women that were younger, less-educated and living in lower-income households were more likely to report such crimes. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/victoria/assaults+unreported/1394360/story.html
Sunday, March 15, 2009
child porn ring, Australia children’s home, Jersey care scandal
from http://ritualabuse.us
Austria smashes child porn ring 3/13/09 Austrian police say they have broken an internet child porn ring that spanned 170 countries and involved nearly 1,000 people, including teachers and doctors. Police say they have charged nearly 190 men in Austria and confiscated 14,000 computers, drives and disks. The images showed naked children aged nine to 12 from the US and Paraguay. It is one of the biggest crackdowns on indecent images of children in Austria, and was assisted by police in Croatia, where the site was registered. Police identified a total of 935 suspects as part of an international investigation, code-named Operation Sledgehammer. So far, 189 Austrians have been charged with downloading and dealing in child pornography and another 97 are under investigation, the police said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7941935.stm
Home of broken trust - Caroline Overington 3/13/09 articles describes abuse "The full name of the home was the Church of England North Coast Children's Home," he says. "The home was on the church grounds. Clergy worked there. Nuns worked there. It was a Church of England home."....Campion says his goal was always to get the Anglican Church to admit responsibility for the abuse, as well as obtain a settlement. In April 2007, the church agreed to make a one-off payment of $825,000 to the 41 complainants, to be divided up on a scale of suffering. The worst abused would get $22,000, while others would get $10,000. There was a catch, however. The payment was not compensation for suffering, but an "act of compassion". The church would not, and does not, agree that the North Coast Children's Home was a church-run facility. Yes, it had a Church of England sign out the front, and yes, clergy worked there, but legally speaking, it was merely "connected" to the church, and therefore, the church was not "responsible" for the abuse....Campion's Gold Coast flat is papered with evidence of his obsession: there are hundreds of letters and files and documents from the former department of child welfare. One example, from 1951, clearly shows that the home where Campion was raised was known as the Church of England North Coast Children's Home. Another document, from 1939, describes the home as being controlled by a "local Church of England committee". Under "Person in charge" it says: "Sister Bertha, Anglican Nun". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25177776-28737,00.html
Home to something evil - What really happened at Haut de la Garenne, the children's home at the centre of the Jersey care scandal last year? Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report on a building that still houses some very dark secrets - Cathy Scott-Clark The Guardian, 3/14/09 Among the thousands of statements that still line the shelves of Harper's old incident room, and in the testimony of former residents and workers at Haut de la Garenne and other institutions across Jersey, many of whom we tracked down and interviewed, harrowing stories are buried. Over a period of three decades, residents of the care homes made repeated complaints that they were being sexually and physically abused. A series of damning reports was produced, following confidential inquiries into these institutions, most of which went unheeded. Few prosecutions ensued....Over a period of three decades, residents of the care homes made repeated complaints that they were being sexually and physically abused. A series of damning reports was produced, following confidential inquiries into these institutions, most of which went unheeded. Few prosecutions ensued. It is true to say there were no corpses. However, the testimony provides compelling evidence of a catastrophic failure within Jersey's children's services that ran a regime so punitive, they preferred to lock up problem children en masse than deal with them in their own homes: four times more children, proportionately, are imprisoned in Jersey than in its nearest neighbour, France. And what happened to them once in care was something that Harper's team, had they not been distracted by murder plots, came close to exposing....Meanwhile the child abuse investigation, which had already identified 160 alleged victims, was, Harper claimed, taking flak. Http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/14/haut-de-la-garenne
Austria smashes child porn ring 3/13/09 Austrian police say they have broken an internet child porn ring that spanned 170 countries and involved nearly 1,000 people, including teachers and doctors. Police say they have charged nearly 190 men in Austria and confiscated 14,000 computers, drives and disks. The images showed naked children aged nine to 12 from the US and Paraguay. It is one of the biggest crackdowns on indecent images of children in Austria, and was assisted by police in Croatia, where the site was registered. Police identified a total of 935 suspects as part of an international investigation, code-named Operation Sledgehammer. So far, 189 Austrians have been charged with downloading and dealing in child pornography and another 97 are under investigation, the police said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7941935.stm
Home of broken trust - Caroline Overington 3/13/09 articles describes abuse "The full name of the home was the Church of England North Coast Children's Home," he says. "The home was on the church grounds. Clergy worked there. Nuns worked there. It was a Church of England home."....Campion says his goal was always to get the Anglican Church to admit responsibility for the abuse, as well as obtain a settlement. In April 2007, the church agreed to make a one-off payment of $825,000 to the 41 complainants, to be divided up on a scale of suffering. The worst abused would get $22,000, while others would get $10,000. There was a catch, however. The payment was not compensation for suffering, but an "act of compassion". The church would not, and does not, agree that the North Coast Children's Home was a church-run facility. Yes, it had a Church of England sign out the front, and yes, clergy worked there, but legally speaking, it was merely "connected" to the church, and therefore, the church was not "responsible" for the abuse....Campion's Gold Coast flat is papered with evidence of his obsession: there are hundreds of letters and files and documents from the former department of child welfare. One example, from 1951, clearly shows that the home where Campion was raised was known as the Church of England North Coast Children's Home. Another document, from 1939, describes the home as being controlled by a "local Church of England committee". Under "Person in charge" it says: "Sister Bertha, Anglican Nun". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25177776-28737,00.html
Home to something evil - What really happened at Haut de la Garenne, the children's home at the centre of the Jersey care scandal last year? Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report on a building that still houses some very dark secrets - Cathy Scott-Clark The Guardian, 3/14/09 Among the thousands of statements that still line the shelves of Harper's old incident room, and in the testimony of former residents and workers at Haut de la Garenne and other institutions across Jersey, many of whom we tracked down and interviewed, harrowing stories are buried. Over a period of three decades, residents of the care homes made repeated complaints that they were being sexually and physically abused. A series of damning reports was produced, following confidential inquiries into these institutions, most of which went unheeded. Few prosecutions ensued....Over a period of three decades, residents of the care homes made repeated complaints that they were being sexually and physically abused. A series of damning reports was produced, following confidential inquiries into these institutions, most of which went unheeded. Few prosecutions ensued. It is true to say there were no corpses. However, the testimony provides compelling evidence of a catastrophic failure within Jersey's children's services that ran a regime so punitive, they preferred to lock up problem children en masse than deal with them in their own homes: four times more children, proportionately, are imprisoned in Jersey than in its nearest neighbour, France. And what happened to them once in care was something that Harper's team, had they not been distracted by murder plots, came close to exposing....Meanwhile the child abuse investigation, which had already identified 160 alleged victims, was, Harper claimed, taking flak. Http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/14/haut-de-la-garenne
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Vatican and clergy abuse, trauma and dissociation
from http://ritualabuse.us
Vatican can be sued for clergy abuse, judges rule - An Oregon man who alleges he was molested in the 1960s by a priest can pursue a civil lawsuit against the Holy See, a federal appeals court says.
By Manya A. Brachear March 5, 2009 Reporting from Chicago -- A federal appeals court ruling has brought an Oregon man one step closer to suing the Vatican for sexual abuse he says he suffered by a Roman Catholic priest. In a 59-page decision issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the man -- who says he was molested in the 1960s by a priest at a Catholic school -- can pursue a civil lawsuit against the Holy See because the priest allegedly abused him while serving in a religious capacity.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sue-the-vatican5-2009mar05,0,2880227.story
Trauma Articles - This page includes selected full-text articles about trauma -- versions of preprints, published articles, or chapters. Several other resources relevant to trauma, disasters, psychology, and neuroscience are available on the Resources Page, as well as the Links page.
http://www.trauma-pages.com/articles.php
The Body Keeps The Score: Memory & the Evolving Psychobiology of Post Traumatic Stress
by Bessel van der Kolk first published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1994, 1(5), 253-265.
http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk4.php
Dissociation & the Fragmentary Nature of Traumatic Memories: Overview & Exploratory Study
Bessel A. van der Kolk & Rita Fisler This is a version of their article published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1995, 8(4), 505-525. Since trauma is an inescapably stressful event that overwhelms people's coping mechanisms it is uncertain to what degree the results of laboratory studies of ordinary events have relevance to the understanding of traumatic memories. This paper first reviews the literature on the differences between recollections of stressful and of traumatic events. It then reviews the evidence implicating dissociative processes as the central pathogenic mechanisms that give rise to PTSD. We present the results of a systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD which indicates that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that can be properly referred to as "explicit memory". The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of traumatic me mories is discussed. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century at CPPA conference
from http://ritualabuse.us
April is Child Abuse Prevention month and Sexual Abuse Awareness month. In honor of all survivors of child abuse, sexual abuse, and ritual abuse, California Protective Parents Association and Incest Survivors Speakers' Bureau are pleased to present:
The Fifteenth Annual Northern California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Conference.
The conference will be 4/24 - 4/25/09
Presentations will include :
4/24 - Transforming Treatment: Symptoms, Substances and Axis IV- at the Sierra Health Foundation, 1321 Garden Hwy, Sacramento, CA from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. For information write: CPPA, POB 1903, Davis, CA 95617 or cppa001@aol.com or call 916-233-8381
4/25 - RITUAL ABUSE IN THE 21st CENTURY at the Veterans’ Memorial Center, 203 East 14th Street, Davis, CA, 9:30 - 5:00 pm. No cost, no registration - Speakers include Randy Noblitt, Ph.D., Pamela Perskin Noblitt, who co-edited Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century and co-authored Cult and Ritual Abuse, Jeanne Adams, author of Drawn Swords, Anne A. Johnson Davis, author of Hell Minus One (who has signed confessions from her perpetrators), and survivors of ritual abuse.
Speakers will discuss the evidence of ritual abuse; international research data from over 1,500 survivors; efforts to discredit allegations made by survivors; the psychological, behavioral and physical devastation left by such abuse; and pathways to wellness and recovery.
This conference is co-sponsored by The Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) at Alliant International University. IVAT is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.
Please contact conference coordinators at: cppa001@aol.com or 916-233-8381 for more information.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Paul Shanley - child abuse allegations
describes crimes
Paul Shanley - Summary of Case: Shanley's career had four stages. He spent the 1960s as a junior parish priest at St. Patrick's in Stoneham (a suburb north of Boston) and at St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree (a working class suburb south of Boston). In the 1970s he was a "street priest" designated as the Boston archdiocese's minister to "alienated youth." In the 1980s he was a priest and pastor at St. Jean's in the working class Nonantum section of Newton, west of Boston. And in the 1990s he was a fill-in priest in the San Bernardino diocese and an acting director of Leo House, a Catholic hostel in the New York archdiocese. He is accused of sexual abuse in each decade. His alleged victims were mostly male, but some women have come forward. Ages of the alleged victims at the time of the abuse range from 6 to 26, and the alleged offenses range from fondling to forced oral sex and anal rape. http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Clergy Sex Case vs. Vatican Moves Forward
from http://ritualabuse.us
Jeff Anderson & Associates: Clergy Sex Case vs. Vatican Moves Forward By: PR Newswire 3/3/09 Portland, Ore. - The following was released today by Jeff Anderson & Associates: The Vatican can be sued for a pedophile priest's crimes, according to a new appeals court ruling issued today. In a unanimous 60 page decision, a three judge panel in Portland, Oregon ruled that a man who was sexually assaulted in the 1960s by Fr. Andrew Ronan can pursue his civil lawsuit for damages against the Holy See. "In a rigid hierarchy like the Catholic church, decisions come from Rome, so it's crucial that Rome be held responsible for on-going cover ups of clergy sex crimes," said St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents the alleged victim. "This ruling sends a clear signal that anyone who enables American kids to be molested will face legal consequences. It will help prevent future child assaults and cover ups of those assaults. It also signals that the Vatican is not above the law." Ronan is accused of molesting kids in his native Ireland. He was then sent to Chicago, where he allegedly abused again, and finally transferred to an Oregon Catholic school, where he reportedly assaulted the victim in this case. Ronan is now deceased. The case was argued by Professor Marci Hamilton, a Cardozo law school faculty member. Defending the Vatican was attorney Jeff Lena of Berkeley, CA. SOURCE Jeff Anderson & Associates http://www.andersonadvocates.com/ViewFile.aspx?ID=231
http://uk.sys-con.com/node/862696
Jeff Anderson & Associates: Clergy Sex Case vs. Vatican Moves Forward By: PR Newswire 3/3/09 Portland, Ore. - The following was released today by Jeff Anderson & Associates: The Vatican can be sued for a pedophile priest's crimes, according to a new appeals court ruling issued today. In a unanimous 60 page decision, a three judge panel in Portland, Oregon ruled that a man who was sexually assaulted in the 1960s by Fr. Andrew Ronan can pursue his civil lawsuit for damages against the Holy See. "In a rigid hierarchy like the Catholic church, decisions come from Rome, so it's crucial that Rome be held responsible for on-going cover ups of clergy sex crimes," said St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents the alleged victim. "This ruling sends a clear signal that anyone who enables American kids to be molested will face legal consequences. It will help prevent future child assaults and cover ups of those assaults. It also signals that the Vatican is not above the law." Ronan is accused of molesting kids in his native Ireland. He was then sent to Chicago, where he allegedly abused again, and finally transferred to an Oregon Catholic school, where he reportedly assaulted the victim in this case. Ronan is now deceased. The case was argued by Professor Marci Hamilton, a Cardozo law school faculty member. Defending the Vatican was attorney Jeff Lena of Berkeley, CA. SOURCE Jeff Anderson & Associates http://www.andersonadvocates.com/ViewFile.aspx?ID=231
http://uk.sys-con.com/node/862696
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Dr. Ofshe's Testimony
In the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida in and for Pinellas County Criminal Division State of Florida - CASE NO.: CRC99-18956CFANO Division: M - Nathan Brinkle - SPN: 01659274; Defendant. Order Denying Defendant's Motion to Suppress #3, Motion to Suppress #4, and Amended Motion to Suppress #4 (Heard February 14, 2002, April 18,2002, and May 10, 2002)....Dr. Ofshe's Testimony - After carefully listening to his testimony offered at the May 10, 2002 hearing, the court specifically declines to adopt any of the expert testimony offered by Dr. Ofshe. As explained below, the court found his testimony to lack credibility. First, the court specifically finds that Dr. Ofshe's testimony on cross-examination, in a few critical areas, was wholly inconsistent with his testimony on direct-examination....
This observation leads the court to discuss another area of concern about Dr. Ofshe. It is clear to the court, after reading the transcript of the interview conducted at the Pinellas County Jail, that Dr. Ofshe did, in fact, ask the defendant numerous leading questions, and that he did indeed suggest to the defendant that he was bated, coerced, and improperly motivated during the interview (e.g., page 26, line 15:
Dr Ofshe: "You have to understand that they're playing a game with you."). During the interview, Dr. Ofshe repeatedly suggested and even told the defendant that he was manipulated and coerced, after which the defendant then stated: Okay. Now I'm catching on to what's going on here.... For hours I was kind of lost before. I know she [defense counsel] told me what you was coming to really do, but, you know, until you get into it, until I get into it, you know, it really then- it's really not dawned on me. [Transcript of Interview at Pinellas County Jail: pages 20-21 ].
That the defendant was ill prepared for the interview does not, in the court's opinion justify a blatant attempt to "coach" the defendant or convince him that he was psychologically coerced. Although this arguably goes to the defendant's theory of the case and the preparation thereof, it is a factor that the court can consider as the fact-finder to determine the expert witness' credibility. For all of the reasons listed above, the court rejects the testimony of Dr. Ofshe, finding him to lack credibility. In deciding to reject his testimony for purposes of these pretrial motions, the court makes no comment on the admissibility of Dr. Ofshe's testimony at trial or whether he is qualified as an expert to testify at trial. Boyer v. State, 2002 WL 925015, 27 Fla. L. Weekly D 1113 (Fla. 5-th DCA 2002) (holding that the trial court erred in excluding Dr. Ofshe's testimony at trial after finding him qualified to testify as an expert where Dr. Ofshe's testimony went to the defendant's main defense).
http://www.reid.com/educational_info/criticnbrinkley.html
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